FBAR FAQs

Anyone who must file or pay US taxes from abroad are required to file the FBAR once their financial accounts have reached the FBAR filing threshold as stated below. The best thing is that you can file your FBAR within minutes through the MyExpatTaxes app!

The Foreign Bank Account Report is a form needs to be filled out if you have had $10,000 or more combined from all foreign financial accounts at any one time during the year. The filing deadline is October 15^th, and penalties for not filing can be hefty.

Learn more about the FBAR.

Curious to know about calculating the total balance for all your overseas financial accounts? Here's an example:

You have 3 bank accounts: 2 from Italy, 1 from the US. You have a pension set up in Italy because you work for an employer, and life insurance from an Italian company you have been funding for 10 years.

Now, you need to calculate the maximum balance of the year for all foreign accounts – ignoring US accounts because they don’t count. Sum up the total from your foreign financial accounts, and convert the money into USD. Now you can determine whether you need to file an FBAR.

Learn more about the FBAR.

Hefty penalties can come your way if you forgot or didn’t know you had to file the FBAR, or Foreign Bank Account Report. Depending on your circumstance as an expat, you may have to pay penalties:

As you can see, these penalties are expensive. To prevent paying such fines, check out our Streamlined Procedure program where you can make up years of back taxes and FBARS for an affordable price.

Since FBARS are filed through FinCen and not the IRS, penalties can be as high as $10,000 a year for filing errors or not knowing you had to file.

Fortunately, there is an amnesty option for expats to make up this tax situation. However, you’ll need to use them before the IRS contacts you. The amnesty program is called the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures.

Here are three ways you, as an American expat, can catch up and file your late FBARs:

If you already filed your tax return through us at MyExpatTaxes:

You can back file your FBAR through our MyExpatTaxes online portal You can do this for any qualifying years and need to explain why you didn’t file them before (i.e., you were unaware you had to do them).

If you already filed your tax return (either through another tax company, or on your own) or if you have not filed your tax return yet:

You can back file your FBAR through our MyExpatFBAR online portal or the FinCen portal. You can do this for any qualifying years and need to explain why you didn’t file them before (i.e., you were unaware you had to do them).

If you have not filed your tax return yet:

You can also make up for lost years by using the Streamlined Procedure tax amnesty program. This program is exclusively for Americans abroad who didn’t know they had to file taxes from abroad without facing tax consequences and fees.

Yes, if you close the financial account, you should report it. Also, don't forget to report the closing balance of the financial account in FBAR and FATCA forms while filing your taxes.

If spouses only have joint foreign accounts then, they can file one FBAR. However, if both spouses have at least one individual foreign account then they have to file one FBAR per person.

If you don't have a foreign account you don't have to prove it. However, if you do have a foreign account and don't report it, you could get fined, because the IRS will find out.

There is no tax on the FBAR values; FBAR reports are for informational purposes only.

Yes, you will need to include any joint accounts on your FBAR, however your non US citizen/Green Card Holder spouse does not need to file their own FBAR.

You should file an FBAR if the total of all financial accounts combined exceed the $10,000 threshold. Even for one day! Keep in mind that you won’t be taxed on your foreign bank account because of this specific form. To find out which types of financial accounts have to be reported on the FBAR, check out our blog.

The deadline for filing the FBAR for US expats is October 15. We at MyExpatTaxes always ensure that our clients file an FBAR because of the penalties that come with not filing one. We prefer you be safer in this regard and file even though your accounts don't reach the threshold.

MyExpatFBAR is a software that helps you file your US FBARs, no matter where you live. Getting started takes less than 5 minutes. To make the process faster, ensure you have the required documents needed to file your FBARs.

Set Up your Account

1. Create an Account in under 3 minutes! Answer simple questions about yourself.
2. Activate your account.
   A link will be sent to your inbox to activate your account. Make sure to check your spam!
3. Input your personal information.
4. Include information about your Foreign Bank Accounts and assets.
5. Confirm your FBAR is complete and accurate.
6. Complete your payment. This will unlock your FBAR package draft! Your payment is always secure, using rigorous European Security Standards.
7. Digitally submit your finished FBAR to FinCEN.

You can always save your progress & return to your account if you don’t have all the information handy. So no worries!

Get Started!

The deadline for filing the FBAR is October 15. For example, you can file your 2021 FBAR until October 15, 2022.

By filing the FBAR, you are informing the Treasury Department about your foreign accounts, this way you are helping them in preventing tax evasion.