# Stumped With Tax Questionnaire "Highest balance of the year in your bank account?"



## Zeroz (Nov 5, 2018)

*Stumped With Tax Questionnaire "Highest balance of the year in your bank account?"*

Hey guys- New one here..

I made the unfortunate mistake of picking an online site (TFX if anyone's heard of them before) to do my Foreign Streamline Procedure..their questionnaire is so complicated and ofcourse you live in a world of absolute "remoteness" so there is no customer service telephone if you are stuck no B&M office to go to..basically you are at the mercy of email communication...this after having plunked down $1,500.

I am hoping that someone here can help me with this one sticky question...because i have not received any satisfying answer from the EA doing my taxes.

It has to do with " *the highest balance of the year in the bank account in question.*" Here is an example that will help us understand the question, as it relates to our unique situation..i say this because in our case, the bank account in question, we only ADDED money to the account, DID NOT withdraw from it.
So here is the example..which of the a/b/c is the correct answer ?

2011 – in account Euro 5000
2012 – (carry over from 2011 Euro 5000)
- Deposit in January Euro 3000
- Deposit in December Euro 1000
What is my highest balance of the year 2012?
a)	Euro 3000 (highest deposit in January)
b)	Euro 9000 (Euro 5000 from 2011 plus the deposit in January and December 
which is Euro 4000)
c)	Euro 8000 (Euro 5000 from 2011 plus Euro 3000 deposit in January)

Many thanks
Zeroz


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

If you have only deposited into the account, then your highest balance for the year will be the December 31st balance. So the answer is b 9000€.

OK, now let's say you withdrew 1500 € in late December of 2012 (i.e. after the December deposit). The answer would be the same, even though the December 31 balance would now have been 7500€.

There is a sort of a loop hole you can use. If you read through the instructions for the FBAR filing, they will permit you to simply look at your month-end balances (or rather the balances reported to you on your monthly or periodic statements) for the year in question and you simply report which of the month-end balances was the highest during the year.


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## Zeroz (Nov 5, 2018)

Bevdeforges-

First of all hats off (way off) to this swift response..we've actually lost sleep over this last night wondering if we filled in the right answer on the TFX tax questionnaire and it now looks like we've miscalculated on the answer.

We've paid TFX already and it may be days before we can talk to the owner to see if they can re-do the FBAR and amended federal returns. Ofcourse there is no way to contact them directly other than sending an email to them to request for a call back. 

Have you any experience with TFX ? They are extremely shrewd and deceptive..i regret having paid anyone to do this for me, with this much stress on our shoulders, atleast we would have saved our hard earned 1.5K. Their site claims one change is allowed for free..but ofcourse they dont elaborate, if it literary mean a total of only one change or if they mean a ONE TIME change to submitted documents. Ofcourse my emails to the EA doing my returns continue to go unanswered..4 days and counting now.

I'm sorry to pile it on you like this...just dont know where to turn honestly..

Zeroz


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I've never heard of TFX (other than the TV network of the same name here in France). But if you're off by only that one deposit, I wouldn't worry about it. All that is called for on the FBAR is a good faith effort. Personally, I normally add a few thousand to whatever number I come up with for the "high balance" on the theory that there is no penalty for over-reporting.

As long as your under reporting isn't significant (say, six figures or more) there is no need to amend anything. That "high balance" figure isn't used for anything on your actual tax return. It seems to be used as a reference figure should anything on your return look "peculiar" - and again, the discrepancy would have to be a "significant" figure.


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## Zeroz (Nov 5, 2018)

Many thanks for painting the bigger picture for me...we are indeed small fries in the overall scheme of things.
In the meantime, we heard back from TFX and they did confirm that a one time revision of the tax questionnaire will be allowed (for free). My wife is upset with me because i aired the issues we're having with the current assigned EA, with managment and supervisors, she thinks he may decide to jinx our streamline return intentionally (because of our complaints about him)it did make me think of it for a minute but i doubt he'd dare do that intentionally. 

Brgds


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