Is it legal to have a personal foreign bank account?

It’s amazing the rumors that abound about the IRS. An individual will not get in trouble for merely having a foreign bank account, so long as he reports it properly on his tax return. Many people and businesses have such accounts in this global economy. The trouble arises when one earns income overseas, places it in that account and then does not report the income as an American citizen. There is a form to include with a return denoting the foreign account and any activity that goes through it. Many people do try to hide money from the IRS by placing it in foreign accounts and, as you might guess, that is illegal and can result in time in a federal prison. The IRS is continuing to pressure and even sue foreign financial institutions to learn the names of all American depositors in their banks, so all people hiding money in foreign accounts should be forewarned!