Earlier this year, the IRS announced that U.S. entities that hold interests in “specified foreign financial assets” will not be required to report such interests on IRS Form 8938 until final regulations are issued, and in no event will such reporting be required with respect to taxable years beginning on or before December 31, 2012.

Under the FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) provisions of the HIRE Act of 2010, Congress established a new information reporting requirement for certain U.S. taxpayers with interests in “specified foreign financial assets” (including accounts maintained at foreign financial institutions, equity interests in non-U.S. entities and loans to non-U.S. persons). U.S. taxpayers that are subject to this reporting requirement must attach IRS Form 8938 to their U.S. federal income tax return to disclose to the IRS certain information about their interests in “specified foreign financial assets.”

Under proposed regulations, this reporting requirement became applicable to certain U.S. individuals beginning with the 2011 taxable year, but was deferred for U.S. entities until taxable years beginning after December 31, 2011. However, pending the issuance of final regulations, the effective date for U.S. entities has been further deferred until no earlier than taxable years beginning after December 31, 2012. As a result, U.S. entities that otherwise would be subject to this reporting obligation are not required to file IRS Form 8938 with their 2012 U.S. federal income tax returns.

For more information on the reporting requirements, generally, and the current filing obligations for U.S. individuals with interests in “specified foreign financial assets,” click here to view an earlier alert on this topic.