Sunday, June 08, 2014

BITCOINS DO NOT REQUIRE FBAR FILING

I have been posting a lot of FBAR-related posts lately. Here’s one more.

There has been a question whether owners of “bitcoins” and other virtual currencies that have non-U.S. aspects, are subject to annual reporting on the FBAR form. They don’t appear to be financial accounts, but will the Treasury Department agree?

At least unofficially, it appears ownership of virtual currencies do not need to be reported on the June 2013 forms due June 30. So says Rod Lundquist, a Senior Program Analyst in the IRS's Small Business/Self Employed (SB/SE) division, during a recent IRS webinar titled “Reporting of Foreign Financial Accounts on the Electronic FBAR.” Things may change for future years.

Since this is not an official position, taxpayers may still want to consider reporting these items if they want to be conservative.

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