FATCA- Using a non US passport to open your foreign bank accounts will not work!

FATCA requires foreign banks to conduct due diligence to see if there are US persons with foreign bank accounts.  The fact you did not give a foreign bank your US passport still does not mean they might not report your foreign bank, financial and other accounts to the US and IRS.

FATCA was enacted to expose those US citizens and green card holders who are trying various tricks such as dual passports, etc. to avoid reporting and paying taxes on their foreign financial accounts.

Under the FATCA law  in order to stay in good graces of the IRS, the foreign banks  must put into place procedures to weed out account holders who are Americans and US green card holders even though the passport they opened the account with said otherwise. These are the questions you need to ask yourself before you take the HUGH risk of not reporting those accounts on form TDF 90-22.1 (FBAR form). 

• Are there any US address associates with your account?
• Are there any US phone numbers with your account?
• Is your birthplace listed as somewhere in the US?
• Have you made more than one wire in or out form the US?
• Any other item that may make the bank suspicious you are a US person.

If any of the questions above you answered yes, there is a significant chance the your bank will disclose your account to the IRS. If you are detected by the IRS before you made an Offshore Voluntary Disclosure, you must expect the harshest penalties both criminal and civil. The IRS has invested everything in this program. It operates by fear and intimidation. It has the law, the political clout (in Congress, no one is standing up for international community).

This form (TDF 90-22.1) for 2012 is due  on 6/30/13 (must be received by IRS as of that date).   It cannot be extended. The statute of limitations for prosecution or huge monetary penalty imposition for not filing this form goes back for 6 years.

Bank accounts in the Central and South America, the Mideast and the Far East — Panama, Ecuador, Argentina, Venezuela, Taiwan, South Korean, Thailand, Dubai, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, India — these are the targets of FATCA.  The US is signing up other countries daily to participate in the program. Remember, the US already had information sharing agreements with European banks. FATCA was put in place to find out  US account holders everywhere in the world.