AARO Special Report: The Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR)
What it is (and why no American expat can afford not to know about it)
As Americans around the world are beginning to file their 2021 tax returns, AARO reminds you not to forget to file your FBARs as well.
Because the fact is that not enough American expats know what an FBAR is, let alone that they may need to file them.
For this reason, AARO – working with London-based American journalist Helen Burggraf, who edits the American Expat Financial News Journal – has prepared this four-part Special Report on FBARs (aka “Foreign Bank Account Reports”).
We urge those who aren’t familiar with FBARs to at least read the beginning of this first article, because you don’t have to be rich to find you’ve fallen foul of the FBAR regs. (And since FBARs are not a tax form, they often aren’t always dealt with, or even mentioned, by U.S. tax preparers.)
This Special Report on FBARs consists of:
- The main story, “The Foreign Bank Account Report (FinCEN Form 114) at 51”.
- A list of suggestions experts have said could improve the FBAR implementation, “Ways Experts Say FBAR Could be Improved” .
- How we got here from the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act “How We Got Here: an FBAR Timeline”.
- And finally, some data showing (to the extent that we were able to ascertain, given how little has officially been published) how many people file FBARs “FBAR Filing Data by Year”.
We’d like to add here that we were given considerable support in producing this material by Jack Townsend, a Charlottesville, Virginia-based offshore tax (and FBAR) expert, for which we’d also like to say a heartfelt thanks.
And as always, if you have any questions or suggestions, about FBARs or anything else, do get in touch with us here at AARO, via this form.
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