On June 16, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued Notice 2011-54, which provides that U.S. persons having signature authority over, but no financial interest in, foreign financial accounts in 2009 or earlier calendar years for which the reporting deadline was extended by Notice 2009-62 or Notice 2010-23 will now have until November 1, 2011 to file Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs) with respect to those accounts. The deadline for reporting signature authority over, or a financial interest in, foreign financial accounts for the 2010 calendar year remains June 30, 2011.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Treasury Department issued Notice 2011-2 on June 17, providing a filing extension until June 30, 2012 for certain U.S. persons who are employees or officers of investment advisors registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and who have signature or other authority over and no financial interest in foreign financial accounts of persons that are not investment companies registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the 1940 Act).

Background

Generally, any U.S. person or entity that at any time during a calendar year has a financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, financial accounts located in a foreign country with an aggregate value in excess of $10,000 is required to file. The filing deadline for FBARs for each year is June 30 of the following year. Accordingly, FBARs for 2010 are due June 30, 2011.

FinCEN issued final rules (RIN 1506-AB08) on February 24, 2011 regarding FBAR filing requirements (the Final Regulations). These rules reflected only minor changes to the proposed rules issued February 23, 2010 (the Proposed Regulations).