Increased FBAR penalty for 144 Foreign Banks & Facilitators

On October 14th, 2016, the IRS added 47 entries to the list of foreign financial institutions or facilitators that trigger the increased 50 percent penalty under the offshore voluntary disclosure program.

According to the 2014 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure (hereinafter: “OVDP”), the offshore penalty of 27.5% increases to a 50% penalty in any of the following circumstances:

  1. The foreign financial institution where the account is held, or another facilitator who assisted in establishing or maintaining the taxpayer’s offshore arrangement, is or has been under investigation by the IRS or the Department of Justice in connection with accounts that are beneficially owned by a U.S. person;
  2. The foreign financial institution or other facilitator is cooperating with the IRS or the Department of Justice in connection with accounts that are beneficially owned by a U.S. person;
  3. The foreign financial institution or other facilitator has been identified in a court- approved issuance of a summons seeking information about U.S. taxpayers who may hold financial accounts (a “John Doe summons”) at the foreign financial institution or have accounts established or maintained by the facilitator. 

Once the 50% offshore penalty applies to any of the taxpayer’s accounts, the 50% offshore penalty will apply to all of the taxpayer’s assets subject to the penalty, including accounts held at another institution or established through another facilitator for which there have been no events constituting public disclosures.

 

The updated list through April 1, 2016, is as follows:

  1. UBS AG
  2. Credit Suisse AG, Credit Suisse Fides, and Clariden Leu Ltd.
  3. Wegelin & Co.
  4. Liechtensteinische Landesbank AG
  5. Zurcher Kantonalbank
  6. Swisspartners Investment Network AG, Swisspartners Wealth Management AG, Swisspartners Insurance Company SPC Ltd., and Swisspartners Versicherung AG
  7. CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited, its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
  8. Stanford International Bank, Ltd., Stanford Group Company, and Stanford Trust Company, Ltd.
  9. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India (HSBC India)
  10. The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (also known as Butterfield Bank and Bank of Butterfield), its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
  11. Sovereign Management & Legal, Ltd., its predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
  12. Bank Leumi le-Israel B.M., The Bank Leumi le-Israel Trust Company Ltd, Bank Leumi (Luxembourg) S.A., Leumi Private Bank S.A., and Bank Leumi USA
  13. BSI SA
  14. Vadian Bank AG
  15. Finter Bank Zurich AG
  16. Societe Generale Private Banking (Lugano-Svizzera) SA
  17. MediBank AG
  18. LBBW (Schweiz) AG
  19. Scobag Privatbank AG
  20. Rothschild Bank AG
  21. Banca Credinvest SA
  22. Societe Generale Private Banking (Suisse) SA
  23. Berner Kantonalbank AG
  24. Bank Linth LLB AG
  25. Bank Sparhafen Zurich AG
  26. Ersparniskasse Schaffhausen AG
  27. Privatbank Von Graffenried AG
  28. Banque Pasche SA
  29. ARVEST Privatbank AG
  30. Mercantil Bank (Schweiz) AG
  31. Banque Cantonale Neuchateloise
  32. Nidwaldner Kantonalbank
  33. SB Saanen Bank AG
  34. Privatbank Bellerive AG
  35. PKB Privatbank AG
  36. Falcon Private Bank AG
  37. Credito Privato Commerciale in liquidazione SA (CPC)
  38. Bank EKI Genossenschaft
  39. Privatbank Reichmuth & Co.
  40. Banque Cantonale du Jura SA
  41. Banca Intermobiliare di Investimenti e Gestioni (Suisse) SA
  42. Bank Zweiplus AG
  43. Banca dello Stato del Cantone Ticino
  44. Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG
  45. Schroder & Co. Bank AG
  46. Valiant Bank AG
  47. Bank La Roche & Co AG
  48. Belize Bank International Limited, Belize Bank Limited, Belize Corporate Services Limited, their predecessors, subsidiaries, and affiliates
  49. St. Galler Kantonalbank AG
  50. E. Gutzwiller & Cie, Banquiers
  51. Migros Bank AG
  52. Graubundner Katonalbank
  53. BHF-Bank (Schweiz) AG
  54. Finacor SA
  55. Schaffhauser Kantonalbank
  56. BBVA Suiza S.A.
  57. Piguet Galland & Cie SA
  58. Luzerner Kantonalbank AG
  59. Habib Bank AG Zurich
  60. Banque Heritage SA
  61. Hyposwiss Private Bank Genève S.A.
  62. Banque Bonhôte & Cie SA
  63. Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (Suisse) SA
  64. Zuger Kantonalbank
  65. Standard Chartered Bank (Switzerland) SA, en liquidation
  66. Maerki Baumann & Co. AG
  67. BNP Paribas (Suisse) SA
  68. KBL (Switzerland) Ltd.
  69. Bank CIC (Switzerland) Ltd.
  70. Privatbank IHAG Zürich AG
  71. Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA
  72. EFG Bank AG
  73. EFG Bank European Financial Group SA, Geneva
  74. Aargauische Kantonalbank
  75. Cornèr Banca SA
  76. Bank Coop AG
  77. Crédit Agricole (Suisse) SA
  78. Dreyfus Sons & Co Ltd, Banquiers
  79. Baumann & Cie, Banquiers
  80. Bordier & Cie Switzerland)
  81. PBZ Verwaltungs AG
  82. PostFinance AG
  83. Edmond de Rothschild (Suisse) SA
  84. Edmond de Rothschild (Lugano) SA
  85. Bank J. Safra Sarasin AG
  86. Coutts & Co Ltd
  87. Gonet & Cie
  88. Banque Cantonal du Valais
  89. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise
  90. Bank Lombard Odier & Co Ltd
  91. DZ Privatbank (Schweiz) AG
  92. Union Bancaire Privée , USP SA
  93. PHZ Privat - und Handelsbank Zürich AG reorganized as Leodan Privatbank AG
  94. Hyposwiss Privatbank AG reorganized as HSZH Verwaltungs AG
  95. Bank Julius Baer & Co., Ltd
  96. Cayman National Securities Ltd.
  97. Cayman National Trust Co. Ltd.
  98. Bradley Birkenfeld
  99. Renzo Gadola
  100. Martin Lack
  101. Christos Bagios
  102. Joshua Vandyk
  103. Eric St-Cyr
  104. Patrick Poulin
  105. Andreas Bachmann
  106. Josef Dörig
  107. David Kalai and Nadav Kalai
  108. David Almog
  109. Hansruedi Schumacher
  110. Matthias Rickenbach
  111. Cem Can
  112. IPC Management Services, LLC
  113. IPC Corporate Services Inc.
  114. IPC Corporate Services LLC
  115. Titan International Securities, Inc.
  116. Legacy Global Markets S.A.
  117. Unicorn International Securities LLC
  118. Andrew Godfrey
  119. Michael Little
  120. Edgar Paltzer
  121. Peter Amrein
  122. Daniela Casadei
  123. Fabio Frazzetto
  124. Michele Bergantino
  125. Mario Staggl
  126. Beda Singenberger
  127. Gian Gisler
  128. Felix M. Mathis
  129. Michael Berlinka
  130. Urs Frei
  131. Roger Keller
  132. Josef Beck
  133. Hans Thomann
  134. Stephan Fellmann
  135. Otto Huppi
  136. Christof Reist
  137. Stefan Buck
  138. Marco Parenti Adami
  139. Emanuel Agustino
  140. Roger Schaerer
  141. Markus Walder
  142. Susanne D. Rüegg Meier
  143. Martin Dunki
  144. Robert Bandfield