The FBAR is due once your foreign accounts exceed 10,000 dollars in aggregate, and the penalties for missing it are among the largest in the tax code. Whether a failure was willful decides which IRS program applies and whether the penalty is manageable or ruinous. Our attorneys make that judgment under privilege, choose the program, and prepare the filings with our accounting team so the reconstruction stays protected.
Current-year filings, late filings, the streamlined procedures, the Voluntary Disclosure Practice, penalty defense, and the examinations that follow when the IRS disagrees. The firm has guided clients through more than 100 streamlined disclosures.
FBAR (FinCEN Form 114), Form 8938, and the information returns that travel with foreign holdings: Form 3520 for gifts and trusts, 5471 for foreign corporations, 8865 for partnerships, 8858 for disregarded entities, and 8621 for foreign funds. Prepared with the return so nothing is missed. FBAR · Form 8938
The IRS program for non-willful taxpayers to catch up: three years of returns, six years of FBARs, and a sworn certification. The domestic version carries a 5 percent penalty on the highest year-end balance; the foreign version, for those who meet the non-residency test, carries none. Streamlined Domestic · Streamlined Foreign
Taxpayers who reported all foreign income and paid the tax, but missed the form, file the late FBARs electronically with a statement of reasonable cause. Whether that route is still available, and whether it is the right one, depends on the facts and the current state of the IRS procedures, which changed in 2026. FBAR amendment
Non-willful penalties are assessed per report per year after the Supreme Court’s Bittner decision; willful penalties reach the greater of an inflation-adjusted amount or half the account balance. We defend the examination, contest the willfulness finding, and appeal or litigate the penalty. Navigating an FBAR audit
For taxpayers whose failure may have been willful. Preclearance with IRS Criminal Investigation, a full disclosure, tax and interest for the disclosure period, and a fraud penalty on the highest year, in exchange for a generally reduced risk of prosecution. The Voluntary Disclosure Program
The foreign earned income exclusion and foreign tax credit, residency tests, treaty positions, controlled foreign corporations and GILTI, PFICs, and the exit tax on expatriation. International tax
1. The willfulness review. An attorney reviews how the accounts came to exist, what you knew, what you told your preparer, and what the returns say. This decides everything after it, and it happens under attorney-client privilege.
2. The program. Non-willful taxpayers use the streamlined procedures: three years of returns, six years of FBARs, a 5 percent penalty for U.S. residents and none for those abroad. Willful cases go to the Voluntary Disclosure Practice. Taxpayers who reported all their income but missed the form may need only the late FBARs with a statement.
3. The filings. Returns and FBARs are prepared by our accounting team under the attorney’s engagement, the certification is written as the legal document it is, and the package is submitted. If the IRS follows up, the same attorney answers.
An FBAR examination decides whether the failure was willful, and the answers given during it are the evidence on that question. If you have received an examination letter, or a penalty has already been assessed, speak with an attorney before responding. Penalties assessed automatically for missing information returns are removed for reasonable cause more often than people expect, and willful penalty determinations can be appealed and litigated.
Our attorneys handle the examination, the appeal, and the Tax Court or refund litigation that follows.
Should you apply for Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures? SDOP is an IRS amnesty program for U.S. residents who have unreported foreign income. Get a clear breakdown of this program and insider tips from our international tax lawyers.
Did you just learn about FBAR filing requirements? Our FBAR attorneys break down all you need to know about this form (otherwise known as FinCEN Form 114).
IRS Form 5471, “Information Return of U.S. Persons with Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations,” has complex filing requirements. Not sure whether you need to file or how to file? This guide breaks down what you need to know.
Confused about IRS Form 8858, “Information Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Foreign Disregarded Entities and Foreign Branches”? This guide from international tax attorneys explains who needs to file and how to avoid penalties.
Any U.S. person, including citizens, green card holders, residents, and domestic entities, with a financial interest in or signature authority over foreign financial accounts whose combined value exceeded 10,000 dollars at any point in the year. Several small accounts count together, and accounts you only sign on for an employer count.
U.S. citizens and residents are taxed on worldwide income wherever they live. Most expats owe little or nothing after the foreign earned income exclusion or the foreign tax credit, but only if they file. The FBAR is an information report and creates no tax by itself.
For non-willful failures, up to an inflation-adjusted amount per report per year, over 16,000 dollars in 2026. For willful failures, the greater of an inflation-adjusted amount over 165,000 dollars or 50 percent of the account balance, per year, with criminal exposure in the worst cases. The line between the two is the case.
Not an amnesty, but structured programs with reduced penalties: the streamlined procedures for non-willful taxpayers, the Voluntary Disclosure Practice for willful ones, and delinquent submission procedures whose availability changed in 2026. Each has eligibility rules, and being under examination closes all of them.
Filing amended or late returns and FBARs without using an IRS program, hoping they are processed unnoticed. The IRS has said it does not treat quiet disclosures as satisfying its programs and may examine them, and in willful cases the filings become evidence. The programs exist to give penalty protection a quiet disclosure gives up.
You can file a current-year FBAR yourself, and many people do. A disclosure of past years is different: the certification is sworn, the willfulness question is legal, and the wrong program turns a fixable problem into evidence. That is where an attorney earns the fee.
Under current FinCEN guidance, an account holding only virtual currency is not reportable on the FBAR, but an account that also holds fiat currency is, and FinCEN has said it intends to change the rule. FBAR for crypto on foreign exchanges
IRS letters, audits, unreported years, returns.
Foreign accounts, expats, offshore disclosure.
Audits, tax debt, criminal exposure, Tax Court.
Written analysis at a stated confidence level.
Asset protection for individuals and businesses; private company deals.
Attorney-reviewed returns and planning.
