Question about US tax liability - Page 2

Kristofolo · #21 09.02.2010, 21:04

That's what I found on the IRS website (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/...4,00.html#FR16 )

	Quote:
	Q. What happens if an account holder is required to file an FBAR and fails to do so? A. Failure to file an FBAR when required to do so may potentially result in civil penalties, criminal penalties, or both. If you learn you were required to file FBARs for earlier years, you should file the delinquent FBAR reports and attach a statement explaining why the reports are filed late. No penalty will be asserted if the IRS determines that the late filings were due to reasonable cause. Keep copies, for your record, of what you send.

jwalker46 · #22 09.02.2010, 22:22

Kristofolo,

The IRS (AFAIK) has never disclosed what it considers "reasonable cause", and I am not aware of any court decisions on this issue. Therefore, any disclosure is in practice at the mercy of the IRS. (That is why I asked, "if you can find any article by a US attorney that describes such cause, please post a link.")

Further, that page was last updated in June 2009, and since that date the IRS has had a very well-publicized "amnesty" program, now expired.

So, I just don't think that "I didn't know I had to file tax returns, and I didn't know about the FBAR, and I didn't know about the amnesty, but please would you not impose any penalties?" is very likely to succeed. It's possible, just not probable, especially since (as I posted above), as a matter of law, "ignorance of the law is not an excuse" (in FR, in the US, and AFAIK in CH as well).

My two centimes' (worth just that) remains the same: seek the advice of a U.S. tax professional who deals with the IRS on this issue; then, you must balance the cost against the risk.

From what you have posted on this forum, if it were not for the W-9, I don't believe the IRS would ever know you exist.