Regarding the declaration of assets outside the United States, the United States government has introduced two bills, FBAR and FATCA, to regulate them.

FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) is mainly for U.S. tax filers who have overseas accounts and the amount exceeds $10,000.

FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) is mainly applicable to U.S. tax filers who own assets outside the U.S.

U.S. tax filers refer to U.S. national holders, green card holders (regardless of whether they live in the U.S. or abroad), and tax residents who have the intention to stay in the U.S. for more than 183 days per year. It should be noted that the concept of tax resident and immigrant resident is different, and a tax resident does not need to have a green card. In addition, U.S. tax filers also include various forms of U.S. companies.

FBAR:

1. Declaration requirements: U.S. tax filers who meet the following two requirements must declare assets in accordance with FBAR:

a. Have at least one financial account outside the U.S.

b. The total value of all the accounts exceeds $10,000 in one year

2. Deadline: Beginning July 1, 2013, FBAR must make online declarations in the BSA E-Filing System. The deadline for asset declaration in 2021 is April 15th 2022. 

3. Fines: If you do not file a complete and accurate declaration, the tax filer is subject to face a fine of up to $10,000; if you deliberately fail to file, the tax filer will have to pay a higher fine. The fine is $100,000 or 50% of the financial accounts, whichever is higher. 

FATCA:

1. Reporting requirements: U.S. taxpayers outside the U.S. meet the following conditions and must declare their assets in accordance with FATCA:

If personal assets exceed the above amount, the assets that need to be reported include:

a. Deposits in overseas financial institutions (excluding branches of US financial institutions overseas; and branches of overseas financial institutions in the United States)

b. Stocks or securities abroad

c. Profits/ Dividends of overseas partnerships

d. Mutual funds held overseas

e. Offshore trust assets as settlor

f. Foreign life insurance and annuity insurance with cash value

g. Overseas hedge funds and private equity funds

h. The above assets do not include real estate for the time being. If the real estate is a rental property, the rental income generated must be declared as income to Schedule E in the 1040 form. Schedule E’s calculation of the depreciation of rented real estate has actually made an indirect declaration of the value of the real estate.

2. Deadline: Individuals who declare FATCA need to declare Form 8938 to the government. The deadline for declaration is the same as the deadline for personal income tax (including extension).

3. Penalties: In fact, there is no tax on the declaration of overseas assets, but the source of the assets must be stated, and the asset income must be taxed. Therefore, tax filers must report honestly to the IRS. If they do not report honestly, they may be subject to heavy penalties. If the taxpayer fails to file in accordance with the regulations, the taxpayer will be required to pay a fine of $10,000; if the taxpayer fails to file as required after receiving the IRS penalty notice, the taxpayer must pay a fine of up to $50,000 and pay a penalty of 40% of the undeclared property. %.