Annual US Treasury Form Filing Deadline this Saturday

Post by **Jungle Dave** » June 26, 2013, 11:43 am

In case any of you US citizens forgot, the filing deadline for the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (aka FBAR form) is this Saturday June 30.

Given the news lately about the IRS and Dept. of Treasury money/man-hunts, I would recommend all US citizens with bank accounts in Thailand (or elsewhere outside the USA) to file this form.

You only have to file this if your balance exceeds USD 10,000 - I must do it because the Baht 800K for my retirement visa exceeds this amount.

Unlike our tax forms, this form has to be received by the Treasury by 6/30 - not postmarked

Unlike our tax forms, there are no extensions.

As I remembered this - just today - I realized that there was NO way I was going to file and mail this form so it was received in Washington DC by Saturday.

For all you late filers, you can do it online - it took me about 30 minutes and most of that was getting the address of the local Thai bank that has my money.

The link is here and is fairly easy to migrate through:

http://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/Enro ... ep_01.html

Post by **parrot** » June 26, 2013, 12:13 pm

$10,000 cumulative amount at any time of the year......as I read the fine print.

A very simple form to complete.

Post by **bumper** » June 26, 2013, 6:09 pm

Well I don't have to worry about that, this year no cash around it's interesting though. As I thought you had to earn more then $15K of taxable income as a married head of household. Only one of my retirements is taxable and it falls below that number. Before you had to file. Looks like I was very wrong.

This seems like a real twist in what knew. Yes the IRS is no one to mess with. I'm happy you brought this up I was not aware of it.

Post by **parrot** » June 26, 2013, 7:56 pm

Bump, the requirement to report Foreign Bank Accounts is a Treasury one, not IRS. Different forms, different agencies....nothing to do with taxes.

Post by **bumper** » June 27, 2013, 1:28 pm

You know I think I will go ahead and do it, I may have had 10K in a bank at some point through the year. Thanks for the heads up.

Post by **Jello** » June 27, 2013, 2:51 pm

if your offshore bank account balances are more than $10,000 and you do not report FBAR, you can be subject to stiff fines and penalties by the Internal Revenue Service (IRA). In fact, penalties can include jail time.
http://www.file-fbar.com/

I filed the FBAR forms covering the past 3 years a couple of months ago. I haven't received anything back, so hopefully I'm not getting fined!

Post by **bumper** » June 27, 2013, 2:53 pm

Well I got to the point of getting pin number couldn't find one, so I e mailed them. It says it comes up in a pop up box, don't see it.

I also asked if I needed to file.

Post by **bumper** » June 28, 2013, 12:53 pm

Well got the PIN number following their instructions. Got to the form section only to find out my adobe reader was expired. They wouldn't accept my Aeon card. So nothing I can do until after the 1st. Sent them an e-mail asked for a week extension. Now we see what happens. Nothing usually turns out simple for me

Parrot how did you find out about this, did you get a notice or anything?

I'm glad you posted it I had absolutely no idea that tis was required.

Post by **BobHelm** » June 28, 2013, 12:59 pm

bumper wrote:only to find out my adobe reader was expired

Bumper download Foxit reader instead of Adobe. It is completely free...
Download from here...
http://www.pcworld.com/article/231578/foxit_reader.html

Post by **parrot** » June 28, 2013, 1:45 pm

Bump, I've been filing treasury reports most every year since I've been here. One of the simplest of government forms to complete. I heard about the requirement in a VFW meeting and read about the requirement from time to time in the newspapers.

That said, why are you trying to use an AEON card to satisfy this requirement? Unless I'm missing something with the online form (I filed mine in April via downloaded form), there should be no need to use any sort of payment card.

Post by **bumper** » June 28, 2013, 6:58 pm

The Aeon was going to be to pay for the adobe upgrade, finally found the free one. Nothing is ever simple in Me Casa

The card was replaced by a new one and information central failed to tell me.

A few things a throwing me when it says account amount Bangkok Bank do they want to know how much for the year or what the account balance is normally? It never ha more then $3,700 in it

That is an Automatic Deposit, * Can't have an ATM Card i on that account)from which I go to the bank an withdraw it then put it in an SCB account where I can have an Atm card.

So I do have a second account but It's the same money so Really don't know what to do with that.

If I do that then I'm declaring the money twice. The wife is on the SCB account as well.

any thoughts?

Post by **parrot** » June 28, 2013, 7:40 pm

bump, as I (I, as in, my interpretation/reading) read the rules:
you only have to report to the Treasury if you had a total of $10k in foreign accounts at any time during the year.
If the grand total never exceeded 10k at any one point in time, you don't have to report. But don't take it from me.........I think it's spelled out pretty clearly on the form.

Off topic, but.......why are you paying for an Adobe reader? There are plenty of free pdf readers out there, I use PDF-Xchange....it's free, I've used it for several years without a problem, it allows you to fill in forms online and save them. I'm sure there are others. Adobe on my computer is almost as bad as a chunk of kielbasa blocking a main artery. I don't use it.

Post by **WBU ALUM** » June 28, 2013, 8:16 pm

parrot wrote:bump, as I (I, as in, my interpretation/reading) read the rules:
you only have to report to the Treasury if you had a total of $10k in foreign accounts at any time during the year.
If the grand total never exceeded 10k at any one point in time, you don't have to report. But don't take it from me.........I think it's spelled out pretty clearly on the form.

Agree.

Post by **bumper** » June 29, 2013, 12:10 pm

I found the Adobe Reader free. I don't keep that much money in cash I don't need it here. My retirement is based on a per monthly basis

Well I registered and sent them another question.

The term they use is aggrigate. I took the time to look it up would translate to acummlative during a span of time.

It's unclear to me, what they are really wanting to know so I will send them another e-mail.

If it means in a year span then I need to file if it means at $10,000 I any given time I don't need to do it.

I will file so they got no complaints.

Anyway I will pass along the answers as I get them.

Post by **KHONDAHM** » June 29, 2013, 12:41 pm

The answer is: They only care if you have a TOTAL of $10k or more at ANY time (as in same day) during the year outside the country. So, if you have $1,000 spread across 10 banks in 10 countries, they want to know. If you have the money stuffed in your mattress, they want to know...but how could they possibly know about the million in cash stuffed in your mattress unless you tell them, right?

The only "grey" area is something like gold. Is it considered cash (and be reportable) or an asset (and not be reportable)? Based on precedent of which I am familiar, if the gold is in the form of bullion, then it is reportable. If the gold is in the form of bars or jewelry, then it is not reportable.

Cheers!

Post by **bumper** » June 29, 2013, 5:31 pm

SHHHHHHHHH

Next you'll give out my address

Good to know a CPA.

I registered and that is where it stops unless I get $10,000 in cash.

Post by **parrot** » August 4, 2013, 3:53 pm

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investi ... s-on-fatca

Good reading for anyone that wants to know about FATCA or FBAR.