US Taxpayers Face Stiff Fines For Not Detailing Offshore Accounts

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

01 July 2005

Thousands of US taxpayers, including US expatriates and foreigners living in the United States, may face steep fines if they failed to file a Treasury Department form detailing their foreign bank accounts by June 30.

The requirement obliges any United States person who had more than $10,000 in an offshore account, which can include investment funds, trusts and other types of account, during 2004 to provide details to the Treasury on a little known form called TDF 90-22.1.

Accountants are warning that the requirements affect a broad range of people, many of whom are not even aware of the form or its requirements, let alone Thursday's deadline. The types of people that are likely to need to file the form include US citizens working or studying abroad, US expats who have chosen to permanently reside in another country, and foreign nationals who are living in the US.

The United States is almost unique in that it requires its citizens to pay US taxes even if they have not lived in America for many years.

Taxpayers who fail to file the form now face a fine of up to $10,000. Congress also increased the maximum civil penalty to whichever is the greater between $100,000 or 50% of the value of the offshore account.

Penalties may be waived if taxpayers can show "reasonable cause".

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