Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) Violation

Section 5341 relates to FBAR filing requirements when a U.S. taxpayer maintains a relationship with a foreign financial agency. 31 U.S.C. Section 5321 establishes civil penalties for non-willful FBAR violations up to $10,000, but it doesn't define violation.

On June 15, the government appealed in U.S. v. Kaufman to reverse a lower court decision that held non-willful FBAR penalties apply per form and not per account.

The Second Circuit would be the third appellate court to address the per-form-versus-per-account dispute after Bittner v. United States - Fifth Circuit and United States v. Boyd  Ninth Circuit one, 

The U.S. Supreme Court may consider hearing the split and decide if non-willful FBAR penalties apply per account or per form.

The current discussion relates to non-willful cases, while willful FBAR penalties are significantly higher, up to50% of the unreported account balance at the time of the violation or $100,000 (adjusted for inflation).

https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-31/subtitle-B/chapter-X/part-1010/subpart-H/section-1010.821