On December 16, 2016, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that it is granting a further extension of time for certain Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) filings. The extension was announced in light of the notice of proposed rulemaking FinCEN issued on March 10, 2016, which proposes to revise the regulations implementing the Bank Secrecy Act regarding FBARs. Specifically, one of the proposed amendments in the notice of proposed rulemaking would expand and clarify the exemptions for certain US persons with signature or other authority but no financial interests over foreign financial accounts. On December 8, 2015, FinCEN issued Notice 2015-1 to extend the filing date for FinCEN Form 114 - FBAR for certain individuals with signature authority over but no financial interest in one or more foreign financial accounts to April 15, 2017 (and has granted identical extensions that applied to similarly situated individuals since 2011). FinCEN is now further extending the filing due date to April 15, 2018, for individuals whose filing due date for reporting signature authority was previously extended by Notice 2015-1. This extension applies to the reporting of signature authority held during the 2016 calendar year, as well as all reporting deadlines extended by previous Notices 2015-1, 2014-1, 2013-1, 2012-1 and 2012-2, along with Notices 2011-1 and 2011-2. For all other individuals with an FBAR filing obligation, the filing due date remains April 15, 2017. T
he FinCEN Notice is available at: https://www.fincen.gov/sites/default/files/2016-12/FBAR%20Notice%202016%20%28FINAL%2012-8-16%29_0.pdf
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