One of the questions that comes up from time to time is: what about business accounts?
Specifically, this question applies to U.S. citizens or residents who live overseas and own a business. The business obviously is going to have bank accounts. It may have a merchant account to process credit cards. What if those are unreported?
Short answer is, they’ve got to be reported and you throw them into the mix with the voluntary disclosure along with any personal accounts. So it’s not just the person who has squirreled away a lot of money in Lichtenstein or Switzerland. It’s you with the average business maybe a little B&B in the Caribbean or whatever it is. If it hasn’t been reported it needs to be reported.
The paperwork has to be done, and yes, they’re going to hammer you with the penalty. If you have a business that’s running pretty much break even, the 20 percent penalty is going to put you under. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good news for you except the IRS is hardnosed about this and they say: a penalty is a penalty. Sorry to give you that report.
There may be other ways for you to go, but so far this is as good as we have from the IRS. If you need some help, even in a bad situation like this, give me a call. My phone number is 626‑689‑0060; cell phone is 626‑437‑2500. I’m on the west coast of the United States so my time zone is Pacific Time. Let’s chat and see how I can help you.
-Phil
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