On June 21, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the United States. v. Bittner, No. 20-40597 (5th Cir. 2021) regarding the penalty for non-willful failure to report foreign bank accounts. The Fifth Circuit and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled differently on similar FBAR penalty dispute cases. BACKGROUND:  The Bank Secrecy Act requires any U.S. individual or business to file a FinCEN Form 114, also known as FBAR, to report certain foreign financial bank accounts. Specifically, the taxpayer must report “a financial interest in or signature or other authority over at least one financial account located outside the […]