[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 221 (Monday, November 16, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 73129-73131]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-25216]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Renewal; 
Comment Request; Renewal Without Change of Reports of Foreign Financial 
Accounts Regulations and FinCEN Report 114, Report of Foreign Bank and 
Financial Accounts

AGENCY: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Treasury.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden, FinCEN invites comments on the proposed renewal, 
without change, of a currently approved information collection found in 
existing Bank Secrecy Act regulations. Specifically, FinCEN invites 
comment on a renewal, without change, of existing information 
collection requirements concerning reports of foreign financial 
accounts and FinCEN Report 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial 
Accounts (FBAR). This request for comments is made pursuant to the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Written comments are welcome, and must be received on or before 
January 15, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Federal E-rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Refer to Docket Number 
FINCEN-2020-0013 and the specific Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
control number 1506-0009.
     Mail: Policy Division, Financial Crimes Enforcement 
Network, P.O. Box 39, Vienna, VA 22183. Refer to Docket Number FINCEN-
2020-0013 and OMB control number 1506-0009.
    Please submit comments by one method only. Comments will also be 
incorporated into FinCEN's review of existing regulations, as provided 
by Treasury's 2011 Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing Rules. 
All comments submitted in response to this notice will become a matter 
of public record. Therefore, you should submit only information that 
you wish to make publicly available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The FinCEN Regulatory Support Section 
at 1-800-767-2825 or electronically at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Statutory and Regulatory Provisions

    The legislative framework generally referred to as the Bank Secrecy 
Act (BSA) consists of the Currency and Financial Transactions Reporting 
Act of 1970, as amended by the Uniting and Strengthening America by 
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct 
Terrorism Act of 2001 (USA PATRIOT Act) (Pub. L. 107-56) and other 
legislation. The BSA is codified at 12 U.S.C. 1829b, 12 U.S.C. 1951-
1959, 31 U.S.C. 5311-5314 and 5316-5332, and notes thereto, with 
implementing regulations at 31 CFR Chapter X.
    The BSA authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury, inter alia, to 
require financial institutions to keep records and file reports that 
are determined to have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, 
and regulatory matters, or in the conduct of intelligence or counter-
intelligence activities to protect against international terrorism, and 
to implement anti-money laundering

[[Page 73130]]

programs and compliance procedures.\1\ Regulations implementing the BSA 
appear at 31 CFR Chapter X. The authority of the Secretary to 
administer the BSA has been delegated to the Director of FinCEN.\2\
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    \1\ Section 358 of the USA PATRIOT Act added language expanding 
the scope of the BSA to intelligence or counter-intelligence 
activities to protect against international terrorism.
    \2\ Treasury Order 180-01 (re-affirmed Jan. 14, 2020).
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    Under 31 U.S.C. 5314, the Secretary is authorized to require any 
``resident or citizen of the United States or a person in, and doing 
business in, the United States, to . . . keep records and file reports, 
when the resident, citizen, or person makes a transaction or maintains 
a relation for any person with a foreign financial agency.'' The term 
``foreign financial agency'' encompasses the activities found in the 
statutory definition of ``financial agency,'' \3\ notably, ``a person 
acting for a person as a financial institution, bailee, depository 
trustee, or agent, or acting in a similar way related to money, credit, 
securities, gold, or a transaction in money, credit, securities, or 
gold.'' \4\ The Secretary is also authorized to prescribe exemptions to 
the reporting requirement and to prescribe other matters the Secretary 
considers necessary to carry out 31 U.S.C. 5314.
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    \3\ 31 U.S.C. 5312(b)(2).
    \4\ See 31 U.S.C. 5312(a)(1), which exempts from the definition 
of financial agency a person acting for a country, a monetary or 
financial authority acting as a monetary or financial authority, or 
an international financial institution of which the United States 
Government is a member.
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    The regulations implementing 31 U.S.C. 5314 appear at 31 CFR 
1010.350, 1010.306, and 1010.420. Section 1010.350 generally requires 
each U.S. person having a financial interest in, or signature or other 
authority over, a bank, securities, or other financial account in a 
foreign country to report such relationship to the Commissioner of 
Internal Revenue for each year such relationship exists, and to provide 
and report such information specified in a reporting form prescribed 
under 31 U.S.C. 5314. The FinCEN Report 114, Report of Foreign Bank and 
Financial Accounts (FBAR), is used to file the information required by 
this section. The FBAR must be filed electronically with FinCEN.\5\ 31 
CFR 1010.306(c) requires the FBAR to be filed for foreign financial 
accounts exceeding $10,000 maintained during the previous calendar 
year. No FBAR is required to be filed if the aggregate account value of 
foreign financial accounts maintained during the previous calendar year 
is below $10,000.
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    \5\ Formerly Form TD-F 90-22.1. FinCEN Report 114 can be 
completed by accessing FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System website at 
http://bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov/main.html.
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    The FBAR must be filed on or before April 15 of each calendar year 
for accounts maintained during the previous calendar year.\6\
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    \6\ In accordance with section 2006(b)(11) of Public Law 114-41 
the filing due date for the report is April 15 effective as of the 
2016 reporting year. The statute permits the Secretary to extend the 
filing due date for up to 6 months. Filers who submit complete and 
accurate reports to FinCEN no later than October 15 of the year the 
report is due will be deemed to have timely filed. FinCEN issued a 
statement on its website in 2016 noting the FBAR date change as a 
result of the statutory change. FinCEN intends to revise the FBAR 
regulations at 31 CFR 1010.306(c) to reflect the statutory date 
change in the near term.
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    31 CFR 1010.420 outlines the recordkeeping requirements associated 
with foreign financial accounts required to be reported under section 
1010.350. Specifically, filers must retain records of such accounts for 
a period of five years and make the records available for inspection as 
authorized by law.\7\
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    \7\ The penalties provided in the BSA apply to both the FBAR 
reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
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II. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) 8
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    \8\ Public Law 104-13, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A).
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    Title: Reports of foreign financial accounts (31 CFR 1010.350), 
records to be made and retained by persons having financial interests 
in foreign financial accounts (31 CFR 1010.420), filing of reports (31 
CFR 1010.306(c)), and FinCEN Report 114--Report of Foreign Bank and 
Financial Accounts (FBAR).
    OMB Control Number: 1506-0009.
    Report Number: FinCEN Report 114--FBAR.
    Abstract: FinCEN is issuing this notice to renew the OMB control 
number for the FBAR regulations and report.
    Affected Public: Individuals, businesses or other for-profit 
institutions, and non-profit institutions who qualify as U.S. persons.
    Type of Review:
     Renewal without change of a currently approved information 
collection.
    Frequency: Annual.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,273,579 FBAR filers.\9\
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    \9\ The total number of FBARs reported for foreign financial 
accounts held during calendar year 2018, and reported in 2019 is 
1,273,579. Each U.S. individual or entity that maintains foreign 
financial accounts reportable on the FBAR can report all of their 
foreign financial accounts on one FBAR report.
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    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
    The estimated average burden associated with the FBAR reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements will vary depending on the number of 
reportable foreign financial accounts and the applicability of special 
rules provided in the regulations which provide some relief from the 
full scope of the reporting obligations.\10\
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    \10\ 31 CFR 1010.350(g).
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    The information required to be reported on the FBAR is basic 
information U.S. persons will have received on account statements from 
the foreign financial institutions where the accounts are opened and 
maintained. Those statements will provide a U.S. person with the 
information needed to complete and file the FBAR. No special accounting 
or legal skills are necessary to transfer the basic information 
required to be reported, such as the name of the foreign financial 
institution, the type of account, and the account number, to the FBAR.
    The special rules located at 31 CFR 1010.350(g) provide a variety 
of relief to FBAR filers by (1) limiting the information reported in 
the FBAR to the number of accounts and certain other basic identifying 
information where the filer has financial interest in or signature 
authority over 25 more reportable accounts; (2) allowing for entities 
to file consolidated FBARs on their own behalf and on behalf of 
entities for which they have a direct or indirect ownership interest 
over 50%; and (3) exempting reporting of foreign financial interest in 
accounts involving certain trust and retirement plans. However, filers 
reporting financial interest in, or signature authority over, 25 or 
more foreign financial accounts, are required to maintain a record of 
the detailed account information on each of their foreign financial 
accounts, including the account number, the name of the foreign 
financial institution that holds the account, the address of the 
foreign financial institution, the maximum value of the account during 
the calendar year, and the type of account.\11\
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    \11\ Filers availing themselves of special rules under 31 CFR 
1010.350(g)(1) and (2) involving 25 or more reportable foreign 
financial accounts are required to maintain and provide detailed 
account information for each foreign financial account, if requested 
by the Secretary or his delegate.
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    For the reasons noted above, FinCEN estimates that the approximate 
FBAR reporting burden will vary depending on the number of reportable 
foreign financial accounts, and will range from approximately 20 
minutes to 90 minutes. As a result, FinCEN estimates the average 
reporting burden per FBAR filer will be 55 minutes.
    Past estimates of the FBAR recordkeeping requirement took into

[[Page 73131]]

account time to store paper copies of the FBAR form, and estimated that 
the approximate recordkeeping burden was 30 minutes. Since 2011, FBARs 
have been filed electronically. Electronically filing the FBAR allows a 
filer to save an electronic copy of the report, which satisfies the 
recordkeeping part of the requirement. FinCEN estimates it would take a 
filer five minutes to save an electronic copy of the FBAR.\12\ In 
addition to maintaining a copy of the form, those filers who take 
advantage of the special rules provisions involving 25 or more accounts 
are required to maintain detailed information on those accounts. 
However, FinCEN believes that in most cases, such information would be 
maintained by filers in the ordinary course of business in the form of 
periodic account statements and other business records which would be 
maintained mostly electronically. In addition, there is no requirement 
in the FBAR regulations to maintain such information in any particular 
format.
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    \12\ Although filings have been electronic since 2011, this is 
the first renewal notice in which FinCEN has reconsidered the burden 
of storing reports electronically.
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    For these reasons, FinCEN estimates that the approximate FBAR 
recordkeeping burden will be approximately five minutes.
    FinCEN estimates the total annual reporting and recordkeeping 
burden per FBAR filer will be one hour (55 minutes for FBAR reporting, 
and five minutes for FBAR recordkeeping).
    Estimated Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden: 
1,273,579 hours (1,273,579 FBAR filers multiplied by one hour).
    Estimated Total Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost: Of the 
1,273,579 FBARs filed for foreign financial accounts held during 
calendar year 2018, 1,209,287 were filed by individuals, and 64,292 
were filed by entities. FinCEN cannot quantify the cost to individuals 
who file FBARs on their own behalf. For entities, FinCEN estimates the 
following annual burden cost: 64,292 hours x $48.30 \13\ per hour = 
$3,105,303.60.
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    \13\ The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational 
Employment Statistics-National, May 2019, available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm. The most recent data from the BLS 
corresponds to May 2019. For the benefits component of total 
compensation, see U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer's Cost 
per Employee Compensation as of December 2019, available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm. The ratio between benefits 
and wages for financial activities is $15.95 (hourly benefits)/
$32.05 (hourly wages) = 0.50. The benefit factor is 1 plus the 
benefit/wages ratio, or 1.50. Multiplying each hourly wage by the 
benefit factor produces the fully-loaded hourly wage per position. 
The May 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics average hourly wage for 
``13-1041 Compliance Officer'' is $32.20. ($32.20 x 1.50 = $48.30).
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    An Agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless the collection of 
information displays a valid OMB control number. Records required to be 
retained under the BSA must be retained for five years.
    General Request for Comments:
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. All comments will 
become a matter of public record.
    Comments are invited on: (i) Whether the collection of information 
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information shall have practical utility; (ii) 
the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the collection 
of information; (iii) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity 
of the information to be collected; (iv) ways to minimize the burden of 
the collection of information on respondents, including through the use 
of automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology; and (v) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of 
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide 
information.

Michael Mosier,
Deputy Director, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
[FR Doc. 2020-25216 Filed 11-13-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4810-02-P