FBAR: Foreign Accounts with Multiple Signatories
On 6/24/09, the IRS updated their Voluntary Disclosure FAQ clarifying the FBAR reporting requirements for foreign accounts with multiple signatories:
If parents have a jointly owned foreign account on which they have made their children signatories, the children have an FBAR filing requirement but no income. Should the children just file delinquent FBARs as described by FAQ 9 and have the parents submit a voluntary disclosure? Will both parents be penalized 20 percent each? Will each have a 20 percent penalty on 50 percent of the balance?
Only one 20 percent offshore penalty will be applied with respect to voluntary disclosures relating to the same account. In the example, the parents will be jointly required to pay a single 20 percent penalty on the account. This can be through one parent paying the total penalty or through each paying a portion, at the taxpayers’ option. For those signatories with no ownership interest in the account, such as the children in these facts, they may file delinquent FBARs with no penalty as described in FAQs 9 and 41. However, any joint account owner who does not make a voluntary disclosure may be examined and subject to all appropriate penalties.
If there are multiple individuals with signature authority over a trust account, does everyone involved need to file delinquent FBARs? If so, could everyone be subject to a 20 percent offshore penalty?
Only one 20 percent offshore penalty will be applied with respect to voluntary disclosures relating to the same account. The penalty may be allocated among the taxpayers making the disclosures in any way they choose. The reporting requirements for filing an FBAR, however, do not change. Therefore, every individual who is required to file an FBAR must file one.
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