January 13, 2016
FBARs (FinCEN Report 114) beginning with the 2016 year, will have a filing deadline of April 15th with a six-month extension until October 15th available upon request.
The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015, which was enacted on July 31, 2015, modified the FBAR filing deadline from June 30th to April 15th to align it with the filing deadline for individual income tax returns. In addition, FBAR filers can request a six-month extension until October 15th to file the report.
Under the new law, the FBAR filing deadline for U.S. citizens and residents residing abroad will be automatically extended until June 15th, with an additional four-month extension available until October 15th. The law does not provide another two-month extension until December 15th (as opposed to this available extension for filing nonresident tax returns), this means that the final deadline of October 15th applies to residents and non residents alike.
The law also gives the IRS authority to waive penalties for taxpayers who are first-time FBAR filers who failed to timely request an extension to file. To obtain the penalty relief, the taxpayers must file the FBAR by October 15th.
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