Report of Foreign Bank and Foreign Accounts to FinCen

 

Who needs to report a foreign bank account?

Reporting Foreign Bank Accounts (FBAR)

 The law requires owners of foreign financial accounts to report their accounts to the U.S Treasury Department, even if the accounts don’t generate any taxable income. Account owners need to report accounts by the April 15(or extended May 17th deadline for 2021) due date following the calendar year that they own a foreign financial account.

The U.S. government requires individuals to report foreign financial accounts because foreign financial institutions may not be subject to the same reporting requirements as domestic ones.

Who needs to report:
 

  a person with financial interest, or monetary gain, in, signature authority or other authority over one or more accounts in a foreign country, and

  a person with the sum of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.

A U.S. person is a citizen or resident of the United States.

More specific - the type of accounts that must be reported on the Foreign Bank Account Report if you meet the 10,000 threshold:

    bank accounts (checking and saving)

    investment accounts

    mutual funds

    retirement and pension accounts

    securities and other brokerage accounts

    debit card and prepaid credit card accounts

    life insurance and annuities having cash value

Report each foreign financial account you own or on which you have signature authority using FinCEN Form 114.

FBAR for married couples

Spouses don’t need to file separate FBARs- foreign bank account reports- if they complete and sign Form 114a, Record of Authorization to Electronically File FBARs PDF, and:

    All reportable financial accounts are jointly owned with the filing spouse, and

    The filing spouse reports the jointly-owned accounts on a timely-filed FBAR.

The Foreign Bank Account Report is filed for each account holder. Married couples can file separate reports or a single joint report.

Generally, individuals filing an FBAR should keep records of accounts that need reporting for five years from the due date of the report. They should keep the:

    Name on each account

    Account number or other designation

    Name and address of the foreign bank or other person who keeps the account

Type of account, and

    Greatest value of each account during the reporting period

Submit request about foreign account report on web site: https://www.taxeasy.us/contact-us.html