Foreign Bank and Financial Account Reports (FBARs) are information returns required to be filed by any U. S. citizen wherever located and by an individual, person, business, etc. that files U. S. income tax returns and has a financial interest in or signature authority over non-U. S. financial accounts (including bank accounts, brokerage accounts, mutual funds and trusts) where the aggregate value of the accounts exceeds $10,000 U. S. at any time during the calendar year.

For at least the reasonably foreseeable future, the “American Taxpayers Relief Act of 2012” (the “2012 Act”) ended the eleven-year saga in which the U.S. estate tax provisions changed almost annually, often dramatically.