US Citizen + Canadian Wife (US Green Card Holder) Tax Help?

[Expat_in_Montreal]

I am a US citizen (working for the UN) married to a Canadian (who also works for the UN) who is a US Green card holder since 2008. We moved to Canada from Italy in Jan 2010 and have yet to file our taxes for 2009 (just received the earnings statement now) and 2010. We will most likely not owe anything to the US as we are both under the foreign earned income thresh hold (and did not owe for 2008 with similar earnings), however my wife did not disclose her Canadian bank account on the 2008 return, this account became our joint account in 2010. What is our best option for filing and of course disclosing this account as I just found out the amnesty period for disclosure of foreign accounts ended on 31 August 2011? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[nelsona]

The end of the amnesty period really only appies to those who not only failed to report the existence of the account(s), but also failed to report the income form those accounts on their 1040's for those years.

So, if you have been correctly reporting income (or in your case, have not yet filed your returns), you simply need to submit the FBAR forms sooner rather than later, in conjuction with your preparation to file 1040 for 2009 and 2010.

[Expat_in_Montreal]

Thanks for the feedback nelsona, I will start the filing process now, the question is should we file separately for 2009 as I was not an account holder on the Canadian account (we had a join account in Italy at the time which we reported in 2008) and then file jointly for 2010 as I became an account holder in Canada or does that not make a difference in the end?

[nelsona]

It doesn't matter. Someone had the account and neither of you has filed the FBAR form (which does not depend on 1040 filing status).

[Expat_in_Montreal]

Thanks again.