Fee For Offshore Bank Account

Dec 12, 2016 2 Replies
T

I have an offshore bank account duly disclosed to the IRS and FinCEN.



The bank account earns some interest (on which I pay tax to the IRS) but the financial institution charges a monthly "Maintenance Fee". This is a fee that in Europe is becoming more and more common when the account holder resides in another country.



The bank account is strictly for personal use. No business is conducted using that account.



Even though I do not itemize deductions, is there a way for me to deduct the monthly "Maintenance Fee" from my U.S. tax returns? How, exactly?


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J

Plenty of US bank accounts charge monthly maintenance fees, too, and the IRS is quite clear that on personal accounts, they're not deductible.

I also have foreign accounts and file FATCA, and I don't see anywhere that foreign bank fees would be treated differently from domestic ones.

R's, John

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I

At best, you might be able to deduct these as investment fees, but since you don't itemize deductions, that isn't an option.

Ira Smilovitz, EA

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