Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) requires U.S. persons with foreign financial accounts to file annual FBARs when aggregate foreign-account balances exceed $10,000. 31 U.S.C. §5314; 31 C.F.R. §1010.306.
Alexandru Bittner filed late FBARs for 2007–2011; corrected FBARs later supplied detailed information for every account (61, 51, 53, 53, 54 accounts respectively).
The government treated each unreported account as a separate nonwillful violation and assessed $10,000 per account (272 accounts → $2.72 million). The Fifth Circuit upheld that per-account calculation.
Bittner argued the statute caps nonwillful penalties at $10,000 per deficient report (per-report), not per account; the Ninth Circuit had reached that conclusion in Boyd.
The Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether the $10,000 nonwillful maximum applies per report or per account and reversed the Fifth Circuit.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Bittner)	Defendant's Argument (United States)	Held
Whether BSA’s $10,000 maximum nonwillful penalty accrues per FBAR report or per unreported account	Nonwillful penalty is capped at $10,000 per deficient report (single violation per report)	Nonwillful penalty may be imposed $10,000 for each account not timely/accurately reported (per-account multiplicative penalties)	Per-report: nonwillful $10,000 cap applies to each report, not separately to each account

United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U.S. 321 (1906) (syllabus not part of Court’s opinion)
Skidmore v. Swift & Co., 323 U.S. 134 (1944) (agency interpretations merit deference based on persuasiveness)
Department of Homeland Security v. MacLean, 574 U.S. 383 (2015) (expressio unius canon applied)
Commissioner v. Acker, 361 U.S. 87 (1959) (penal statutes construed strictly)
McBoyle v. United States, 283 U.S. 25 (1931) (fair‑notice principle for penal statutes)
Connally v. General Constr. Co., 269 U.S. 385 (1926) (requirement of fair warning in statute)
Leocal v. Ashcroft, 543 U.S. 1 (2004) (lenity when statute has criminal and noncriminal applications)
FCC v. American Broadcasting Co., 347 U.S. 284 (1954) (construction of penalty provisions)
IBP, Inc. v. Alvarez, 546 U.S. 21 (2005) (identical words in different parts of a statute generally have the same meaning)
United States v. Boyd, 991 F.3d 1077 (9th Cir. 2021) (held a single nonwillful penalty applies when an untimely but accurate FBAR is filed)
Bittner v. United States, 19 F.4th 734 (5th Cir. 2021) (Fifth Circuit decision holding nonwillful penalties may be applied per account)
United States v. Thompson/Center Arms Co., 504 U.S. 505 (1992) (discussion of statutory construction principles applicable to penalties)