InfoBytes Blog
FinCEN Introduces New Form for Authorizing FBAR Filing by Spouses and Third Parties
On July 29, FinCEN released a new form for filers who submit Reports of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) jointly with spouses, or who wish to submit them via third-party preparers. Filers interested in using the form would obtain it from FinCEN or the IRS, and filers and account owners would maintain the form but would not submit it to FinCEN. FinCEN also announced (i) technical adjustments to ease FBAR filing and allow for enhancements such as introducing new space on the form for filers to provide reasons for late filing as well as the addition of third party preparer information, and (ii) the availability of batch filing capability for testing. FinCEN anticipates the revised electronic FBAR and batch capability will be available for general use by September 30, 2013.