What Is the FBAR? FBAR, also known as FinCEN Form 114, reports your foreign bank account information to the US Treasury. It’s not technically a tax form, as it doesn’t generate taxes or amounts due. The purpose of the form is to prevent US citizens from hiding offshore assets and income to avoid US taxation.

Individuals have stashed $8.7 trillion in tax havens, estimates Gabriel Zucman (2017), an economist at the University of California at Berkeley. Economist and lawyer James S. Henry’s (2016) more comprehensive estimates yield an astonishing total of up to $36 trillion.

In summary, holding money in an offshore bank account is not illegal, and it is also not tax-exempt. As long as you have legitimate business reasons, you can invest in “secret” bank accounts—although it will not really be secret at all.

The law requires U.S. persons with foreign financial accounts to report their accounts to the U.S. Treasury Department, even if the accounts don’t generate any taxable income. They need to report by April 15 of the following calendar year.

Asset protection trusts are one commonly used tool for hiding wealth. The late billionaire Sheldon Adelson, for example, used a complicated trust mechanism called a “grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT)” to “pass on $7.9 billion to his children while avoiding $2.8 billion in gift and estate taxes.”

Foreign or “offshore” bank accounts are a popular place to hide both illegal and legally earned income. By law, any U.S. citizen with money in a foreign bank account must submit a document called a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) [source: IRS].

Whatever the reason, hiding assets, income and debt is not only unethical; it’s also illegal and subject to severe penalties IF discovered. But even so, the burden of proof is often on the spouse with less financial resources (typically the woman) to prove any such unscrupulous behavior.

To avoid paying this tax liability, taxpayers move their money into tax shelters. A tax shelter is a place money can be stored where it cannot be taxed, such as a retirement account or an IRA.

Despite what you may hear, offshore banking is completely legal. It’s not about tax evasion or other illegal activities. It’s simply about legally diversifying your political risk by putting your liquid savings in sound, well-capitalized institutions where they are treated best.

While using measures such as offshore corporate accounts and having several corporate entities in different countries can prevent the public from getting access to your personal information it can still be tracked by the government where you live.

So in order to access your bank account abroad, you will have to sign up for a VPN service. With some assistance from a good VPN service, you will have all the access that you need to draw or deposit money from and to your account respectively.