FBAR

This topic will probably only be of interest to U.S. expats or soon to be expats. Being that it is getting close to tax time I wanted to mention the FBAR, which concerns foreign bank and financial accounts. Basically if you are a U.S. citizen who has signature authority over a foreign account or accounts that totals more than $10,000 at any time during the year, you must file this form the following year before June 30th. The form is not that difficult to fill out, but if you meet the criteria, DON'T FORGET! The government has some very severe penalaties for ignoring this requirement.

Here is one typically cheerful note from the instructions:

Can cumulative FBAR penalties exceed the amount in a taxpayer's foreign accounts?
A. Yes, under the penalty provisions found in 31 U.S.C. 5314(a)(5), it is possible to assert civil penalties for FBAR violations in amounts that exceed the balance in the foreign financial account.

Awesome!

Note also that you do not mail this to the same address as your tax forms, it goes here:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 32621
Detroit, MI 48232-0621

Here is a link to the FAQ about it: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=210244,00.html#FR1
and here is the current form: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f90221.pdf

So remember my fellow Americans, your ass may be 3780 miles from Washington D.C., but your wallet isn't!