Tax Correspondence to IRS: Clarify that Foreign Investments by U.S. Qualified Retirement Plans Not Financial Accounts for FBAR Purposes

Susan Serota of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LP has written a correspondence to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman.  The correspondence, which addressed Notice 2009-62, requests guidance clarifying that foreign investments by U.S. qualified retirement plans are not considered financial accounts for Form TD F 90-22.1 ("FBAR") purposes.  It then requests that if U.S. pension plans are required to file an FBAR, the IRS excepts a plan sponsor's officers and employees who are required to file only because they have signature authority over investment decisions relating to pension trust assets.  Finally, it requests an exception for a multinational company's officers and employees who are required to file an FBAR only because they have signature authority over investments of their employer's foreign plan's assets.