Supreme Court Lets IRS Foreign Account Reporting Penalty Stand

A taxpayer was left with a nearly $700,000 penalty for failing to report a foreign bank account after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up her appeal.

The Monday announcement leaves the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s March rejection of Alice Kimble’s challenge to the penalty in place. Kimble argued that the Federal Circuit rendered the distinction between willful and non-willful penalties “meaningless” when it found her omission was willful.

Willful failures to report foreign bank and financial accounts on Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) ...