The FBAR is FinCEN Form 114, and it is filed electronically, separately from your tax return. What trips people up is not the threshold but the definitions, because “U.S. person,” “foreign financial account,” and “signature authority” all reach further than most people expect.

This article explains who must file and what counts. To review your accounts with counsel, call (415) 968-1780.

What is the FBAR?

The FBAR, short for the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, is an annual report of your foreign financial accounts filed on FinCEN Form 114 through the Treasury Department’s BSA E-Filing System. It is not part of your Form 1040, and filing your tax return does not satisfy it.

The obligation comes from the Bank Secrecy Act, not the Internal Revenue Code, which is one reason it is so easy to miss and why the penalties for skipping it are handled differently from ordinary tax penalties.

Who must file an FBAR?

Any “U.S. person” who meets the account and threshold tests must file. A U.S. person includes far more than U.S. citizens living in the United States. It covers:

• U.S. citizens, wherever they live, including citizens who have never lived in the United States.
• U.S. resident aliens, including green-card holders and anyone who meets the substantial-presence test.
• Entities formed under U.S. law, including corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies.
• U.S. trusts and estates.

If you are a U.S. person under any of these categories and you cross the account and threshold tests below, the filing requirement applies regardless of whether you owe any tax on the accounts.

What counts as a foreign financial account?

The FBAR reaches a broad set of accounts held at a financial institution located outside the United States. The most common reportable accounts are:

• Foreign bank accounts, including checking, savings, and time deposits.
• Foreign securities and brokerage accounts.
• Foreign mutual funds and similar pooled funds.
• Certain foreign retirement or pension accounts, and certain foreign life insurance or annuity policies that have a cash value.

Location is what makes an account “foreign.” An account is foreign if the financial institution is outside the United States, even if the institution is a branch of a U.S. bank, and even if the account holds U.S. dollars. Conversely, a U.S. branch of a foreign bank is generally not a foreign account. The currency in the account and the nationality of the bank are not the test; where the account is maintained is.

The $10,000 threshold is an aggregate, not a per-account number

You must file if the combined highest value of all your foreign accounts exceeds $10,000 at any single moment during the year. This catches people who assume each small account is below the line.

Five accounts holding $3,000 each never individually cross $10,000, but together they total $15,000, so all five are reportable. And it is the highest balance at any point in the year that counts, not the year-end balance, so a large deposit that passed through an account in March can trigger the requirement even if the account was nearly empty by December.

Once you cross the threshold, you report every foreign account you have, including the ones well under $10,000.

Financial interest versus signature authority: both can require a filing

Two different relationships to an account can trigger the FBAR, and the second surprises people constantly.

A financial interest means you are the owner of record or hold legal title, or the account is held by someone acting on your behalf, or through an entity you substantially own. This is the obvious case.

Signature authority means you can control the disposition of the account by direction to the institution, even if you have no ownership stake and none of the money is yours.

A common example is a corporate officer, an employee, or a nonprofit board member who can sign on the organization’s foreign accounts. That person may have to file an FBAR reporting accounts they do not own. Signature authority over a family member’s foreign account, or over a foreign business account, can create the same duty. There are limited exceptions for certain officers and employees, but they are narrow, so do not assume you are covered by one.

When is the FBAR due?

The FBAR is due April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. You do not need to request the extension; it applies automatically. The FBAR is filed electronically through the BSA E-Filing System, and a spouse can sometimes be included on a single filing, though separate filings are often cleaner. Because the FBAR is separate from your tax return, filing or extending your 1040 has no effect on the FBAR deadline.

How the FBAR differs from Form 8938 (FATCA)

The FBAR is not the only foreign-account filing. Form 8938, the FATCA statement of specified foreign financial assets, is a separate form filed with your tax return, with higher thresholds that start at $50,000 for many taxpayers and rise for those who are married or living abroad. Many people have to file both, reporting the same accounts twice on two different forms to two different parts of the government. We break down the overlap and the different thresholds in FBAR vs. Form 8938: Do You Have to File Both?

What about cryptocurrency on foreign exchanges?

Crypto has its own wrinkle. As the rules stand for the 2026 filing season, an account holding only virtual currency is not currently FBAR-reportable, but most foreign-exchange accounts also hold fiat or cash-like assets, which usually makes the whole account reportable, and the rules are changing. We cover this in detail in Crypto FBAR: Reporting Cryptocurrency on Foreign Exchanges.

What happens if you should have filed and did not?

Missing an FBAR is common and fixable, but the right correction depends on why you missed it. Non-willful taxpayers may be able to use the Delinquent FBAR Procedures or the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, while cases involving possible willfulness point toward the formal IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice. The penalties for getting this wrong are severe, which we cover in FBAR Penalties: Willful vs. Non-Willful and How to Reduce Them, and the disclosure decision is one to make with an attorney, under privilege, before you file anything. Do not quietly back-file FBARs without advice; a quiet fix can raise more questions than it answers.

How Kugelman Law helps

We advise U.S. taxpayers on foreign-account reporting and represent them in FBAR matters, from determining what is reportable to correcting missed filings and defending penalties. For the full picture of offshore compliance and disclosure options, see our offshore and international tax attorney page.

Our results reflect what disciplined advocacy achieves in high-stakes tax disputes. In one federal matter, two IRS Notices of Deficiency proposing more than $557,000 across six years were settled in U.S. Tax Court down to roughly $38,000, and with avoided interest and California exposure the client effectively saved over $1.2 million. Results depend on specific facts. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.

Talk to an attorney about your FBAR obligations

If you are unsure whether you have to file an FBAR, or you think you missed one, get a privileged assessment before you act. Schedule a paid, privileged consultation with Kugelman Law by calling (415) 968-1780 or visiting our contact page.

Frequently asked questions

Who has to file an FBAR?

Any U.S. person, meaning U.S. citizens (wherever they live), resident aliens including green-card holders, and U.S. entities, trusts, and estates, who has a financial interest in or signature authority over foreign financial accounts whose combined value exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year. The filing is required whether or not you owe tax on the accounts.

What is the FBAR filing threshold?

You must file if the combined highest balance of all your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any single time during the calendar year. It is an aggregate figure across all accounts, and it is based on the highest value during the year, not the year-end balance. Once you cross it, you report every foreign account, including those under $10,000.

Do I have to file an FBAR for an account I don’t own?

Possibly, yes. Signature authority over a foreign account, such as a corporate officer or employee who can direct an employer’s foreign accounts, can trigger an FBAR filing even when none of the money is yours. Limited exceptions exist for certain officers and employees, but they are narrow.

When is the FBAR due?

April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 that you do not have to request. The FBAR is filed electronically through the BSA E-Filing System and is separate from your tax return, so your 1040 deadline does not affect it.

Is the FBAR the same as Form 8938?

No. They are separate filings with different rules. The FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is filed with the Treasury’s FinCEN, while Form 8938 is a FATCA form filed with your tax return and has higher thresholds. Many taxpayers must file both. See our comparison for the details.

About the author

Alex Kugelman is the founder and managing attorney of Kugelman Law, with nearly two decades of federal tax controversy experience including U.S. Tax Court and U.S. District Court litigation. He is admitted in California and before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Tax Court, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Eastern Districts of California, and served as San Francisco Chair of the Federal Bar Association Tax Division in 2018. He is nationally recognized for cryptocurrency tax and has been quoted in the Financial Times and the New York Post on California tax enforcement. For matters that reach into IRS offshore examinations, his colleague Otto Bosch, a former IRS Revenue Agent from the Large Business & International division, leads the firm’s federal audit-defense work.

This article is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice, and it describes rules that can change. Foreign-account reporting is fact-specific. Contacting Kugelman Law does not create an attorney-client relationship.