Page:Bittner v. United States.pdf/7

Rh it had the right to impose a $130,000 penalty—$10,000 for each of her 13 late-reported accounts. Ibid.

Ms. Boyd challenged the penalty in court where she argued that her failure to file a single timely FBAR subjected her to a single maximum penalty of $10,000. The district court rejected that argument and sided with the government. United States v. Boyd, 123 AFTR 2d 2019–1651 (CD Cal. 2019). But in time the Ninth Circuit vindicated Ms. Boyd’s view, holding that the BSA authorizes “only one nonwillful penalty when an untimely, but accurate, FBAR is filed, no matter the number of accounts.” 991 F. 3d, at 1078.

More recently, the same question arose in the Fifth Circuit in a case involving Alexandru Bittner. Born and raised in Romania, Mr. Bittner immigrated to the United States at a young age in 1982. He worked first as a dishwasher and later as a plumber and along the way became a naturalized citizen. After the fall of communism, Mr. Bittner returned to Romania in 1990 where he launched a successful business career. Like many dual citizens, he did not appreciate that U. S. law required him to keep the government apprised of his overseas financial accounts even while he lived abroad. 19 F. 4th 734, 739–740 (CA5 2021). Shortly after returning to the United States in 2011, Mr. Bittner learned of his reporting obligations and engaged an accountant to help him prepare the required reports—covering five years, from 2007 through 2011. Id., at 739.

But the story did not end there. The government identified a problem in the late-filed reports. While those reports provided details about Mr. Bittner’s largest account, they neglected to address 25 or more other accounts over which he had signatory authority or in which he had a qualifying interest. Ibid. After the government informed him of this deficiency, Mr. Bittner hired a new accountant who helped him file corrected FBARs for each year in question. Ibid.