FBAR lawyers minnesota

New FBAR Deadline

There has been a lot of confusion surrounding the new FBAR deadline. Since the FBAR is one of the most important US international tax deadlines, it is important to clarify the change in the FBAR filing deadline.

What is “FBAR”?

FinCEN Form 114, commonly known as FBAR, is the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. This form is used by US taxpayers to report their financial interest in or signatory authority over foreign financial accounts. Failure to timely file the FBAR may result in draconian IRS penalties.

Traditional FBAR Deadline

Until the recent change in the law, an FBAR for each relevant calendar year was required to be filed by June 30 of the following year. For example, the 2014 FBAR was due on June 30, 2015. No filings extensions were allowed.

New FBAR Deadline Under Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015

The bulk of the “Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015″ has nothing to do with tax law. Yet, some of the most important changes in the IRS filing deadlines were tucked into this innocuously sounding law.

One of the most important changes concerned the new FBAR deadline. Starting the tax year 2016, FBARs will be due on April 15, not June 30. Moreover, a six-month extension will be available until October 15.

2015 and 2016 FBAR Deadlines

Let’s put it all together. The most important issue here is not to confuse 2016 filing deadline for the year 2015 and the filing deadline for the 2016 FBAR. The 2015 FBAR will still be filed under old rules and it will be due on June 30, 2016.

However, the 2016 FBAR will follow the new FBAR Deadline of April 15, 2017 with the possible extension to October 15, 2017.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Legal Help with 2015 and 2016 FBARs

If you have any questions regarding the new FBAR deadline, 2015 FBAR or past unfiled FBARs, contact Sherayzen Law Office for professional legal and accounting help. Mr. Eugene Sherayzen, a Minneapolis FBAR lawyer, will review your case, identify your FBAR and other US tax compliance issues, determine the plan for further action and implement the proposed solution.

IRS Increases Use of John Doe Summons for Unreported Offshore Bank Accounts

Some time ago, in a joint statement before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs of the United States Senate for a hearing on “Offshore Tax Evasion: The Effort to Collect Unpaid Taxes on Billions in Offshore Accounts”, Deputy US Attorney General James M. Cole and Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, Kathryn Keneally detailed a number of enforcement actions targeting US taxpayers with undisclosed foreign bank accounts and the foreign banks in question.

The Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Justice utilize various tools to track and hold accountable individuals who evade their taxes and reporting obligations by sheltering money in undisclosed foreign bank accounts. One important law enforcement mechanism that has led to much success in gathering information about foreign accounts has been the use of John Doe summons. The IRS defines a John Doe summons as “[A]ny summons where the name of the taxpayer under investigation is unknown and therefore not specifically identified.” A John Doe summons, if authorized, allows the IRS request the identities of U.S. taxpayers who may have offshore bank accounts.

If you are an individual subject to U.S. taxes and you have an undisclosed foreign bank account, you should be aware that the odds are increasing each year that the IRS will eventually determine your identity. The penalties for not disclosing a foreign bank account are severe; if you have such an account you should seek the advice of a tax attorney. The experienced international tax law firm of Sherayzen Law Office, Ltd. can assist you in these important matters.

John Doe Summons and Other Enforcement Mechanisms

In a previous article, we covered the IRS John Doe summons seeking records of the correspondent account at Wells Fargo for Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB), a Barbados-based bank with branches in eighteen Caribbean countries. The IRS has been utilizing John Doe summons frequently and will likely increase its use in the future. For example, in a recent high-profile case, the federal district court for the Southern District of New York entered an order authorizing the IRS to issue a John Doe summons seeking records for Wegelin Bank’s U.S. correspondent account at the Swiss bank, UBS.

According to the joint statement, on November 13, 2013, the same court, “[E]ntered an order authorizing the IRS to issue John Doe summonses seeking records of the Zurcher Kantonalbank and its affiliates (collectively ZKB) correspondent accounts at Bank of New York Mellon and Citibank NA for information relating to U.S. taxpayers holding undisclosed accounts in ZKB.” Several days later the court also issued an order that authorized the IRS to issue John Doe summonses seeking correspondent account records held by the Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited and its affiliates in the Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Malta, Switzerland and the United Kingdom at Bank of New York Mellon, Citibank NA, HSBC Bank NA, JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, and Bank of America NA.

In the joint statement, it was also noted that the DOJ has also “[E]nforced summonses and subpoenas for records that account holders are required to maintain concerning their foreign banking activities through the successful litigation of the applicability of the ‘required record’ exception to the production privilege under the Fifth Amendment.” The statement notes that every appellate court that has reviewed the issue has, “[R]ejected the argument that witnesses can refuse to comply with a subpoena for the bank records that are required by law to be kept and presented for inspection as a condition of maintaining an offshore account.”

Impact on U.S. Taxpayers with Undisclosed Foreign Accounts

John Doe Summons constitute a very useful technique for the IRS to find non-complying U.S. taxpayers with undisclosed foreign accounts. It is important to keep in mind that the enforcement mechanisms detailed in this article are in addition to other programs, such as the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program and the US-Switzerland Bank Disclosure program, among others. Moreover, with the continuous expansion of FATCA enforcement, the non-complying U.S. taxpayers are now running a very high risk of detection by the IRS.

The consequences for these non-complying U.S. taxpayers can be very grave. There are extremely high civil penalties as well as potential criminal penalties that may be applied in such cases.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Professional Help with Your Offshore Voluntary Disclosure

The analysis above means that, if you are a U.S. taxpayer with an undisclosed offshore bank account, you need to consider your voluntary disclosure options as soon as possible.

We can help you. At Sherayzen Law Office, Mr. Eugene Sherayzen an experienced international tax attorney will thoroughly analyze your case, estimate your potential FBAR exposure, create a plan for your voluntary disclosure and implement it (i.e. we will prepare all of the tax forms and legal documents that you need for the voluntary disclosure). We will guide you every step of the way and offer rigorous ethical representation before the IRS.

Contact Us to Schedule Your Confidential Consultation Now!

Quiet Disclosure: The Russian Roulette of FBAR Disclosures

There used to be a time when quiet disclosures with respect to offshore income and accounts were routinely recommended by accountants and even attorneys. Even as the tide turned against non-compliant U.S. taxpayers with offshore accounts in 2008-2009 with the spectacular IRS success in the UBS case and the announcement of the 2009 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program, these tax professionals persisted in advising their clients to follow the “quiet” course of action. Amazingly enough, even in March of 2014, I still see clients who have been advised to conduct quiet disclosures without adequate assessment of risks that such course of action entails.

In this article, I will argue that the era of quiet disclosures is over and a non-compliant taxpayer who embarks on this course is assuming the risks comparable to engaging in a game of a Russian Roulette with the IRS.

Definition of “Quiet Disclosure”

The definition of what constitutes “quiet disclosure” has changed over time; at some point, there were tax professionals who used it in such as a broad manner as to include something that we would not consider as quiet disclosure today but rather “reasonable cause disclosures” (also known as “modified voluntary disclosures” or “noisy disclosures”).

Today, the term generally refers to disclosures where a taxpayer would file amended returns, pay any related tax and interest (oftentimes, the payment of accuracy-related penalties is included in such a disclosure) for previously unreported offshore income, and file the current year’s information returns without otherwise notifying the IRS.

Note the two critical aspects of this definition that differentiate quiet disclosures from any other types of voluntary disclosures. First and foremost – “without otherwise notifying the IRS”. This is the “quiet” aspect of the disclosure. At no point is the taxpayer notifying the IRS about his non-compliance; he just simply hopes to pay the tax with interest without attracting IRS attention to his prior non-compliance.

The second critical aspect of quiet disclosures is compliance with current year’s information returns (such as FBARs, Forms 5471, et cetera), but not prior years’ information returns. Filing prior years’ information returns would imply providing IRS with evidence of prior non-compliance and, without adequate explanation, a set of penalties may be imposed on the taxpayer. This is why, in a quiet disclosure, the non-compliant taxpayer only files the current year’s FBAR.

Current International Tax Enforcement of FBAR Compliance; Impact of FATCA

It is my argument that, in the current international tax enforcement environment, the quiet discloser strategy is likely to have a counter-productive effect and may actually lead to disastrous results later. So, what is so different about today’s world versus the one in 2007?

Two words summarize the difference: “UBS” and “FATCA”. The IRS victory in the UBS case in 2008 marked a radical change to the worldwide tax compliance and completely overthrew the traditional conception of the bank secrecy laws (at least, with respect to U.S. taxpayers). The IRS proved that it can get to U.S. taxpayers wherever they have their accounts despite the sovereign objections of other countries; most shockingly, the IRS proved it in a country the name of which was synonymous with “bank secrecy” for centuries. This is one of the reasons why the 2009 OVDP, 2011 OVDI and the current 2012 OVDP programs proved to be such a success.

If the UBS case seriously crippled the bank secrecy laws in Switzerland, the enaction of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) by the U.S. Congress in 2010 dealt a death blow to the bank secrecy laws worldwide with far reaching consequences. FATCA not only swept away the bank secrecy considerations in Switzerland, but the great majority of other jurisdictions such as Liechtenstein, Monaco, Jersey Islands, Lebanon, Panama, the various Caribbean islands, and other places where bank secrecy laws protected non-compliant U.S. taxpayers.

Moreover, by turning foreign banks into U.S. reporting agents who voluntarily report information on all of their U.S. accountholders, the IRS is gradually achieving its long-term goal of worldwide tax compliance with only a fraction of the costs that would otherwise be necessary if the IRS were to investigate each bank in the world individually (something that the IRS simply would not have the resources to do).

In such a tax enforcement environment, it is dangerously naive to expect prior FBAR non-compliance would not be discovered by the IRS – an assumption that forms the core of the quiet disclosure strategy.

Swiss Program for Banks; Willful and Criminal Penalties

In addition to the tectonic shifts in the international tax compliance as a result of the UBS Case and FATCA, the U.S. government pushed the concept of the “voluntary compliance” to the extreme through the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) Program for Non-Prosecution Agreements or Non-Target Letters for Swiss Banks (the “Program”). In essence, this is a voluntary disclosure program for the Swiss Banks, where the Swiss Banks have to disclose information with respect to U.S. taxpayers in exchange for the DOJ”s promise not to sue them.

There is one particular aspect of the Program that I want to emphasize because of its relevance to the quiet disclosure strategy – the disclosure of U.S. accountholders goes back to August 1, 2008. This means that if a U.S. taxpayer with unreported Swiss accounts from 2008 made a quiet disclosure in the tax year 2009, his former non-compliance will be exposed by the Program.

Not only that, but, at this point, his prior non-compliance is likely to be considered willful and the prospect of gigantic willful civil and criminal penalties becomes almost imminent (especially, if his ability to enter the OVDP is hindered for one reason or another). See, for example, this passage from the FAQ instructions to OVDP: “When criminal behavior is evident and the disclosure does not meet the requirements of a voluntary disclosure under IRM 9.5.11.9, the IRS may recommend criminal prosecution to the Department of Justice” (see FAQ 16).

It is important to note that there are very good reasons to believe that the “Swiss Program for Banks” scenario is likely to be repeated elsewhere with uncertain look-back periods.

FBAR Quiet Disclosure Is Likely to Lead to Untenable Willful FBAR Non-Compliance in the Event of IRS Discovery

Now, we are approaching the core reasoning behind my earlier argument that quiet disclosure is similar to playing a Russian roulette. We have already established that the possibility of the IRS discovery of prior non-compliance has become increasingly likely under FATCA. We have also determined that willful failure to file an FBAR under the quiet disclosure strategy may lead to the imposition of willful civil and, possibly, criminal penalties. Finally, we also considered that a third-party disclosure (most likely, a bank that discloses under FATCA or the Program) is likely to prevent the taxpayer from entering the OVDP.

The effect of putting these three propositions together is obvious and explosive at the same time: engaging in a quiet disclosure policy may result in the discovery of prior FBAR non-compliance, such non-compliance is likely to be considered by the IRS as willful, and the taxpayer is likely to lose the safe harbor of the OVDP. The end result may be absolutely disastrous: FBAR willful civil penalties of up to $100,000 per account per year with potential FBAR criminal penalties (huge monetary penalties and incarceration).

The IRS has stated this openly in its FAQ instructions to the OVDP: “Taxpayers are strongly encouraged to come forward under the OVDP to make timely, accurate, and complete disclosures. Those taxpayers making ‘quiet’ disclosures should be aware of the risk of being examined and potentially criminally prosecuted for all applicable years” (see FAQ #15).

Contact Sherayzen Law Office of Professional Help With Your Offshore Voluntary Disclosure of Foreign Assets and Foreign Income

If you have undisclosed foreign account or other assets, do not fall prey to the Russian Roulette quiet disclosure solution.

Rather, you should contact the international tax law firm of Sherayzen Law Office. We are a team of experienced tax professionals who have an expertise in the voluntary disclosure of offshore assets and income. We can help you.

Contact Us to Schedule a Confidential Consultation NOW.

Official Treasury Currency Conversion Rates of December 31, 2009

These Official Treasury 2009 FBAR Conversion Rates are posted here due to the fact that U.S. taxpayers who are doing voluntary disclosure for prior years with respect to delinquent FBARs are required to use these rates to prepare the FBARs for 2009.  Every year, the U.S. Department of Treasure publishes its official currency conversion rates (they are called “Treasury’s Financial Management Service rates”); I will refer to the “FBAR Conversion Rates”.

The latest (October 2013) FBAR instructions require the use of Treasury’s Financial Management Service rates, if available, to determine the maximum value of a foreign bank account. In particular, the FBAR instructions state:

In the case of non-United States currency, convert the maximum account value for each account into United States dollars. Convert foreign currency by using the Treasury’s Financial Management Service rate (this rate may be found at www.fms.treas.gov) from the last day of the calendar year. If no Treasury Financial Management Service rate is available, use another verifiable exchange rate and provide the source of that rate. In valuing currency of a country that uses multiple exchange rates, use the rate that would apply if the currency in the account were converted into United States dollars on the last day of the calendar year.

For this reason, the international tax attorneys take their time to compile these rates with all updates. For your convenience, Sherayzen Law Office provides a table of the official  2009 FBAR Conversion Rates below (keep in mind, you still need to refer to the official website for any updates).

COUNTRY-CURRENCY F.C. TO $1.00
AFGHANISTAN – AFGHANI 47.9200
ALBANIA – LEK 95.4300
ALGERIA – DINAR 70.3330
ANGOLA – KWANZA 75.0000
ANTIGUA – BARBUDA – E. CARIBBEAN DOLLAR 2.7000
ARGENTINA-PESO 3.7980
ARMENIA – DRAM 375.0000
AUSTRALIA – DOLLAR 1.1110
AUSTRIA – EURO 0.6950
AZERBAIJAN – MANAT 0.8200
BAHAMAS – DOLLAR 1.0000
BAHRAIN – DINAR 0.3770
BANGLADESH – TAKA 68.0000
BARBADOS – DOLLAR 2.0200
BELARUS – RUBLE 2880.0000
BELGIUM-EURO 0.6950
BELIZE – DOLLAR 2.0000
BENIN – CFA FRANC 454.8900
BERMUDA – DOLLAR 1.0000
BOLIVIA – BOLIVIANO 6.9700
BOSNIA-HERCEGOVINA MARKA 1.3590
BOTSWANA – PULA 6.6530
BRAZIL – REAL 1.7400
BRUNEI – DOLLAR 1.4010
BULGARIA – LEV 1.3580
BURKINA FASO – CFA FRANC 454.8900
BURMA – KYAT 450.0000
BURUNDI – FRANC 1200.0000
CAMBODIA (KHMER) – RIEL 4163.0000
CAMEROON – CFA FRANC 454.8900
CANADA – DOLLAR 1.0510
CAPE VERDE – ESCUDO 74.7270
CAYMAN ISLANDS – DOLLAR 0.8200
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC – CFA FRANC 454.8900
CHAD – CFA FRANC 454.8900
CHILE – PESO 507.0000
CHINA – RENMINBI 6.8260
COLOMBIA – PESO 2046.5000
COMOROS – FRANC 361.3500
CONGO – CFA FRANC 454.8900
COSTA RICA – COLON 553.7000
COTE D’IVOIRE – CFA FRANC 454.8900
CROATIA – KUNA 5.0000
CUBA-PESO 0.9260
CYPRUS-EURO 0.6950
CZECH – KORUNA 18.1190
DEM REP OF CONGO-CONGOLESE FRANC 900.0000
DENMARK – KRONE 5.1670
DJIBOUTI – FRANC 177.0000
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – PESO 36.1000
EAST TIMOR-DILI 1.0000
ECAUDOR-DOLARES 1.0000
EGYPT – POUND 5.4840
EL SALVADOR-DOLARES 1.0000
EQUATORIAL GUINEA – CFA FRANC 454.8900
ERITREA – NAKFA 15.0000
ESTONIA – KROON 10.8650
ETHIOPIA – BIRR 12.6400
EURO ZONE – EURO 0.6950
FIJI – DOLLAR 1.9250
FINLAND-EURO 0.6950
FRANCE-EURO 0.6950
GABON – CFA FRANC 454.8900
GAMBIA – DALASI 27.0000
GEORGIA-LARI 1.6900
GERMANY FRG-EURO 0.6950
GHANA – CEDI 1.4290
GREECE-EURO 0.6950
GRENADA – EAST CARIBBEAN DOLLAR 2.7000
GUATEMALA-QUENTZEL 8.3320
GUINEA -FRANC 4924.0000
GUINEA BISSAU – CFA FRANC 454.8900
GUYANA – DOLLAR 201.0000
HAITI – GOURDE 40.7500
HONDURAS – LEMPIRA 18.9000
HONG KONG – DOLLAR 7.7540
HUNGARY – FORINT 187.7700
ICELAND – KRONA 124.4500
INDIA – RUPEE 46.4000
INDONESIA – RUPIAH 9350.0000
IRAN – RIAL 8229.0000
IRAQ – DINAR 1150.0000
IRELAND-EURO 0.6950
ISRAEL-SHEKEL 3.7800
ITALY-EURO 0.6950
JAMAICA – DOLLAR 89.3000
JAPAN – YEN 92.3900
JERESALEM-SHEKEL 3.7800
JORDAN – DINAR 0.7080
KAZAKHSTAN – TENGE 148.4000
KENYA – SHILLING 75.8500
KOREA – WON 1163.6500
KUWAIT – DINAR 0.2860
KYRGYZSTAN – SOM 44.0000
LAOS – KIP 8476.0000
LATVIA – LATS 0.4920
LEBANON – POUND 1500.0000
LESOTHO – SOUTH AFRICAN RAND 7.3690
LIBERIA – U.S. DOLLAR 49.0000
LIBYA-DINAR 1.2340
LITHUANIA – LITAS 2.3980
LUXEMBOURG-EURO 0.6950
MACAO – MOP 8.0000
MACEDONIA FYROM – DENAR 42.3000
MADAGASCAR-ARIA 1954.6400
MALAWI – KWACHA 146.0000
MALAYSIA – RINGGIT 3.4220
MALI – CFA FRANC 454.8900
MALTA-EURO 0.6950
MARSHALLS ISLANDS – DOLLAR 1.0000
MARTINIQUE-EURO 0.6950
MAURITANIA – OUGUIYA 270.0000
MAURITIUS – RUPEE 29.0000
MEXICO – NEW PESO 13.0990
MICRONESIA – DOLLAR 1.0000
MOLDOVA – LEU 12.1850
MONGOLIA – TUGRIK 1435.8800
MONTENEGRO-EURO 0.6950
MOROCCO – DIRHAM 7.9030
MOZAMBIQUE – METICAL 29.2800
NAMIBIA-DOLLAR 7.3690
NEPAL – RUPEE 74.4000
NETHERLANDS-EURO 0.6950
NETHERLANDS ANTILLES – GUILDER 1.7800
NEW ZEALAND – DOLLAR 1.3740
NICARAGUA – CORDOBA 20.8400
NIGER – CFA FRANC 454.8900
NIGERIA – NAIRA 149.4500
NORWAY – KRONE 5.7640
OMAN – RIAL 0.3850
PAKISTAN – RUPEE 84.2000
PALAU-DOLLAR 1.0000
PANAMA – BALBOA 1.0000
PAPUA NEW GUINEA – KINA 2.5230
PARAGUAY – GUARANI 4650.0000
PERU – INTI 0.0000
PERU – NUEVO SOL 2.8900
PHILIPPINES – PESO 46.4500
POLAND – ZLOTY 2.8500
PORTUGAL-EURO 0.6950
QATAR – RIYAL 3.6420
ROMANIA – LEU 2.9420
RUSSIA-RUBLE 30.3110
RWANDA – FRANC 569.4700
SAO TOME & PRINCIPE – DOBRAS 16539.2150
SAUDI ARABIA – RIYAL 3.7500
SENEGAL – CFA FRANC 454.8900
SERBIA-DINAR 66.7300
SEYCHELLES – RUPEE 10.9180
SIERRA LEONE – LEONE 3930.0000
SINGAPORE – DOLLAR 1.4010
SLOVAK-EURO 0.6950
SLOVENIA-EURO 0.6950
SOLOMON ISLANDS – DOLLAR 7.3580
SOUTH AFRICA – RAND 7.3690
SPAIN-EURO 0.6950
SRI LANKA – RUPEE 114.3500
ST LUCIA – EC DOLLAR 2.7000
SUDAN-POUND 2.3140
SURINAME – GUILDER 2.8000
SWAZILAND – LILANGENI 7.3690
SWEDEN – KRONA 7.1160
SWITZERLAND – FRANC 1.0310
SYRIA – POUND 45.5000
TAIWAN – DOLLAR 31.9500
TAJIKISTAN-SOMONI 4.3800
TANZANIA – SHILLING 1335.0000
THAILAND – BAHT 33.3000
TOGO – CFA FRANC 454.8900
TONGA – PA’ANGA 1.8760
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO – DOLLAR 6.3300
TUNISIA – DINAR 1.3180
TURKEY-LIRA 1.4930
TURKMENISTAN – MANAT 2.8430
UGANDA – SHILLING 1895.0000
UKRAINE – HRYVNIA 8.0300
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – DIRHAM 3.6730
UNITED KINGDOM – POUND STERLING 0.6160
URUGUAY – NEW PESO 19.4500
UZBEKISTAN – SOM 1525.0000
VANUATU – VATU 96.0900
VENZEULA – NEW BOLIVAR 2.1500
VIETNAM – DONG 18469.0000
WESTERN SAMOA – TALA 2.5190
YEMEN – RIAL 206.0000
YUGOSLAVIA – DINAR 66.7300
ZAMBIA-KWACHA 4640.0000
ZIMBABWE – DOLLAR 0.0000

FBARs and Polish Lokata Accounts

In recent years, I have received a number of questions from my Polish clients about whether “Lokata” accounts are reportable on the FBARs. The short answer is “Yes”.

Lokata Accounts

Lokata is a fixed-term deposit account which is very common in Polish banks; a Lokata is very similar to U.S. CD-type of accounts. There are many types of lokatas – overnight, three-month, six-month and even twelve-month lokatas. Usually, the bank would automatically take the funds from a current account (so-called “rachunek biezacy”) and deposit it on the lokata at a certain fixed percent. At the end of the lokata period, the lokata is closed by the bank and the balance with interest (minus automatic 19% tax withholding for non-business accounts) is returned to the current account.

All major Polish banks (e.g. DZ Bank and Bank Zchodni WBK S.A.) offer lokatas to their clients.

Lokata and FBAR Complications

Every time lokata is opened, it is assigned a separate account number. For the purposes of the FBAR, it is a bank account which should be reported on the FBAR separately from the current accounts (contrary to some of the widely-held beliefs among U.S. taxpayers living and working in Poland).

So far, this sounds fairly simple. However, there are serious complications with respect to reporting lokata accounts on the FBAR. First, most current bank account statements are not likely to fully identify lokata accounts.

Second, even where a lokata is identified by a separate number, you still need to make sure that the amount shown on the statements actually reflects the gross amount (i.e. before tax withholding). Usually, it would not and you will need to request the bank to supply a separate bank statement for each lokata and keep track of all gross interest and withholding tax amounts.

Third, the sheer number of lokata accounts can be overwhelming. While there are may be renewable long-term lokatas, oftentimes, it is the opposite. The problem with short-term lokatas is that they terminate once the funds with interest are returned to the current account. This means that a new lokata account is likely to be open every time a new deposit is made. Imagine if a new lokata is opened every week, every three days or every day?! This can be an extremely burdensome requirement for U.S. taxpayers who maintain bank accounts in Poland.

Other problems may arise where the taxpayer needs records for prior years, a lokata is opened in one year and is closed in the following year, et cetera.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Help with Reporting Undisclosed Lokata Accounts

If you have undisclosed bank and financial accounts in Poland, contact Sherayzen Law Office for help with your voluntary disclosure. Our team of experienced international tax professionals will thoroughly analyze your case, estimate your current potential FBAR liabilities, propose a solution to your FBAR problems, and implement your voluntary disclosure plan, including preparation of all required legal documents and tax forms.