FBAR vs Form 8938: Thresholds, Deadlines and Who Must File

The FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are two separate US federal reports on foreign financial holdings, created by two different statutes and filed with two different agencies. Filing one never discharges the obligation to file the other. The FBAR is a report under the Bank Secrecy Act, the US anti-money-laundering law, filed with the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Form 8938 is a tax information return filed with the IRS under Internal Revenue Code section 6038D, the individual reporting rule created by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Many US persons, meaning US citizens, residents and US entities, must file both for the same year, because each report applies its own filing test independently. Three variables decide whether you file one, both or neither: who you are, what you hold, and how much it is worth.

What the FBAR and Form 8938 each are, and why two reports exist

Two reports exist because they serve two different statutory purposes. The FBAR is a Treasury financial-surveillance report under the Bank Secrecy Act, administered by FinCEN. Form 8938 is a tax information return under the Internal Revenue Code, administered by the IRS. They share subject matter, the foreign holdings of US persons, but they sit under different statutes, go to different agencies, and attach to different things. The IRS confirms that the Form 8938 requirement does not replace or otherwise affect a taxpayer's obligation to file FinCEN Form 114.

FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR): a Bank Secrecy Act report to FinCEN

The FBAR is formally the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, and its form number is FinCEN Form 114. It is filed electronically through FinCEN's Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) E-Filing System, and the IRS states that the FBAR is not filed with a federal tax return. It is a calendar-year report, measuring foreign financial accounts held during the calendar year rather than a tax year. It carries no tax liability of its own; it is an information report, not a computation of tax.

Form 8938: a section 6038D statement filed with your income tax return

Form 8938 is formally the Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, and its statutory source is IRC section 6038D, enacted by FATCA. It is attached to, and filed with, the income tax return, so it follows the return's tax year and the return's due date, including any extension of that return. It is filed by specified individuals and by specified domestic entities, the two filer classes defined in the next section, so it is not limited to individuals filing Form 1040: Form 8938 can accompany a Form 1040-NR, the return for nonresident aliens, and the returns of specified domestic entities.

FATCA is the law, Form 8938 is the report

FATCA is the legislation; Form 8938 is one report created under it. FATCA created two distinct duties: reporting by foreign financial institutions on their US account holders, and individual reporting on Form 8938 under section 6038D. A reader who says 'the FATCA form' almost always means Form 8938, but FATCA itself is broader than that single form. So a comparison framed as 'FBAR vs FATCA' is really a comparison of FinCEN Form 114 with Form 8938, and that is how this guide treats it. The institutional side of FATCA, meaning intergovernmental agreements between the United States and other countries, Chapter 4 withholding (the 30% US withholding tax on certain payments to non-compliant institutions and account holders) and the Forms W-8 and W-9 that banks collect, falls on financial institutions rather than on individual filers.

FBAR vs Form 8938 at a glance

The table below gives the full comparison on the dimensions that decide a filing. The sections that follow develop each dimension in turn.

Two dimensions decide most real cases: the threshold mechanic, because the two thresholds are measured differently and are not comparable figures; and whether the holding is an account or a non-account asset, because that single distinction drives most of the divergences in the asset table below.

Who must file each report

The two reports define the filer differently, so a person can be inside one definition and outside the other. The FBAR applies to US persons; Form 8938 applies to specified individuals and specified domestic entities. The two reports also use different interest tests, which is where most divergence arises.

US persons for FBAR purposes

The IRS states that US persons for FBAR purposes include US citizens, resident aliens, trusts, estates and domestic entities. FBAR status does not depend on filing a US income tax return: a person can owe an FBAR without owing any income tax or filing any return. The United States includes its territories for FBAR purposes, so resident aliens of US territories and US territory entities are inside the FBAR net. For how these reports fit the wider return, see our guide to tax for Americans living abroad.

Specified individuals and specified domestic entities for Form 8938

Form 8938 is filed by two classes. Specified individuals are US citizens, resident aliens and certain nonresident aliens, such as a nonresident spouse who has elected to be treated as a US resident, or a bona fide resident of American Samoa or Puerto Rico. Specified domestic entities are certain domestic corporations, partnerships and trusts formed or availed of, meaning set up or used, for the purpose of holding specified foreign financial assets. Two consequences are easy to miss: a nonresident alien can be required to file Form 8938 in those defined circumstances, so the report is not limited to individuals filing Form 1040; and a specified domestic entity attaches Form 8938 to the entity's own return. For Form 8938, the United States does not include its territories, which is the opposite of the FBAR answer.

Who is caught by financial interest and by signature authority

The two reports measure 'interest' against different standards. For the FBAR, two routes create a reportable interest. A financial interest arises where you are the owner of record or holder of legal title; where that owner or holder is your agent or representative; or where you have a sufficient interest in the entity that is the owner of record or holder of legal title. Signature authority arises where you have authority to control the disposition of the assets in the account by direct communication with the financial institution maintaining it. For Form 8938, you have an interest in an asset if any income, gain, loss, deduction, credit, gross proceeds or distribution from holding or disposing of it is, or would be, required to be reported, included or otherwise reflected on your income tax return.

The practical divergence follows from that difference. An account over which you hold only signature authority is generally reportable on the FBAR but not on Form 8938, because signature authority alone does not put any income or gain on your return. This is the single most common reason an employee or a company signatory files one report and not the other. Defined exceptions to the FBAR signature-authority rules apply to certain officers and employees.

Reporting thresholds and how to apply them

The two thresholds are not points on the same scale. The FBAR applies one aggregate test to everyone, measured across the calendar year. Form 8938 applies a two-date test that varies by filing status and by residence, measured against the tax year. The Form 8938 figures below are the amounts the IRS publishes on its comparison page, and the governing amounts are set in the Form 8938 instructions.

The FBAR aggregate test: more than $10,000 at any time in the calendar year

The FBAR test is met where the aggregate value of the foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year. The IRS treats this as a cumulative balance: if two accounts have a combined balance above $10,000 at any one time, both accounts are reportable. Three points that are routinely omitted matter here. The test is a high-water mark, not a year-end balance, so an account that peaks above the line in July and closes near zero still counts. The $10,000 figure is not indexed and is the same for every filer, regardless of filing status or residence. And once the aggregate crosses the line, every reportable account is listed, including accounts well below $10,000 individually.

Form 8938 thresholds for specified individuals living in the United States

A specified individual living in the United States meets the Form 8938 threshold on either of two measurement dates, by filing status:

Exceeding either limb triggers the filing requirement; the two limbs are alternatives, not a combined test.

Form 8938 thresholds for specified individuals living outside the United States

A specified individual who lives outside the United States uses the same two-date structure at higher figures:

Qualifying for these higher thresholds depends on meeting the Form 8938 instructions' definition of living abroad: broadly, being a bona fide resident of a foreign country for a full tax year, or being present in foreign countries for at least 330 full days in a 12-month period ending in the tax year.

Form 8938 threshold for specified domestic entities

A specified domestic entity meets the threshold where the total value of its specified foreign financial assets was more than $50,000 on the last day of the tax year, or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year. There is no residence uplift for entities; the single band applies.

Why the two thresholds cannot be compared directly

The two thresholds differ on four structural points. The measured pool differs: the FBAR measures foreign financial accounts only, while Form 8938 measures the wider class of specified foreign financial assets. The measurement dates differ: the FBAR looks to any time in the year, while Form 8938 looks to the last day of the tax year or any time during it. The period differs: the FBAR measures the calendar year, while Form 8938 measures the return's tax year. And the variability differs: the FBAR figure is fixed for all filers, while the Form 8938 figure varies by filing status and residence. The consequence is that a reader can be over one threshold and under the other in the same year, in either direction, so neither figure predicts the other.

Which assets go on which report

The FBAR reports foreign financial accounts. Form 8938 reports a wider class of specified foreign financial assets that includes non-account holdings. Most divergences between the two reports follow from that one difference. The table below classifies each holding as the IRS classifies it; the short list afterwards draws out where the two answers part.

Where the two reports diverge:

• A non-account asset such as directly held foreign stock, a foreign partnership interest or a foreign hedge fund is reportable on Form 8938 but not on the FBAR, because the FBAR reports accounts and these are not accounts.
• An account at a foreign branch of a US financial institution is reportable on the FBAR but not on Form 8938; an account at a US branch of a foreign financial institution is reportable on neither. The location of the branch, not the nationality of the bank, decides the FBAR answer.
• An account held under signature authority only is generally on the FBAR but not on Form 8938, because signature authority puts nothing on your income tax return.
• An indirect interest held through an entity can be reportable on the FBAR where the ownership or beneficial interest is sufficient, while Form 8938 instead reaches the interest in the entity itself as a specified foreign financial asset.
• Foreign real estate held directly is on neither report. Held through a foreign entity it is still on neither, but the entity interest is a specified foreign financial asset for Form 8938.

How to value accounts and assets, and which exchange rate to use

Both reports are completed in US dollars, and both report the maximum value each account or asset reached during the period, not its closing balance. For the FBAR, use periodic account statements to find each account's maximum value in its own currency during the calendar year, then convert it at the Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service rate for the last day of the calendar year. For Form 8938, report a reasonable estimate of each asset's maximum fair market value during the tax year, converted at the Bureau of the Fiscal Service rate for the last day of the tax year. Where the Treasury publishes no rate for a currency, either report may use another verifiable rate, with its source recorded.

For a calendar-year individual, the same account therefore normally carries the same figure on both reports. The figures part company in three situations: the filer's tax year is not the calendar year; Form 8938 includes non-account assets that never appear on the FBAR; and the year-end value, which plays no part in the FBAR, decides whether the Form 8938 last-day threshold is met.

As a worked example, take a single foreign deposit account held by a calendar-year US person living in the United States that peaks at €95,000 in June and closes at €40,000 on 31 December. Both reports show a maximum value of €95,000, converted to US dollars at the Treasury year-end rate; the €40,000 closing balance is not the reported figure on either. The closing balance still matters for Form 8938, because it is the figure tested against the $50,000 last-day threshold, while the June peak is tested against the $75,000 any-time threshold. The figures are illustrative and assume the stated facts.

Deadlines, filing channels and extensions

The two reports run on different clocks and go to different places, and their extensions work differently.

The FBAR extension is automatic: a filer who misses 15 April receives the extension to 15 October without making any request. The FBAR is filed electronically through the BSA E-Filing System; a spouse filing jointly or a paid preparer who files on a filer's behalf must hold a completed Form 114a, FinCEN's record of authorization to file on someone else's behalf, and paper filing requires a specific FinCEN exemption. Form 8938 has no separate extension of its own: because it is attached to the return, an extension obtained for the return, for example on Form 4868, or on Form 2350 for taxpayers abroad who need more time to qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion, also extends Form 8938.

When you must file both, and when only one applies

Whether you file both reports, one, or neither is decided by running the two tests independently and in a fixed order. The FBAR result never decides the Form 8938 result, and the Form 8938 result never decides the FBAR result; an answer at one step does not pre-empt a later step. Work through the four steps, then read the three worked scenarios, which are chosen to produce three different outcomes.

1. Did the aggregate value of your foreign financial accounts exceed $10,000 at any time in the calendar year? Measure the combined high-water-mark balance across all foreign financial accounts in which you have a reportable interest. A 'yes' establishes the FBAR filing requirement and nothing else.
2. Are you a specified individual or specified domestic entity required to file a US income tax return? Identify your Form 8938 filer class. A person who is not a specified individual or specified domestic entity, or who has no income tax return to file, has no Form 8938 obligation, whatever the FBAR answer was.
3. What is your filing status, and do you live inside or outside the United States? These two facts select which Form 8938 threshold applies. They do not affect the FBAR, whose threshold is fixed.
4. Does the total value of your specified foreign financial assets exceed the threshold identified at step 3, on either measurement date? Measure the last-day value and the any-time value against the applicable threshold. Exceeding either limb establishes the Form 8938 filing requirement.

Scenario (a): FBAR only. A US person living in the United States holds two foreign deposit accounts whose combined balance peaks at $14,000 during the year and has no other foreign assets. Step 1 is met, so the FBAR is required; the deposit accounts are specified foreign financial assets, but at $14,000 the total is below the $50,000 Form 8938 floor, so step 4 is not met. The outcome is FBAR only.

Scenario (b): Form 8938 only. A US person holds directly registered foreign stock worth more than the applicable Form 8938 threshold and holds no foreign financial account. Step 1 is not met, because directly held foreign stock is not an account and there is no foreign financial account to aggregate, so the FBAR is not required. The directly held foreign stock is a specified foreign financial asset and exceeds the threshold, so step 4 is met. The outcome is Form 8938 only.

Scenario (c): Both. A US person living abroad holds foreign deposit accounts whose aggregate exceeds $10,000 and holds total specified foreign financial assets above the living-abroad threshold identified at step 3. Step 1 is met, so the FBAR is required, and step 4 is met, so Form 8938 is required. The outcome is both reports. Each scenario assumes the facts as stated and is an illustration, not advice for a reader with similar facts.

Penalties under each report

The two penalty regimes are structurally different. The FBAR penalty attaches to the report under the Bank Secrecy Act. The Form 8938 penalty attaches to the information return and can also reopen the income tax return itself. The FBAR civil penalties are adjusted for inflation by reference to the date the penalty is assessed. The amounts stated are statutory maximums; they are not amounts the IRS is bound to assess.

FBAR civil penalties and the per-report rule after Bittner

The FBAR civil penalties have inflation-adjusted statutory bases under 31 USC 5321(a)(5), with the adjusted figures set out at 31 CFR 1010.821. A non-willful violation carries a statutory ceiling of $10,000, adjusted to $16,536. A willful violation carries the greater of a statutory $100,000, adjusted to $165,353, or 50 percent of the balance in the account at the time of the violation; the 50-percent limb is set by statute and is not inflation-adjusted.

Those are the amounts in force for 2026. They took effect for penalties assessed on or after 17 January 2025 and were not increased in 2026, because the Office of Management and Budget cancelled the 2026 civil penalty inflation adjustment in Memorandum M-26-11 of 17 April 2026. The government shutdown prevented the Bureau of Labor Statistics from producing the October 2025 CPI-U data on which the annual adjustment depends, so agencies were directed to continue applying the 2025 penalty levels. The penalty table at 31 CFR 1010.821 therefore still reads as effective for assessments on or after 17 January 2025.

How the non-willful penalty is counted was settled by the Supreme Court. In Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85 (2023), the Court held that the non-willful penalty accrues per annual report, not per unreported account: one missed year produces one non-willful penalty, however many accounts the report should have listed. Willful penalties work differently. By statute they are measured account by account and year by year, and criminal penalties may also apply. A non-willful violation is also subject to a reasonable-cause exception under 31 USC 5321(a)(5)(B)(ii), which turns on the facts.

Form 8938 penalties and the effect on your tax return

Form 8938 carries three consequences, in the order they arise:

1. Failure-to-disclose penalty. Up to $10,000 under IRC section 6038D(d), plus a further $10,000 for each 30-day period the failure continues after the IRS mails a notice of failure to disclose, with the further penalty capped at $50,000, for a potential maximum of $60,000.
2. Accuracy-related penalty. 40 percent of any underpayment of tax attributable to an undisclosed specified foreign financial asset, under IRC section 6662(j).
3. Extended assessment period. Under IRC section 6501(c)(8), the IRS can assess tax until three years after the required section 6038D information is furnished; where the failure was not due to reasonable cause, that extension covers the whole return, not only the omitted item.

A reasonable-cause and not-willful-neglect defense is available and is decided on the facts; the regulations note that a foreign jurisdiction's own secrecy law is not, by itself, reasonable cause. Where both reports were missed for the same year, both penalty regimes can apply to the same foreign holding at once.

If you have already missed an FBAR or a Form 8938

The correction routes differ by report, and the IRS changed its published FBAR position in 2026.

The IRS page 'Options available for U.S. taxpayers with undisclosed foreign financial assets', last reviewed or updated on 30 June 2026, now lists three options only: the IRS Criminal Investigation Voluntary Disclosure Practice, generally used where conduct may have been willful; the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, a reduced-penalty catch-up route for non-willful taxpayers; and the Delinquent international information return submission procedures. The separately published Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures are no longer listed among the options on that page.

A late FBAR can still be filed through the BSA E-Filing System, which asks the filer to select a reason for filing late. The IRS used to publish an assurance that it would not assert a penalty on a qualifying delinquent FBAR where the income had been properly reported and the tax paid. That assurance no longer appears on the options page, so a late FBAR should not be assumed to carry no penalty.

A missed or incorrect Form 8938 is normally corrected by amending the income tax return for the year, attaching the corrected Form 8938, with a reasonable-cause explanation where one applies. Which route fits depends on whether income was also unreported and on whether the conduct was non-willful, and the choice is one to make with professional advice.

Common mistakes when deciding between the two reports

Each belief below is common, and each one changes a filing outcome if it is acted on.

• Assuming that filing one report satisfies the other. The IRS states that Form 8938 does not replace or affect the FBAR obligation, and the reverse is equally true. Acting on the belief leaves one report unfiled and exposed to its own penalty regime.
• Treating the $10,000 FBAR figure as a per-account test. The FBAR threshold is an aggregate high-water mark across all foreign financial accounts, not a per-account limit. Reading it per account causes a filer with several small accounts that together exceed $10,000 to under-report or skip the FBAR entirely.
• Omitting accounts held under signature authority only. Signature authority creates an FBAR reportable interest even without ownership. Leaving such accounts off the FBAR understates the report, even though those same accounts are correctly absent from Form 8938.
• Confusing a foreign branch of a US bank with a US branch of a foreign bank. An account at a foreign branch of a US institution is on the FBAR; an account at a US branch of a foreign institution is on neither. Swapping the two produces the wrong FBAR answer in both directions.
• Applying the living-abroad Form 8938 thresholds without meeting the definition. The higher thresholds apply only to a specified individual who meets the Form 8938 instructions' definition of living abroad. Using the higher figures without meeting that definition can wrongly suppress a required Form 8938.
• Assuming the non-willful FBAR penalty multiplies by the number of accounts. After Bittner v. United States, the non-willful penalty accrues per annual report, not per account. Budgeting for a per-account penalty overstates non-willful exposure, while assuming per-report treatment for a willful violation understates it.
• Reading 'FATCA' as a separate form in addition to Form 8938. FATCA is the legislation; Form 8938 is the individual report under section 6038D. Treating 'FATCA' as an extra form leads a reader to look for a filing that does not exist, or to miss that Form 8938 is the FATCA individual report.

Frequently asked questions