New Reporting Rules for Offshore Accounts

New tax reporting rules make it more difficult for wealthy taxpayers to hide assets overseas. A taxpayer with more than $10,000 offshore is currently required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. In addition, the new rules require a taxpayer with $50,000 offshore to report it separately. Taxpayers with real estate overseas will have to file a FATCA form in addition to the Form 5471 or Form 8865 that was previously sufficient.

Tax advisors are waiting for compliance guidance from the IRS, which hasn’t even issued the reporting form yet.

See Tougher Tax Law for Overseas Assets, Financial Advisor, Aug. 10, 2010.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this to my attention.