What are the penalties of filing my FBAR late, or not filing at all?
There is no “late FBAR penalty”. There are only non-filing penalties, and the IRS can assess you those non-filing penalties if you file even one day late.
If it is determined that you were willful in non-filing, the penalty can be up to 50% of the account value the date the FBAR was due. There are different tiers of penalties. If your account is under $50,000, if the account is between $50,000 and $250,000, between $250,000 and one million, or over one million you will be assessed different penalties. The higher the account balance, the higher the penalty. The cap is 50%, but with the mitigation guidelines, you may actually be below that. Other factors can also affect the actual penalty amount such as the types and number of accounts you have; it’s a fact-sensitive determination.
The maximum non-willful penalty is $10,000 per occurrence.
The FBAR Penalty Statute of Limitations on Assessment (ASED) is 6 years. That means the IRS can assess penalties going back only 6 years, regardless of whether you have filed any FBARs or not.