United States v. John Hom

MEMORANDUM

Defendant-Appellant John C. Horn appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the Government in this tax case. It is undisputed that Horn failed to file a tax form known as the Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report (“FBAR”) (Treasury Form TD F 90-22.1) for three accounts he held in 2006, and one account he held in 2007. Horn was ' assessed a total penalty of $40,000 ($10,000 per violation). When Horn failed to pay, the Government filed this lawsuit against Horn. The district court granted summary judgment against Horn, and Horn appealed.

The issue before us is whether Horn’s accounts with FirePay, PokerStars, and PartyPoker required the filing of FBAR forms under 31 U.S.C § 5314, which provides that the Secretary of the Treasury “shall require” U.S. persons to “keep records and file reports ... [when those persons] make[ ] a transaction or maintain[ ] a relation for any person with a foreign financial agency.” Under the regulation in effect at the time, the key questions are whether Horn’s accounts were “bank, securities, or other financial account[s]” and whether those accounts were “in a foreign country.” See 31 C.F.R. § 103.24 (2006). If…