#FATCA is: By @USTransitionTax the USA: by creating a "fictitious tax event" (no realisation event") is stealing the retirement pensions owned by residents of other countries and taking a preemptive tax strike against the capital base of those countries. https://t.co/d89VFYjylX pic.twitter.com/62iCSYQTrw

— John Richardson – lawyer for "U.S. persons" abroad (@ExpatriationLaw) June 9, 2018

To get to the point:
On June 4, 2018 U.S. Treasury issued the following bulletin which included questions and answers about the Sec. 965 U.S. Transition Tax.
It included Q. 16 …

Q16: If an individual fails to timely pay his or her first installment of tax due under section 965(h), will the IRS assess an addition to tax for failure to pay? Will the taxpayer’s requirement to pay all subsequent installments be accelerated under section 965(h)(3)?
A16: If an individual meets the criteria in this paragraph and pays the total amount of the first installment on or before the due date for the second installment, the IRS will not assess an addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment and will not accelerate subsequent installments under section 965(h)(3). An individual with a net tax liability under section 965 is required to report the liability on his or her tax return for the year in which or with which the inclusion year of the deferred foreign income corporation ends and pay the full amount of that liability on the unextended due date of that return, unless the individual elects to pay the liability in eight annual installments pursuant to section 965(h)(1). However, the IRS has determined that, if an individual’s net tax liability under section 965 in the individual’s 2017 taxable year is less than $1 million, the individual makes a timely election under section 965(h), and the individual did not pay the full amount of the first installment by the due date under section 965(h)(2), the failure to make the payment will not result in an acceleration event under section 965(h)(3) so long as the individual pays the full amount of the first installment (and its second installment) by the due date for its 2018 return (determined without regard to extensions). For this purpose, the relevant due date generally is April 15, 2019. In the case of United States citizens or residents whose tax homes and abodes, in a real and substantial sense, are outside the United States and Puerto Rico, and United States citizens and residents in military or naval service on duty, including non-permanent or short term duty, outside the United States and Puerto Rico, the relevant due date is June 17, 2019, which is provided by Treas. Reg. §1.6081-5(a)(5) and (6). Although the IRS will not assess an addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment, a taxpayer will be liable for interest on such amount from the due date of the installment. See I.R.C. §6601.
If the IRS sends a taxpayer a notice of an addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment, and the taxpayer meets all the conditions for relief described above (including making the required payment by the due date for the second installment due under section 965(h)), the taxpayer should contact the IRS office that issued the notice and request abatement of the addition to tax for failure to timely pay the first installment in accordance with the provisions in these FAQs.

Initial thoughts from one CPA include:

It appears that the first payment is delayed for a year, as long as the net 965 liability is less than $ 1 million, the individual timely files his 2017 return and timely makes the 965(h) election and does in fact pay the first two instalments by the due date for the 2018 return (June 15, 2019 for most of our clients). Since there will be interest, there should still be a payment if we are comfortable with the amount, but, if not, payment can wait until we actually file the return (instead of making a payment now but waiting until October to file).

Thoughts from a second CPA

It has now gone further. It will allow individuals to make this payment as late as April 15, 2019 (June 17 for taxpayers living outside the United States), and still get the deferral. So long as the transition tax is less than US$1M and he files a timely 2017 return with the election to defer payment, there will be no penalty. Interest will still be payable from April 17, 2018.
The crazy-making part of this is the announcement was made June 04, 2018, when the first payment was due April 17, 2018 (June 15 for taxpayers outside the US).

From a third person with experience advising on the “transition tax”:

Thanks for the heads up. I think the FAQ is poorly written, but is clearer when read in conjunction with new release.
https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-offers-penalty-filing-relief-to-many-subject-to-new-transition-tax-on-foreign-earnings
IR-2018-131, June 4, 2018
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) today announced that it will waive certain late-payment penalties relating to the section 965 transition tax, and provided additional information for individuals subject to the section 965 transition tax regarding the due date for relevant elections.
The IRS explained the relief in three new FAQs, posted today on the agency’s tax reform page. These supplement 14 existing questions and answers that provide detailed guidance to taxpayers on reporting and paying the tax.
Section 965 of the Internal Revenue Code, enacted in December 2017, imposes a transition tax on untaxed foreign earnings of foreign corporations owned by U.S. shareholders by deeming those earnings to be repatriated. Foreign earnings held in the form of cash and cash equivalents are taxed at a 15.5 percent rate, and the remaining earnings are taxed at an 8 percent rate. The transition tax generally may be paid in installments over an eight-year period when a taxpayer files a timely election under section 965(h).
In general, the questions and answers indicate that:
•In some instances, the IRS will waive the estimated tax penalty for taxpayers subject to the transition tax who improperly attempted to apply a 2017 calculated overpayment to their 2018 estimated tax, as long as they make all required estimated tax payments by June 15, 2018.
•For individual taxpayers who missed the April 18, 2018, deadline for making the first of the eight annual installment payments, the IRS will waive the late-payment penalty if the installment is paid in full by April 15, 2019. Absent this relief, a taxpayer’s remaining installments over the eight-year period would have become due immediately. This relief is only available if the individual’s total transition tax liability is less than $1 million. Interest will still be due. Later deadlines apply to certain individuals who live and work outside the United States.
•Individuals who have already filed a 2017 return without electing to pay the transition tax in eight annual installments can still make the election by filing a 2017 Form 1040X with the IRS. The amended Form 1040 generally must be filed by October 15, 2018.
See the FAQs for details. For more information about the transition tax and other tax reform provisions, visit IRS.gov/taxreform.
For Treasury media inquiries on this matter please contact Press@treasury.gov or 202-622-2960.

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For some of my previous posts written about the Internal Revenue Code Sec. 965 “transition tax”:
This is the eleventh in my series of posts about the Sec. 965 Transition Tax and whether/how it applies to the small business corporations owned by taxpaying residents of other countries (who may also have U.S. citizenship). These small business corporations are in no way “foreign”. They are certainly “local” to the resident of another country who just happens to have the misfortune of being a U.S. citizen.
The first eleven posts in my “transition tax” series were:
Part 1: Responding to The Section 965 “transition tax”: “Resistance is futile” but “Compliance is impossible”
Part 2: Responding to The Section 965 “transition tax”: Is “resistance futile”? The possible use of the Canada U.S. tax treaty to defeat the “transition tax”
Part 3: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: They hate you for (and want) your pensions!
Part 4: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: Comparing the treatment of “Homeland Americans” to the treatment of “nonresidents”
Part 5: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: Shades of #OVDP! April 15/18 is your last, best chance to comply!
Part 6: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: A “reprieve” until June 15, 2018
Part 7: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: Why the transition tax creates a fictional tax event that allows the U.S. to collect tax where it never could have before
Part 8: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: This small business thought it was saving to invest in business expansion – Wrong, they were saving to be robbed by America!
Part 9: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: From the “Pax Americana” to the “Tax Americana”
Part 10: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: Individuals subject to U.S. state tax jurisdiction, the response of New York State – It’s about “reasonable cause”!
Part 11: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: Letter to the Senate Finance discussing the effects of the transition tax on Americans abroad
Posted: 06/04/2018