Top FAQs
Getting Started
Who Needs to File the FBAR?
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 15th, and penalties for not filing can be hefty.
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What are the consequences if I don’t file 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.
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I have missed years of FBARs. How can I catch up?
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.
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How do I get started with MyExpatFBAR?
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
- Create an Account in under 3 minutes! Answer simple questions about yourself.
- Activate your account.
A link will be sent to your inbox to activate your account. Make sure to check your spam! - Input your personal information.
- Include information about your Foreign Bank Accounts and assets.
- Confirm your FBAR is complete and accurate.
- Complete your payment. This will unlock your FBAR package draft! Your payment is always secure, using rigorous European Security Standards.
- 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!
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When should you file the FBAR?
The deadline for filing the FBAR is October 15. For example, you can file your 2021 FBAR until October 15, 2022.
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Features
Want to get your US Expat Taxes done as well as your FBAR?
You can quickly and easily file your FBAR online with MyExpatFBAR - or file your US Tax Return & your FBAR together with MyExpatTaxes!
It's possible to upgrade from MyExpatFBAR to MyEpatTaxes during the process. Just click on the 'FBAR & US TAXES' button on the top and we'll transfer your account.
If you file and pay for your FBAR only at first, but later want to upgrade to file for a tax return in the same calendar, the FBAR payment will be credited towards the tax return fee!
File just your FBAR - or File your US Expat Taxes Too! The choice is yours.
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Can you e-file my FBAR for me?
Yes, you can digitally submit your finished FBAR to FinCEN with MyExpatFBAR.
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Does MyExpatFBAR have a referral program?
Yes, of course! With your first purchase, you'll receive a unique referral link to share that with your friends! They'll receive 10% off their first report and you'll get €10 in credit towards your next FBAR created with us.
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What if I made a mistake during the process?
With MyExpatFBAR, you’re in complete control. You can save, go back, edit & update anytime.Â
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Pricing
How many accounts can I report for the fee?
The fee (€49 / USD 59) is per year of FBAR filing, regardless how many accounts you have to report for any given year!
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What Payment Methods on MyExpatFBAR Can I Use?
We support direct bank transfer, credit card, and Paypal transactions. We fully adhere to the European PSD2 directive, which requires two-factor authentication for all online payments. We don't store your credit card information at all.
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Can I refer my friends and get a discount in return?
Yes, of course! With your first purchase, you'll receive a unique referral link (to be found in your invoice). Share that link with your friends! They'll receive 10% off their first return with us and you'll get €10 in credit towards your next tax return with us.
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If I file my FBARs first and then file my tax return in the same year after all, will I get some discount for the taxes fee?
If you file and pay for your FBAR only at first, but later want to upgrade to file for a tax return in the same calendar, the FBAR payment will be credited towards the tax return fee!
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When and how do I pay on MyExpatFBAR?
Have no fear, you’ll be able to use our service for free up until we are ready to provide you with your draft tax return (after you complete the deductions section). We use Mollie as our payment system, which supports direct bank transfer, credit card and PayPal transactions (options may vary based on the country you live in).
All prices are quoted in EUR and includes VAT already (how about that for transparent pricing).
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Security
Can you tell me about your security measures?
Of course - we're dealing with sensitive data, so we've taken several steps to make MyExpatTaxes/MyExpatFBAR as secure as possible:
- Rather than trying to re-invent the wheel, we rely on well-proven and established industry standards.
- All the libraries we use have built-in security features out-of-the-box.
- Our lead developers have years of security experience, having worked in banking, payment, insurance and the networking industry.
- Our front-end and back-end systems are loosely coupled and we vigorously scrutinize every call to the back-end - i.e., we do not trust any client-side security measures.
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How is the data I enter secure?
We take data privacy very seriously. All your data is stored encrypted on our servers and we collect only what we need to prepare your tax returns.
We are fully compliant with all strict GDPR measures. We also fully adhere to the European PSD2 directive requiring two-factor authentication for all online payments. We don't store your credit card information.
If you ever want to delete your account, all data that is associated with you will be deleted without a chance for recovery. We will have to retain the tax forms that were provided to the IRS to comply with the US tax law for the necessary period though.
For more details, please check out our privacy policy right here.
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Is MyExpatFBAR GDPR compliant?
Yes, MyExpatFBAR is GDPR compliant. No client data is shared with third-parties, except the tax authorities of course, which is the aim of our software. While working through a browser, MyExpatTaxes uses the typical tracking of cookies, but clients need to explicitly opt-in before those cookies are set.
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How does MyExpatFBAR keep my account secure?
MyExpatFBAR was designed with security in mind from day one. The architects and lead developers have 20+ years experience in creating secure web applications.
On all infrastructure levels, the software uses state-of-the-art security best practices. Data is encrypted at transport and wherever possible on rest. Passwords or security question answers are stored as hashes only, so that not even MyExpatFBAR can read these data. MyExpatTaxes does not store any credit card information.
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Can I pay in a secure way?
We're using Mollie as our Payment Gateway and allow for a variety of payment methods (based on your location, different options might be available).
Through Mollie, we fully adhere to the European PSD2 directive. PSD2 is the latest set of rules set by the EU to help regulate payments in Europe. PSD2 transforms the way payments and e-commerce work by requiring two-factor authentication (2FA) for all online payments which increases the security of your checkout.
We don't store your credit card or other payment information, so we do require you to re-enter that with every purchase you make.
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