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Is the FBAR FUBAR?

Somerville

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Some questions are being raised about Mr Romney's tax returns (duh!) and some are attempting defence of their chosen candidate by falling back on the whole - "He doesn't have to show his tax returns, no legal requirement, and besides all you weirdo lefties are just jealous! So ..... pffffft!"

Is the FBAR FUBAR?

Through the last week of tax return follies, Mitt Romney has repeatedly stated that he’s released two years of tax returns and he’ll release no more. In fact, he’s yet to release even a single complete tax return. He filed for an extension for his 2011 returns and says he’ll release the final returns later this year when he files them. The 2010 return was actually incomplete. And what was left out points toward a question that a lot of reporters and tax experts have been wondering about but have been surprisingly reticent to discuss publicly.

What was left out of the one 2010 tax return Romney has released, the Foreign Bank Account Report, FBAR, has a legally ambiguous position at this time
The FBAR is not filed with the filer’s federal income tax return. The granting, by the IRS, of an extension to file federal income tax returns does not extend the due date for filing an FBAR. You may not request an extension for filing the FBAR. The FBAR is an annual report and must be received by the Department of the Treasury in Detroit, MI, at one of the two addresses below, on or before June 30th of the year following the calendar year being reported.

The problem for Mr Romney may or may not go back to 2009 when the IRS put out an amnesty program for US taxpayers who had not paid taxes on foreign accounts they controlled. The question is: Did Mitt take advantage of the amnesty program?

There is another question also regarding the FBAR: Is a person who benefits from a PFIC required to submit a FBAR? PFIC = Passive Foreign Investment Company. This becomes even more complex if the PFIC is held by a "blind trust"; where in the chain of ownership and control of the blind trusts does Romney lie? Does Romney control much more wealth than the $250 million he presently admits to? During his 1994 run for the Senate against Ted Kennedy, it was reported that he was worth $350 million. Does anyone think he has lost wealth in the past 18 years?
 
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