FBAR Third-Party Verification and FATCA | FBAR Tax Lawyer Denver

There is an interesting relationship between the FBAR Third-Party Verification problem and the enaction of FATCA that I would like to explore in this brief article.

Lack of FBAR Third-Party Verification

FBAR is undoubtedly one of the most important information returns administered by the IRS. It is the reigning king with respect to reporting of foreign financial accounts. Its requirements are broad and easy to violate. Its penalty system is unmatched in severity by any form created pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code making FBAR also one of the most effective tax enforcement tools in the IRS enforced tax compliance arsenal.

Yet, as an information return (as opposed to a tax enforcement mechanism), FBAR suffers from a very important defect that has limited its use with respect to collection of information – there is no FBAR Third-Party Verification. In other words, no third parties (such as banks and other financial institutions) are required to submit any data to the IRS so that the IRS can verify the information provided on the filed FBARs.

The fact that there is no FBAR Third-Party Verification stands in stark contract with most other reports required by the Bank Secrecy Act (which created the FBAR). CTRs, CTRCs and Forms 8300 all require banks, casinos and specified businesses to verify the data submitted on these reports. This makes the FBAR the only self-reporting information return with no third-party verification.

Without the FBAR Third-Party Verification, there is no direct way for the IRS to determine whether the information submitted on FBARs is correct. Of course, the IRS can verify the information in an indirect way (such as a treaty request during an investigation of a particular individual or if the information was shared by a financial institution pursuant for some specific reason), but it can only be done with respect to specific taxpayers with significant allocation of resources to each case.

FATCA As a Way to Correct the Lack of FBAR Third-Party Verification

While the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) was not specifically tied to the problems with FBAR, the lack of FBAR Third-Party Verification provided an additional incentive for the enaction of FATCA.

As explained above, the IRS needed to somehow resolve the FBAR problems and find a way to standardize the verification of the foreign account information so that it could be applicable to all US taxpayers. FATCA became the most effective solution. On the one hand, FATCA forced all taxpayers with specified foreign assets to file Forms 8938 with their tax returns, while, on the other hand, it required all foreign financial institutions to verity this data through submission of FATCA-related information on an annual basis.

In other words, FATCA solved the FBAR Third-Party Verification problem. From 2011 on, the IRS acquired valuable tools to fill-in the information gaps left by FBAR. Furthermore, the information collected through FATCA may now be used by the IRS to verify the FBAR information and pursue noncompliant taxpayers for FBAR violations based on the FBAR draconian penalty system.

Contact Sherayzen Law Office for Help with US Tax Compliance Concerning Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts

If you have undisclosed foreign bank and financial accounts, contact Sherayzen Law Office for professional help as soon as possible. Through FATCA third-party information verification, noncompliant US taxpayers are now at a historically-high risk of detection by the IRS. If this happens, they may be subject to extremely high FBAR penalties, including criminal penalties.

Sherayzen Law Office can help you! We have successfully resolved hundreds of FBAR noncompliance cases for US taxpayers residing all over the world. Contact Us Today to Schedule Your Confidential Consultation!