968 / Who is subject to FBAR filing requirements?

U.S. persons are required to file an FBAR if they have a financial interest (see Q ) in foreign bank accounts with an aggregate value exceeding $10,000 at any time during the calendar year (the $10,000 limit applies regardless of filing status).¹ Even if no single account ever exceeds the $10,000 threshold, the taxpayer will be required to file an FBAR if the combined value of all accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year.

An individual FBAR filer is a natural person who owns a reportable foreign financial account or has signature authority but no financial interest in a reportable foreign financial account that requires the filing of an FBAR for the reportable year.

Certain individual U.S. persons must file even if they do not have a financial interest in a reportable account if they have signature authority over one or more otherwise reportable accounts. For example, an officer or employee of a U.S. entity who has the requisite control over the transfer or withdrawal of funds from foreign financial accounts will typically be required to file the FBAR even if that individual does not have a direct ownership interest. This filing requirement is based on the idea that the individual has authority to control the funds in the account.

Generally speaking, a “U.S. person” is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident, corporation, partnership, limited liability entity, trust or estate. Residency status can be based on either the green card test or the substantial presence test (see Q 951 for a more in-depth discussion).

If all foreign financial accounts are jointly owned between two spouses, one spouse can complete FinCEN Form 114a to authorize the other spouse to file on his or her behalf.²