FBAR vs Form 8938: two tests, run separately.

Best for: One or two accounts, clean balances, no missed years

The FBAR is filed directly and free at FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System, and Form 8938 ships with every major tax software package. If you hold a checking account and a savings account, know each account's highest balance, and have filed every prior year, the forms themselves are short.

Main limitation: The forms are easy; the determination isn't. Valuing each account at its year-high, converting at Treasury's year-end rate, and knowing what counts as a specified asset is where self-filers go wrong — and the penalties attach to the determination, not the typing.

Best for: Missed prior years, entity interests, anything touching Streamlined

Delinquent submissions, Streamlined filings, foreign corporations (Form 5471), foreign trusts and gifts (Form 3520) are professional territory: the routes that reduce penalties to zero are elective procedures with eligibility facts a professional should establish. If your situation includes the words "I haven't filed since," start here.

Main limitation: Finding one who actually works cross-border cases is the hard part — most generalist preparers see a handful of FBARs a year. Ask specifically how many Streamlined submissions they've run.

Best for: Getting from a pile of statements to a defensible determination

deciqAI reads your actual statements and builds an account inventory, then runs the FBAR and Form 8938 tests as deterministic code against the statutory thresholds — each account valued at its highest point in the year, nothing silently converted (a balance with no exchange rate is unknown, not zero), and the engine is built so it can never conclude "you don't need to file" while any balance is unknown. The output is field-level FBAR and 8938 drafts where every number carries its source document, and anything unconfirmed is listed as needing confirmation rather than filled in. Disclosure: this is our product — we're not neutral, weigh accordingly.

Main limitation: It doesn't file for you, and it's deliberately not a substitute for the professional judgment calls: the filing position and the signature stay with you or your licensed professional. Streamlined-eligibility decisions in particular remain human territory.

What is the difference between FBAR and Form 8938?

FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is a Treasury report of foreign financial accounts, filed with FinCEN when all your foreign accounts together exceed $10,000 at any point in the year. Form 8938 is an IRS form attached to your tax return, covering a broader set of "specified foreign financial assets" with much higher thresholds — starting at $50,000 for single filers living in the US and reaching $400,000/$600,000 for joint filers abroad. They are independent obligations with separate penalties, and many taxpayers must file both.

Do I have to file both FBAR and Form 8938?

If you cross both thresholds, yes — filing one does not satisfy the other. A US-resident single filer with $60,000 in foreign accounts typically files both; with $15,000, typically only the FBAR. The tests are run separately: FBAR against the $10,000 aggregate, Form 8938 against the residency- and status-specific thresholds under IRC §6038D.

Is the FBAR threshold per account or across all accounts?

Across all accounts, in aggregate. Ten foreign accounts holding $1,100 each crosses the $10,000 threshold even though no single account comes close. Each account is measured at its highest value during the year, and those maximums are summed — which means the aggregate can exceed $10,000 even if your total wealth never did, when money moved between accounts.

What are the penalties for not filing an FBAR?

For non-willful violations, up to $16,536 per unfiled report as currently inflation-adjusted (31 U.S.C. §5321) — and since Bittner v. United States (2023), that is per report, not per account. Willful violations are dramatically worse: the statute allows the greater of an inflation-adjusted six-figure penalty or 50% of the account balance, per year, and can carry criminal exposure. The IRS's delinquent-filing and Streamlined procedures exist precisely to bring non-willful cases to zero — which is why prior years should be handled deliberately rather than quietly.

What is the penalty for not filing Form 8938?

$10,000 flat under IRC §6038D, rising by $10,000 per 30 days after IRS notice up to $50,000 more. The quieter cost: an unfiled Form 8938 can hold the statute of limitations on your entire return open, so the exposure isn't limited to the penalty itself.

My spouse and I have a joint foreign account. Do we each file an FBAR?

Generally yes — each spouse with a financial interest reports the full value of the joint account. One spouse may file for both only when every reportable account is jointly owned and the other spouse authorizes it on Form 114a. Any separately held account breaks the exception.

Does foreign real estate go on FBAR or Form 8938?

Directly held foreign real estate goes on neither — it isn't an account (FBAR) and isn't a specified foreign financial asset (Form 8938 instructions). Hold it through a foreign entity, though, and your interest in the entity can itself be a specified asset. Foreign pensions are the reverse trap: an interest in a foreign pension generally is a specified asset for Form 8938, and pension accounts you own or control can be FBAR-reportable too.

What exchange rate do I use for FBAR and Form 8938?

Both forms' instructions point to the Treasury's year-end Reporting Rates of Exchange: take each account's maximum balance in its own currency, then convert at the December 31 Treasury rate. Don't average, and don't use the rate from the day of the peak — the instructions specify the year-end rate.

Do I report crypto on a foreign exchange on FBAR?

Genuinely unsettled. FinCEN's current regulations don't define a crypto-only account as reportable, but FinCEN has stated it intends to change that, and an account that also holds fiat currency can already be reportable. Form 8938's application turns on facts about how the asset is held. This is a determination to make deliberately with a professional — treat "it's probably fine" as the red flag it is.