Bittner, Farhy and Moore: Who Are They and Why Are They Important?
Stockholm Underground Train Station. Picture Courtesy pixabay We were in Stockholm, Sweden for a family trip over summer this year and were mesmerized by the art in the Underground train stations. As stunning as these train stations are, the three important Court cases this year we are going to talk about are even more sensational in how far-reaching the consequences of the rulings might be to affected taxpayers. I. Bittner v. United States : As you know the Bank Secrecy Act {BSA}, requires that U.S. persons that own interest in or have signatory authority in foreign bank or financial accounts with an aggregate balance of $10,000 or more at any time during the year must disclose the existence and balances of these accounts to the U.S. government on Form 114 commonly referred to as the FBAR. Previous post with more details here . Even though the BSA is not a part of the Internal Revenue Code, the IRS is given the task of monitoring compliance. The FBAR is designed to be self-report