Court Denies Motion to Dismiss FBAR Collection Suit (4/30/20)

In United States v. Green (S.D. Fla. Dkt. 1:19-cv-24026-KMM, Order dated 4/27/20), CourtListener here, the Court denied a motion to dismiss, holding (i) that the FBAR willful penalty survived the death of the person penalized and (ii) that the Government’s complaint adequately alleged willfulness.  These are, by now, standard holdings, so I do not discuss them.

I do note the following interesting fact (Slip Op. p. 6-7.):

On October 31, 2013, Marie applied to enroll in the IRS’s 2012 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP”), which offered a coordinated, standardized settlement to U.S. taxpayers who had failed to report foreign bank accounts by filing FBARs and failed to pay income tax on income received in those foreign bank accounts. Id. ¶ 49. After Marie enrolling into the 2012 OVDP, she attempted to “directly enter” another offshore disclosure program offered by the IRS. Id. ¶ 51. After Marie was informed that she was not allowed to directly enter the other program, she informed the IRS that she intended to withdraw from the 2012 OVDP and the IRS removed her from the program. Id. ¶¶ 51, 52. On June 1, 2017, a duly authorized delegate of the Secretary assessed civil penalties against Marie for willfully failing to file FBARs for 2010 as to the BoJ and Templaide Accounts, and 2011 [*7] as to the BOJ account. Id. ¶ 60.