FBAR & FATCA reporting, done before it becomes a penalty.
Two separate regimes require Americans to disclose non-US accounts: the FBAR filed with FinCEN and Form 8938 filed with your return. The thresholds differ, the definitions differ, and the penalties for silence are among the harshest in the code.
The $10,000 trigger is lower than it sounds
The FBAR threshold is aggregate, every current account, savings account, ISA and pension you can sign on, measured at each account's highest point in the year. An ordinary London salary plus a deposit-sized savings balance crosses it easily.
We identify every reportable account, aggregate the maximum balances correctly, and file the FBAR alongside Form 8938 where your totals require it.
- FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) preparation and filing
- Form 8938 where FATCA thresholds are met
- Joint accounts and signature-authority accounts handled
- Late FBARs brought current where filings were missed
Missed years are usually fixable
If you have never filed an FBAR, the answer is almost never to start quietly filing this year's. The Streamlined programme exists precisely for this, and used correctly it removes the penalty exposure, entirely on the Foreign route if you live abroad and qualify, at a 5% charge on the Domestic one. Where only the FBARs are missing, they are filed late with an explanation; the IRS withdrew its separate delinquent-FBAR procedures in 2026, so that route no longer carries a written assurance of no penalty.
A process built for messy account histories
The hard part of account reporting is rarely the form, it is reconstructing the list: the dormant account from a first job, the joint account with a parent, the pension from three employers ago. Our intake walks through every category so nothing surfaces later.
Balances are converted at the correct Treasury rates, maximums are evidenced from statements rather than guessed, and the working papers are kept so next year's filing takes a fraction of the time.
- Structured account discovery, category by category
- Statement-evidenced maximum balances
- Correct Treasury year-end conversions
- Working papers retained for future years
FBAR and FATCA reporting
Which UK accounts go on FinCEN Form 114 and Form 8938, the thresholds, deadlines and penalties.
Questions we are asked most
The ones that come up in almost every first conversation about fbar & fatca reporting.
Bank accounts, most investment and brokerage accounts, certain pensions and some insurance products with a cash value.
Accounts you do not own but can control - a business account, or a relative's account you hold signature authority over - can also be reportable.
It is still reportable, and generally at its full value rather than your share, which surprises people.
The reporting obligation follows the US person's access to the account rather than their beneficial share of it.
Filing correctly is not what draws attention. What draws attention is the gap between accounts a foreign bank reports under FATCA and what you disclosed.
Banks report to the IRS independently, so silence is more visible than a filing.
The combined high balance of all your non-US financial accounts crossing $10,000 at any point in the year. It is aggregate, so several small accounts can cross the line together.
It also counts the highest balance during the year rather than the closing balance, so money that passed through briefly still counts.
No. It is a disclosure filed with FinCEN, not the IRS, and nothing is owed on the accounts themselves.
The reason it matters is the penalty regime for not filing, which is severe and entirely avoidable.
FATCA reporting is made on Form 8938 with your tax return and covers a broader class of specified foreign financial assets. FBAR is a separate FinCEN filing covering accounts.
The thresholds differ and depend on filing status and where you live, so plenty of people owe one and not the other - and plenty owe both.
Delinquent FBARs can usually be brought current, and where the omission was non-wilful the Streamlined programme covers six years of them - without penalty on the Foreign route, or at a 5% charge on the Domestic one.
Filing them quietly outside a formal programme is generally the wrong move, because it forfeits the protection those programmes give.
Related services
Most positions touch more than one of these. We prepare them from the same file.
Not sure whether you crossed the threshold?
Send us the outline of your accounts and we will confirm what is reportable, and file it before the deadline rather than after.