The applicable penalty for the non-willful failure to file a foreign financial account is applied on a per-form basis, not a per-account basis, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Feb. 28 in Bittner v. United States. This ruling, a divided opinion, settles a split among the circuit courts, provides significant relief to taxpayers who have failed to file (or late-filed) a form to report interests in foreign financial accounts when that failure is not willful.
Non-Willful Failure to File FBAR Under BSA Should Be Penalized on a Per-Report Basis, Supreme Court Rules for Taxpayer Against IRS
