This post is a follow-on to the post of yesterday explaining the explosion of tax frauds that are flourishing requesting bank and financial account information. The law indeed requires U.S. citizens living abroad (and some LPRs living outside the U.S.) to report and file various detailed personal and bank information as follows:
- passport numbers,
- bank account names
- bank account addresses,
- bank and financial account information,
- highest balance in these bank accounts,
- full name of individual,
- taxpayer identification numbers of the individuals,
- along with extensive personal and financial information.
Accordingly, the type of frauds demand immediate reporting of the bank account information, purportedly to the U.S. Treasury Department. Here are examples of some of these fraudulent demands (this one in Spanish) that warns of stiff penalties, including criminal penalties for failure to provide the information within 14 days.
These requests are typically accompanied by an actual Treasury Department Form TD F 90-22.1 (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) which are being requested to be completed with the detailed information required under the law and to be returned and sent via facsimile immediately to the U.S. Treasury Department (with an area code that is indeed in the Washington D.C. area). These are false requests.
As FATCA is implemented further throughout this year and the upcoming years, there will indeed be a range of fraudulent schemes designed to capture financial and personal information of individuals around the world. See, FATCA Driven – New IRS Forms W-8BEN versus W-8BEN-E versus W-9 (etc. etc.) for USCs and LPRs Overseas – It’s All About Information and More Information
