# FBAR and failure to report one bank account



## willyzebra

I just noticed that on my recent FBAR filing (for tax year 2014) I failed to include one of our five bank accounts in Thailand. The account only has about $60 US dollars in it. Should I send an amended FBAR just for an account with only $60? Also, I have not received any of the W-9 forms that other Americans have been receiving for their foreign bank accounts. I received a W-9 from the mutual fund we have an account with. I have done FBAR's for the past two years but I file with with the IRS every year. I have never earned enough to owe the IRS any taxes. The Form 2555 excluded my $2000 a month overseas income. And the interest on the savings I have in our bank accounts (I have joint accounts with my Thai wife and she has a tax number from the IRS) is so low that it hasn't ever amounted to much of anything so I have never reported my foreign bank account interest with the IRS until tax year 2013. I have never owed any taxes but our accumulated savings in Thailand (I live and work in Thailand) now comes to over $40,000. So 2 years ago I had an accountant do our taxes ( a joint return) he told me to file my foreign interest and dividends as if I had been doing it all along since I wouldn't have owed anything anyway. I'm retired now and get a meager social security check of $700.


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## BBCWatcher

willyzebra said:


> Should I send an amended FBAR just for an account with only $60?


You are legally compelled to do so, and there is a published penalty that's possible if you fail to do so. Fortunately you still have more than 24 hours to get a 2014 amended filing into FinCEN without being late, so you caught the oversight in time. (Congratulations.)



> Also, I have not received any of the W-9 forms that other Americans have been receiving for their foreign bank accounts.


That's fine. Some foreign financial institutions are asking for them, and some are not. It depends on the specific institution and its regulatory environment. If your institution asks it asks, and if it doesn't it doesn't.

Moreover, you should not assume anything in terms of what details are or are not reported about your financial account to regulatory authorities.


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## Bevdeforges

To be perfectly honest, I'd skip doing any sort of amendment at this point and just make a note to myself to include the $60 account next year when I file. The account balance poses no "risk", wouldn't generate enough income to make your income tax filing off, and if none of your banks have asked for a W9, may not even get reported to Treasury anyhow.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher

There is no downside risk to compliance, and the only cost is a few minutes of time to file and amended report. I don't see the point in avoiding tidying up this oversight.


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## 167juliar

True, It might be easier to amend than to worry about it until --what would the statute of limitations be, --2021? but then again, has anyone ever heard of an Am abroad with a NORMAl lifestyle being fined for minimal accounts? or being audited by the Treasury?


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## BBCWatcher

The statute of limitations is 6 years.

I have absolutely no idea what the argument is here. It doesn't make any sense. Unless you think Willyzebra's few minutes to amend his report are so valuable that he ought to commit a crime?

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but what on earth is the point in intentionally committing a crime when there's not even any material upside? That's just plain dumb, stupid, pointless. It's also dumb to post advice in a public forum, even pseudonymously, advising someone else to commit a crime.


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## 167juliar

agree with you there BBC Watcher. 6 years of worry and terror for a few minutes of work. Amending is no big deal. Not amending IS.


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## StewartPatton

Just amend the damn thing already.

Note that, to amend it, you'll have to know a number called the "BSA Identifier." The IRS has very helpfully buried that number in a paragraph of text in an email you get a couple-or-so days days after filing your FBAR.


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## BBCWatcher

StewartPatton said:


> The IRS has very helpfully buried that number in a paragraph of text in an email you get a couple-or-so days days after filing your FBAR.


The IRS doesn't bury anything having to do with FBARs (FinCEN Form 114). It's another bureau (FinCEN) within the U.S. Treasury Department that does any burying here.


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