IR-2022-73, March 31, 2022
WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service today reminded U.S. citizens, resident aliens and any domestic legal entity that the deadline to file their annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) is April 15. For additional information about filing deadlines, filers should look to Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN) website PDF for further information.
Filers missing the April deadlines will receive an automatic extension until October 15, 2022, to file the FBAR. They don't need to request the extension. See FinCEN's website PDF for further information.
The Bank Secrecy Act requires U.S. persons to file an FBAR if they have:
Because of this threshold, the IRS encourages U.S. persons or entities with foreign accounts, even relatively small ones, to check if this filing requirement applies to them.
A U.S. person is a citizen or resident of the United States or any domestic legal entity such as a partnership, corporation, limited liability company, estate or trust.
The FBAR must be filed electronically with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and is only available through the BSA E-Filing System website. Taxpayers who are unable to e-file their FBAR must contact FinCEN at 800-949-2732 (703-905-3975 if calling from outside the U.S.) or FRC@fincen.gov.
Those who don't file an FBAR when required may be subject to significant civil and criminal penalties that can result in a fine and/or prison. The IRS will not penalize those who properly reported a foreign account on a late-filed FBAR if the IRS determines there was reasonable cause for late filing.
IRS.gov has several resources available 24 hours a day:
To help avoid delays with tax refunds, taxpayers living abroad should visit Helpful Tips for Effectively Receiving a Tax Refund for Taxpayers Living Abroad on IRS.gov.
