OK, American expats are hopefully aware of FBAR filing requirements and the potential ruinous penalties for failure to file.

This topic is not another one about the rules for who needs to file and who doesn't.
That's widely available information.

But this horror story video caught my attention:

OMG, right?

Well reacting to this, a potential problem in my past (about twenty years ago) came to mind.

When I bought my condo here my real estate agent helped me open a That bank account and for some insane reason I trusted him enough to wire the purchase price of the condo while back in the U.S. It was nerve wracking at the time and I realized that it wouldn't shock anyone if the money just disappeared. Well it worked out and I returned to Thailand with the keys and title to my condo.

Anyway, I forget the details but I'm not sure if the sum of the purchase money ever actually hit my Thai bank account. at least I don't recall that it did. Probably means I sent the money to the agent.

Well IF it had hit my account even for 5 seconds I would have been required to file FBAR due to that. Maybe it did hit it, maybe it didn't.

But it's been a concern that I didn't start to have until many years later.

So why the long story? Well, after watching the video I looked up the statute of limitations on FBAR non filing penalties. It's SIX years! So presumably I would be in the clear for something that might have happened twenty years ago.

You tink to mutt.

16 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

You tink to mutt.

You've gone troppo.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

You've gone troppo.

So I take it that you didn't save your old bankbooks. If you had it sent to your Thai bank account there would have been a record of a deposit and you withdrawing or transferring it. You definitely worry too much.

CAREFUL

Like the TDAC sites that emerged There is a FBAR site, what is actually a paid service that comes out on top of google searches. Beware of .us vs .gov.

The web form looks real good, until it asks to upload photo ID and credit card.

$327 for a what is a free government report. These thieves probably just harvest data of those scammed to be sold to third parties and file nothing!

See screenshot