Reporting Requirements of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad: 2014 Benchmark Survey
The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (“BEA”) under the authority of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act conducts the BE-10 survey every 5 years. The survey is used to collect data for analytical purposes to generate comprehensive statistics on the direct investment abroad by US individuals and entities (collectively referred to as “US person”). For this purpose, a US person means any individual, branch, partnership, associated group, association, estate, trust, corporation, or other organization, who is resident of the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, who held at least 10% of the voting stock of an incorporated foreign business or an equivalent interest in an unincorporated foreign business in 2014, including if the foreign business began, was acquired, got terminated or liquidated during that year. The 2014 BE-10 surveys are due May 29, 2015, and June 30, 2015, depending on the quantity of the BE-10 surveys filed by the US person.
The BE-10 surveys are mandatory, even if not contacted by BEA. They carry hefty non-filing penalties in the form of civil penalties ranging from $2,500 to $25,000, and a requirement to comply with mandatory filings for those who failed to do it in the first place. Those who willfully fail to comply may face either $10,000 penalty or a year of imprisonment, or both.
For more details, please go to https://www.bea.gov/surveys/pdf/be10/BE-10%20Instructions.pdf