Why we ask about foreign bank accounts
If your accounts abroad added up to more than $10,000 at any point last year, you have an FBAR to file.
We ask because your answer decides whether there's a second filing to make. If you or your business has a financial interest in, or signature authority over, foreign financial accounts whose combined value went above $10,000 at any point during the year, those accounts get reported to the Treasury Department every year on an FBAR, FinCEN Form 114.
What people usually get wrong
- The $10,000 threshold is the combined value of all your foreign accounts, not each account on its own.
- It's triggered by the highest balance at any moment during the year, not by the year-end balance.
- You file even if you only have signature authority over an account you don't own.
- You file even if the account earned no income.
Who has to file
The requirement applies to United States persons. That means U.S. citizens; U.S. residents, including green card holders and anyone who meets the substantial presence test; entities formed or organized in the U.S., such as corporations, partnerships, and LLCs; and trusts and estates formed under U.S. law.
How and when to file
You file the FBAR electronically through FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System. It goes to the Treasury Department, not the IRS, and it isn't part of your tax return.
The deadline is April 15. If you miss it, an automatic extension to October 15 applies. You don't have to request the extension or file anything to get it.
What happens if you don't file
Penalties turn on whether the failure was willful. A non-willful violation carries a civil penalty of more than $16,000 per annual report. A willful violation carries the greater of more than $165,000 or 50% of the account balance at the time of the violation, and it can bring criminal exposure. Both amounts start from a figure set by statute and are adjusted upward for inflation every year, so ask your Tax Pro for the current numbers before you rely on them.
There's some good news for anyone who has already missed a year. In Bittner v. United States, decided in 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that the non-willful penalty applies per annual report rather than per unreported account. If you left several accounts off the same year's report, that's one penalty for that year, not one penalty for each account.
If you've already missed one
If you simply didn't know about the requirement and there's no unreported income tied to the accounts, the IRS delinquent FBAR submission procedures often resolve it with no penalty at all. Reasonable-cause relief may also apply. Tell your Tax Pro what you're working with and they'll walk you through which path fits.
The FBAR is not Form 8938
They're two separate filings with different thresholds, different agencies, and different rules. Plenty of people have to file both for the same account, and filing one doesn't satisfy the other. What's considered a foreign asset? covers Form 8938.