Foreign asset reporting for US citizens

[TainanCowboy]

TC, I just blame dipshit politicians. R or D, they just have no clue. It was only due to large corporate lobbying that we didn't lose the 84K overseas income deduction. Then there was the 1099 filing requirement that got canned thankfully.
I'm praying Chinatrust doesn't cancel my bank acct and Visa over this. My Visa gets cancelled over this, and I'm going all Ted Kaczynski on some politicos.

Okami -
I hear ya and share your concerns. Its a grim laugh that some do reap the benefits from 'corporate lobbyists' but heck, I'll take what I can get.
For what is worth, the 'overseas deduction' used to be much much larger - around US$130,000 or so. Ahh...the memories....lol.
Happy New Year!

[Lil' Slugger]

This is a filing requirement for IRS along with tax return. The total amount is $50,000 for single, and $100,000 for married filing jointly.
http://www.aicpa.org/interestareas/tax/ ... tion=print

But for folks with a bona fide tax home overseas (according to the above link):

The reporting thresholds for taxpayers living abroad are:

Single taxpayers/married filing separately: $200,000 on the last day of the year or $300,000 anytime during the year.
Married filing jointly living abroad: $400,000 on the last day of the year or $600,000 anytime during the year.

And I *think* they have exceptions for stuff like ownership of a primary residence, though I haven't looked too far into it.

[EigerMarcus]

The link to the instructions for the new filing requirements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8938.pdf
The link to the form is: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8938.pdf

This form must be filed in addition to the FBAR form which is sent separately to the Treasury Department.

The IRS also issued new guidelines on 13 December 2011 for US citizens and dual citizens residing outside of the US: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,, ... 88,00.html