In a merciful move, the Treasury has again extended the FBAR filing deadline for persons with only signature authority over a foreign financial account to Nov. 1, 2011. [Notice 2011-54]. Two previous extensions had pushed the FBAR due date to June 30, 2011, but the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and the IRS recognized the difficulty signatories were having locating the information they needed to complete the form.
Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), must be filed annually by all U.S. citizens, residents, business entities, trusts, and estates with a financial interest in or signature authority over one or more foreign financial accounts (FFA) with an aggregate value greater than $10,000.
The latest version of the FBAR was released by FinCEN in conjunction with final FBAR regulations. The regulations were issued on Feb. 24, 2011, with an effective date of March 28. The new regulations apply to FBARs required to be filed by June 30, 2011, and FBARs required to be filed in successive calendar years.
This latest extension does not limit a more liberal filing extension provided by the regulations. Officers and employees of some U.S. regulated companies are granted a filing extension to June 30, 2012, if they have only signatory authority and no financial interest in an FFA of the entity or a controlled entity of the company. [31 CFR 1010.350(f)(2)(i)-(v)].
