The Bank Secrecy Act authorizes
Treasury to require financial institutions and individuals to keep
records and file reports that the Treasury determines have a high
degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters, or to
protect against international terrorism. The information collected
assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in the
identification, investigation, and prosecution of individuals
involved in a variety of financial crimes.
The Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is requesting immediate emergency
processing to reinstate the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
control number 1506-0009 pertaining to the Report of Foreign Bank
and Financial Accounts (FBAR) regulations, 31 CFR 1010.350,
1010.420, and the FBAR form (FinCEN Form 114), to correct the
inadvertent lapse in the control number. The collection of foreign
financial account information is essential to FinCEN’s mission and
to law enforcement. The potential misuse of foreign financial
accounts to evade domestic criminal, tax, and regulatory laws has
been a long-held congressional and law enforcement concern. More
than four decades after the Bank Secrecy Act’s (BSA) enactment, law
enforcement and regulatory agencies continue to use critical
information reported in FBARs to aid in criminal and regulatory
investigations involving tax evasion, money laundering, terrorism,
and other crimes. It is critical to FinCEN’s mission that the FBAR
OMB control number be reinstated as soon as possible. Calendar year
2017 foreign financial accounts are due to be reported no later
than October 15, 2018.
Reviews of current filing
statics for calendar year 2016 (most current date) reflect a more
accurate filing picture. Based on this review a burden increase is
warranted. There is an increase in burden of 405,774 hours from
that which was previously approved by OMB in 2013 (685,000 hours).
This is an adjustment in estimates due to an increase in filings,
based on the most recent available data (2016).
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.