FATCA vs FBAR

Updated April 2026 · Practitioner-written, not legal advice · Spot an error?

The simple difference

Both regimes exist because the U.S. government wants visibility into U.S. taxpayers' foreign financial accounts. They were enacted separately, at different times, by different agencies, and they work differently.

• FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) is filed on FinCEN Form 114, with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, through the BSA E-Filing System — not with the IRS. It's due April 15 each year with an automatic extension to October 15.
• FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) requires certain U.S. taxpayers to file Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets) with their federal tax return. It's due when your return is due.

Side by side

Who needs an FBAR

You need to file an FBAR if, at any point during the calendar year, the aggregate value of your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000. "Aggregate" means the sum of maximum balances across all accounts — so two accounts at $6,000 each together cross the threshold.

Common accounts that count:

• Foreign bank checking, savings, and fixed-deposit accounts.
• Foreign brokerage and investment accounts.
• Foreign mutual funds held directly with a foreign financial institution (but mutual fund holdings inside a U.S. brokerage typically do not).
• Foreign pension accounts where you have a defined balance (many employer pensions qualify).
• Certain cash-value life insurance policies.
• Accounts where you have signature authority but no beneficial ownership — often employer business accounts you can sign on.

For a structured check of which of your accounts trigger the FBAR, use the FBAR threshold checker. For a full walkthrough, see the FBAR and FATCA guide.

Who needs FATCA (Form 8938)

You file Form 8938 with your federal tax return if the value of your specified foreign financial assets exceeds the threshold for your filing status and residence. For U.S. taxpayers living abroad, the thresholds are:

• Single / married filing separately: $200,000 at end of year, or $300,000 at any point during the year.
• Married filing jointly: $400,000 at end of year, or $600,000 at any point during the year.

For U.S.-resident filers, the thresholds are much lower ($50K / $100K at year-end; $75K / $150K at any point).

Common examples

• Single expat in India with a salary account that peaked at $18,000: FBAR required. FATCA unlikely (well below $200,000).
• Married couple abroad with $250,000 in combined savings and investments across their home country: FBAR required. FATCA not required for married-joint abroad (threshold is $400,000 end-year / $600,000 any point).
• Single expat with $250,000 in a foreign brokerage plus $50,000 in a local bank: FBAR required. FATCA required (total foreign financial assets exceed the $200,000 end-year threshold).
• Single expat with a foreign salary account at $8,000 and a foreign pension at $12,000: FBAR required (the aggregate crosses $10,000). FATCA not required.
• U.S.-resident American with a $90,000 foreign brokerage account: FBAR required. FATCA required (U.S.-resident threshold is much lower).

Common mistakes

Other recurring mistakes:

• Forgetting signature-authority accounts. If you can sign on your employer's business account or a family member's account, you probably owe an FBAR for it — even with zero beneficial ownership.
• Reporting only year-end balances. The thresholds use the maximum during the year, not the year-end snapshot. A salary account that peaked at $25,000 in July but sat at $4,000 on December 31 still needs the FBAR.
• Double-counting transferred money. If you moved $50,000 from Account A to Account B, you report the max in each — but the underlying money is only $50,000, not $100,000. Report honestly; don't inflate.
• Missing foreign pensions on FATCA. Many foreign employer pensions count as specified foreign financial assets for Form 8938 even when they have no "account" in the traditional sense.
• Believing "I'm below the FATCA threshold, so I'm done." FBAR has a separate, much lower threshold. Check it independently.

What tax software handles

For filing both cleanly:

• Expat-specialist software (see the comparison) handles both FBAR and Form 8938 in the same workflow, pulling account details from a single data source.
• Mainstream U.S. tax software (TurboTax, H&R Block, FreeTaxUSA) typically supports Form 8938 but not the FBAR. If you use those, you'll file the FBAR separately at bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov.

For a practitioner recommendation, see why I recommend MyExpatTaxes — it covers both on one platform.

If you're already behind

If you've missed FBARs or Form 8938 filings for one or more prior years, your path back depends on the facts:

• One missed year, otherwise compliant, truly forgot: File the delinquent FBAR through the "Delinquent FBAR Submission" pathway on the BSA E-Filing system with a short reasonable-cause statement. For Form 8938, file an amended return.
• Multiple years missed, non-willful: The IRS Streamlined Filing Procedures are the penalty-free path. See the Streamlined checklist for what to gather.
• Willful-conduct concerns or large unreported accounts: Start with a tax attorney, not software.

Conclusion

FBAR is the low-threshold one that catches most expats. FATCA is the higher-threshold one that catches fewer. They overlap but are not interchangeable. Software that only handles one — which is most mainstream U.S. tax software — leaves you to handle the other yourself. Expat-specialist software handles both on the same platform, which is why for most expats it's the right choice.

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