JimGant

FBAR, as most of us Yanks know, is that annual report we're supposed to file if our aggregate amount in all our foreign bank accounts exceeds, even for a day, $10,000. Most tax software addresses this requirement, even tho' not filed with your 1040, And I just got the TurboTax software, CD version, for tax year 2011. Same bugs as last year still exist, plus some new ones -- more annoying than critical (and possibly not the same on other versions of TurboTax, like their on-line version).

First off, here's some guidance from the IRS:

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Ok, TurboTax (TT) asks who's the filer of the FBAR -- and since TT knows I'm filing a joint tax form with my wife, she and I are the two boxes shown. I check my box, and PART I of the FBAR is filled in with my name, social security number, address, and DOB. I'm then asked about my accounts --whether owned singly or jointly. I reply jointly -- and here's where it becomes comical.

First, the guidance from the instructions on the FBAR form:

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TT asks "who's the principal joint owner" -- but gives you the option to check your own name (even tho' it knows you're the filer, and per instructions, are excluded from being the "principal joint owner.") However, per US experience, where your joint acct with your wife normally carries your social security number, you just might check your own name as "principal owner" in error. Then, your name would appear as both the filer (in blocks 1 thru 6, on each page) as well as the "principal joint owner" in block 26. Your wife's name and social (or ITIN) would not appear anywhere. So, officially you're not in compliance with provided that the names and Social Security numbers of the joint owners are fully disclosed .

So, check the block next to your wife's name, not yours. But even then, TT leaves out her social security number and full address (definitely in error, as this did not occur last year, and will probably be fixed with subsequent iterations of TT updates).

So, when you print out your FBAR, check for omissions, like SS number, address, and spouse in parentheses on line 26. And, again annoying, TT prints out all pages, including the blank ones -- which the FBAR instructions say are not to be sent in. Remember also that, since the wife is not filing her own FBAR, both your and her signatures are required in the single signature block on page one. TT doesn't give a 'heads up' on this.

Also, this year's Schedule B has a new line: "Are you required to file a TD F 90-22.1? Yes or No" I guess this means that, if you check a block, you can no longer go 'duh, what's a FBAR' in your plead of ignorance.

Not that the FBAR police would have any interest in any of us (unless, after 10 years of filing FBARS -- and not reporting any Thai source interest or dividends on Schedule B --  their curiosity is aroused..)

But as far as TurboTax causing errors, not to worry. You can always follow Geithner's example:

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And, it's just as easy to avoid TT and  fill in the FBAR form yourself. However, using last year's form, and just changing dates and numbers, won't work, as they've revised the form Nov 2011. Easy to download the new one, of course.

And FBAR e-ling is on the horizon.

http://www.journalof...eb/20114587.htm

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Be sure and click on the FBAR link       HERE  to see the IRS manual on FBARs. Open a beer first, however, if you plan to wade through the "last chance compliance" and "mitigation" passages. Then, plan on an aspirin.

A selected passage:

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So, if you haven't filed a FBAR -- but should have -- reporting that nitnoy bank interest on your 1040 Schedule B tax return may give you a walk (assuming you decide to back-file a FBAR). However, if you've overlooked reporting that interest -- and haven't filed the required FBARs -- well, you may need two beers to digest your potential situation.

Remember that class action suit against the credit card and Debit/ATM card issuers? This was for not openly reporting foreign transaction and currency conversion fees, for years 1996 thru 2007. Anyway, we just got our checks. We'd reported approximately $98,000 -- and our two checks totaled $643.00. I quite frankly never expected anything.

There were 10 million claims, so they say checks will not end being issued until the end of the year.

Go to: www.ccfsettlement.com for further info. Especially if you have an address change to report.

Oh, sounds like we're automatically enrolled in a follow-on class action suit involving the same thing. Wow, the money just keeps rolling in....

Easy to see why all my credit card and ATM card statements now clearly indicate the foreign transaction fee.

I guess lawyers are worth something -- sometimes.

DCC has bee beaten to death on this forum, so I won't repeat what can easily by found by searching. And Siam TV was mentioned several years back as a culprit. And they're still at it....but in a different guise.

Siam TV owns the Sony and LG franchises at the Airport Mall -- a fact not readily apparent until you browse their paperwork. Yesterday I bought a computer at the Sony place -- and forgot to say "baht please" when I handed them my Visa credit card. The slip came back, and the first figure I saw was baht. Historically, this was the clue that DCC hadn't been used, as you saw a dollar figure (or whatever your country's currency is) prominently displayed instead of baht. However, now the dollar figure is at the bottom (where the notice "I accept DCC" used to be -- but is no longer). Anyway, when I saw dollars, the apologetic proprietor explained the "new machine" makes it very difficult to override DCC (why am I not surpised), and in fact the DCC charge (and its reversal) were on slips with Bangkok Bank headers -- and the new charge, in baht, was swiped on a different machine, and came out with a Kasikorn Bank header. Hmmmm.

Anyway, bottom line, the first (DCC) charge was $922.55. But the non-DCC charge -- when I later brought up my Visa account online -- was $891.67.  So, as advertised, DCC is a complete screw job -- in this case to the tune of $31, or 3.5%.

I don't know what else Siam TV owns -- but they're not the only DCC culprits (Home Pro, for sure, is one other). Anyway, best to say "baht" when you hand over your plastic from farangland. You'll get a knowing nod from the salesgirl familiar with DCC (or a puzzled look if the store has yet to be recruited by the DCC crooks).

As far as I can tell, if I want to renew my US passport at the Embassy in Bangkok, I can't get the larger variety, i.e., the one with 48 blank pages available for visas..... Is this true?

And, if I wanted to renew in the States, I can't find anything definitive with Google about this. Yes, one site says just attach a letter requesting the larger passport. But no date on this; and the renewal fee mentioned says it's several years old.

Even the passport website, which used to mention how to get 48 pages, says absolutely nothing. And hasn't since the biometric passports came out.

And, being the phucking bureaucrats they are, here's their response to my email:

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Security restrictions?! Hell, it's a simple question! And I love: "To better assist you.....we are unable to provide you with any specific information..." Toads.

And, of course, the phone number has absolutely no button to push for human intervention.

Anyway, anybody come up against this recently? If nothing else, can I provide the extra $80+ for stapled pages with the renewal fee -- and get my new passport with those extra pages? (Vice having to revisit the embassy a few years down the road to buy those extra pages...?)

Thanx.