SCOTUS Ruled That Non-willful Failure To File A FBAR Report Warrants a $10,000 Penalty Per Form Not Per Account!

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on February 28, 2023, in Alexandru Bittner v. U.S., case number 21-1195, that the Bank Secrecy Act's $10,000 maximum penalty for the nonwillful failure to report foreign bank accounts applies on a per-form basis and not per account. 

The justices ruled 5-4 in determining the nonwillful failure to file a report of foreign bank and financial accounts, or FBAR, warrants a penalty of $10,000 per form rather than $10,000 for each account undisclosed. In the case, Alexandru Bittner, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Romania, filed federal tax returns but not the FBAR for several years. The IRS then imposed a total penalty of $2.72 million on 272 accounts for 2007 through 2011.

"Best Read, The BSA Treats The Failure To File A
Legally Compliant Report As One Violation
Carrying A Maximum Penalty Of $10,000,

not a cascade of such penalties calculated on a per-account basis," Justice Neil Gorsuch said in the majority opinion.

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