US Defends FBAR Deposition Order From Hague Convention Claim

The US urged a federal appeals court to affirm an order requiring a US-French dual citizen to sit for deposition in a lawsuit seeking penalties for her alleged failure to disclose foreign accounts to US authorities.

Carolyn Buff challenged the order, arguing that the government failed to comply with the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad in Civil or Criminal Matters by not contacting French authorities to arrange her deposition. The district court’s conclusion that France would consider her case to be a “tax matter” outside the scope of the convention, without consulting French authorities, was a legal ...