Mel Whitney
Articles
FinCEN Form 114 requirements: Who must file and what to report
FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts – and it’s filed separately from your federal income tax return through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing system, not with the...
Capital gains tax on foreign property: How to report and exclusions you can use (2026)
US tax rules follow you no matter where you live. When you sell a home or land in another country, the IRS still wants you to report the profit. In simple words, you figure out how much money you made, convert the numbers into US dollars, and then apply the tax breaks that fit. If you sold in 2025 vs 2026: The year you ...
Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE): Complete guide 2026
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is one of the few tax rules that actually feels like a win for Americans abroad. Since the IRS taxes your worldwide income, knowing how much foreign income is tax-free can make a significant difference when most of your pay comes from work overseas. A quick note on tax years: the 2025...
IRS Form 8938: What it is, who needs to file, and why you shouldn't ignore it
2026 filing season update: Filing your 2025 tax return? Form 8938 requirements remain unchanged for the 2025 tax year. If your specified foreign financial assets exceeded the applicable thresholds at any point in 2...
FBAR quiet disclosure 2026: Risks, IRS penalties, and why Streamlined FBAR disclosure is better
Many Americans living abroad discover that several foreign bank accounts should have been reported on FinCEN Form 114, with FBARs for the 2025 calendar year due April 15, 2026, and automatically extended to October 15, 2026, and decide to quietly file the missing forms without using an IRS compliance program – a step commonly referred to as an FB...
FBAR fines explained: Failure to file, violations, and penalty mitigation options
The penalty for failing to report your foreign bank accounts in 2026 could cost more than the accounts themselves. Willful FBAR violation penalties reach up to the greater of $165,353 or 50% of the account balance. FinCEN's latest inflation adjustment and tighter enforcement, along with new court rulings, have made FBAR compliance riski...