The Treasury Department has released a new version of the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts with a revised date of November 2011. This is a special Treasury form used by Americans to disclose the existence of bank accounts and other types of financial accounts located outside the U.S.
The newly revised foreign bank account report (FBAR) contains two changes compared to the previously released FBAR (with a revision date of March 2011). The Treasury now states that the "estimated average burden" of collecting information and preparing the FBAR is 75 minutes, but previously the Treasury estimated taxpayer burden to be 20 minutes. (This change is found on page 1 of the TD F 90-22.1, in the section on the Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act Notice.)
The Treasury has also substantially revised their instructions for filing an amended FBAR. The Treasury Department is now instructing taxpayers to file an amended foreign bank account report by completing the report in its entirely and including all corrected information. But the Treasury no longer wants taxpayers to attach a statement detailing the changes, and similarly a copy of the originally filed FBAR need not be included. (This change is found on page 7 of the TD F 90-22.1 in the section on Amending a Previously Filed FBAR.)
The new version of the foreign bank account report can be downloaded from the IRS Web site.
In related news, the IRS has established a new telephone hotline to provide assistance to taxpayers and tax professionals with FBAR related questions, according to a news report by WebCPA. The hotline will be open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern, Monday through Friday. Taxpayers can call (866) 270-0733 (toll-free) from inside the United States. International callers can reach the hotline by calling (313) 234-6146.