The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced on December 20, 2011 that the deadline for financial institutions to utilize FinCEN’s new Currency Transaction Report (CTR) and Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) for reporting purposes will be extended to March 31, 2013.

FinCEN is extending the deadline partly in response to industry concern about having sufficient time to transition to the new reports, including any necessary changes to their internal processes and/or IT systems. FinCEN proposed that the new reports be implemented by June 30, 2012, the same date proposed for ending the paper filing option for FinCEN forms. FinCEN expects this extended timeframe for incorporating the new CTR and SAR to ease the industry’s transition to these new reports. Hence, for a period of over a year, financial institutions will be able to file either the legacy forms or the new reports.

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