FBAR vs 8938: Which Form Do You File?
US Expat Tax
Two reports, two agencies, two sets of rules. Filing one never satisfies the other, and the same bank account often has to appear on both.
Expats treat the FBAR and Form 8938 as one requirement with two names. They are not. The FBAR goes to the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network under the Bank Secrecy Act. Form 8938 goes to the IRS with your income tax return under FATCA. Different thresholds, different due dates, different penalties.
The stakes are not symmetrical either. A missed Form 8938 starts at $10,000. A missed FBAR starts at $16,536 for an honest mistake, and a willful miss is the greater of $165,353 or half the account balance. Here is how to tell which one you owe.
FBAR (FinCEN Form 114): foreign accounts worth more than $10,000 combined on any day of the year. Filed online with FinCEN, not with your return. Due April 15, automatically extended to October 15.
Form 8938 (FATCA): specified foreign assets above $50,000 for a single filer living in the US, $200,000 living abroad, double for joint filers. Attached to Form 1040. No return, no 8938.
Both: one account that clears both thresholds goes on both forms. Filing one does not excuse the other.
The FBAR: FinCEN’s report
The FBAR is a bank report, not a tax form. You file it if the combined value of your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the year, even for a day. Checking, savings, brokerage, most foreign pensions with an account balance, and any account you can sign on for someone else all count. Ownership is not the test. Authority is.
It is filed electronically through FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System, separate from your return. The due date is April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 that you do not have to request. Tax software that prepares your 1040 does not send the FBAR unless you tell it to.
One more thing the FBAR does not care about: whether you file a US return at all. A retiree abroad with income under the filing threshold still owes FinCEN a report the year the accounts cross $10,000.
Form 8938: the IRS version
Form 8938 is a schedule attached to your income tax return. It reports “specified foreign financial assets,” which is a wider net than accounts. Foreign stock you hold directly, an interest in a foreign partnership, a foreign pension, and certain foreign contracts are all in, even when no account exists.
The thresholds depend on where you live and how you file. Living in the US: $50,000 at year end or $75,000 at any point, single; $100,000 and $150,000 married filing jointly. Living abroad: $200,000 at year end or $300,000 at any point, single; $400,000 and $600,000 joint. The full table is in the Form 8938 instructions.
Because it rides on the return, it follows the return’s deadline, extensions included. And if no return is required, no Form 8938 is required either.
FBAR (FinCEN Form 114)
- Filed with: FinCEN, online, separate from the return
- Trigger: accounts over $10,000 combined, any day of the year
- Covers: foreign accounts, including signature authority only
- Due: April 15, automatic extension to October 15
- Without a US return: still required
- Late penalty: $16,536 non-willful; willful, the greater of $165,353 or 50% of the balance
Form 8938 (FATCA)
- Filed with: the IRS, attached to Form 1040
- Trigger: $50,000 in the US, $200,000 abroad, single filers; double for joint
- Covers: accounts plus directly held stock, partnerships, pensions
- Due: with the return, extensions included
- Without a US return: not required
- Late penalty: $10,000, plus up to $50,000 after IRS notice
Where people get it wrong
The common error is filing one and assuming the other is covered. The IRS says it plainly in its comparison of the two forms: Form 8938 does not replace the FBAR. A single foreign checking account holding $60,000 at year end, owned by a single filer living in the US, triggers both.
The second error runs the other way. People skip the FBAR because no US return is due, or because the money is in a spouse’s name and they only have signing rights. Neither is an exception. And an unfiled Form 8938 has a cost beyond the penalty: it can hold the statute of limitations on the whole return open until three years after you finally file it.
The penalties are where the two forms diverge most. FBAR penalties come from the Bank Secrecy Act and are inflation adjusted each year; the current amounts are in 31 CFR 1010.821. Form 8938 penalties come from the tax code: $10,000, plus $10,000 for each 30 days of continued failure after IRS notice, capped at $50,000 more.
Expats who move mid-year get caught by the residence test. The higher “abroad” thresholds for Form 8938 apply only if you qualify under the presence tests used for the foreign earned income exclusion. Fall short and the US thresholds apply, which is how a $120,000 brokerage account becomes reportable the year you land. The US expat tax guide covers the residence tests.
The verdict
FBAR when your foreign accounts, including ones you only sign on, exceed $10,000 combined on any day, whether or not you file a 1040.
Form 8938 when you file a US return and your specified foreign assets exceed the threshold for your residence and filing status.
Both when one account clears both thresholds, which is most expats with real savings. Filing one does not excuse the other.
FAQs: FBAR vs Form 8938
Do I need to file both FBAR and Form 8938?
Is Form 8938 the same as FBAR?
What is the difference between FBAR and Form 8938?
When do I file FBAR and 8938?
Sort out which forms you owe
Most expats with savings abroad owe both reports, and the FBAR is the one that gets missed because nothing in the tax return points to it. If you are not sure which thresholds you crossed, or you have years of unfiled reports behind you, the fix is cheaper before the IRS writes than after.
We prepare US returns and information reports for Americans in Spain, Portugal, the UK, Germany and beyond. Thirty minutes is usually enough to know where you stand.
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