New FBAR rules significantly increase employee filings due 30 June
Earlier this year, final Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) regulations were issued that became effective for filings due after 28 March 2011. FBAR reporting is required by 30 June each year by any US person with a financial interest in, or signature authority over, a foreign financial account during the prior calendar year. The new regulations change and clarify when, and by whom, FBARs must be filed. Under prior rules, many officers and employees of corporations were excepted from reporting their signature authority over corporate foreign financial accounts. This exception has been greatly narrowed under the final regulations with the result that many officers and employees will be required to file FBAR forms by 30 June 2011, reporting their signatory authority over company-owned foreign financial accounts during 2010.
What is your company doing to assist employees who have signature authority over your foreign financial accounts? Companies should identify their foreign accounts and the signatories over them, and provide the information necessary to those signatories so they can complete and file their FBAR forms timely to avoid significant penalties. In other words, there is much to be done before 30 June 2011.
Please join us for a 60-minute webcast on Tuesday, 17 May 2011 at 3:00 p.m. EDT where our panel of Ernst & Young LLP professionals will discuss the impact of the final FBAR regulations to both individuals and entities. Amongst other topics, our panel will address the:
- Definitions of key terms such as "signature authority" and "foreign financial accounts"
- Narrowed FBAR filing exception for certain individual filers with signature authority over foreign financial accounts of others, including their employers and clients/customers
- End of the moratorium reporting signature authority for prior years
- Common obstacles encountered by entities with foreign financial accounts and suggestions as to how to overcome such obstacles
Featured panelists
Frank D. Cannetti, Ernst & Young LLP, Executive Director, Tax Controversy and Risk Management Services
Matthew Blum, Ernst & Young LLP, Executive Director, International Tax/Financial Services Office
Ann A. Fisher, Ernst & Young LLP, Senior Manager, Information Reporting and Withholding Services
Moderator
Debbie Pflieger, Ernst & Young LLP, Principal, Information Reporting and Withholding Services