Reporting RRSP with Form 8938 and FBAR

[serge_lamarre]

Hi,

I hope that someone can help us.

My wife and I are Canadians who now live in Florida since 2006. We have both Canada and US Citizenship. After talking with some friends, it turns out that we need to declare any bank accounts that have more than $10,000 combined to the IRS and Department of the Treasury. We thought that this was only valid for foreign bank accounts but it looks like that this is also applicable to RRSPs as well. We do have RRSPs in Canada (more than $150,000 USD) that we need to declare and file. Those RRSPs are for retirement and we are not getting ANY distribution and not making ANY contributions whatsoever so basically, we do not have any income from our RRSPs.

How should we fill out the Form 8938 and FBAR? Should we fill the form 8938 with our 2024 Tax Return and then fill out the past 6 years with the FBAR? (After reading on FBAR, no need to fill out older than 6 years)

Thank you.

[SusanY1]

Both the FBAR and the 8938 are reporting only forms, though the 89338 does ask if there are any income items from the assets listed on the account.  File your past year FBAR forms directly with FinCEN HERE.  You will use the link for "BSA filing" (not beneficial ownership reporting).  It will ask the reason for the late filing and one of the options allowed is "I didn't know I had to file." 

For the Form 8938, since it is attached to your tax return, you can submit it for prior years by filing an amended return.  I would recommend amending for the prior 3 years.  

Since there aren't any calculations that would change you could also do this relatively easy by hand.  To do that, fill out the 8938 and attach to it only Form 1040X.  You would fill out only the top of the form with your names, SSNs, address, and the tax year for which you are filing an amendment.  Then skip to the bottom and provide the explanation - something like "we are sending Form 8938 for the above year which we only recently became aware we were required to file."   Then mail it to the IRS at the address provided for 1040-X and your resident state HERE.

You can also prepare amended returns in TurboTax as well, of course, using these instructions:

Amend TurboTax Online 

Amend TurboTax CD/Download 

[serge_lamarre]

Thank you for the help,

From the 8938 form perspective, it is well explained.

As far as the FBAR, should I follow the Delinquent FBAR submission procedures explained here below:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/delinquent-fbar-submission-procedures

Also, in what order should it proceed with the steps below. In what order it would make sense from an IRS perspective to avoid any suspicious if any...

- File 2024 Tax Return along with 2024 Form 8938.

- Manually/PDF fill Form 8938 for 2021, 2022 and 2023 along with the correcponding 1040-X and send by mail.

- FBAR and BSA Filling with FinCEN for FYI 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024?

Thank you.

[serge_lamarre]

@SusanY1 can you help with my previous reply please?

Thank you.

[DaveF1006]

Let's answer these questions one at a time.

1. By all means, file a 2024 return with 8938. 
2. You will need to file amended returns for 2021-2023 which will include the 8938. If you filed with Turbo Tax for those years you can use Turbo Tax to prepare those returns.  i will list the steps below.  if you didn't file with Turbo Tax, then you may prepare the return in the manner you prescribed
3. As far as FBAR, follow the steps as described in this IRS article regarding Delinquent FBAR reporting. File all your FBAR reports, including 2024, using the FinCEN BSA Efiling Link that is listed in the article.

As far as a particular order, there is no prescribed order in doing this but get these filed as soon as possible. I would say to file the 2024 return with 8938 first. Then file FBAR for 2024 as well as for years 2021-2023. File the amended returns last but prepare these as soon as possible and get these mailed in.

Here how how to amend if you used Turbo Tax in yrs 2021-2023.

To amend your return using Turbo Tax Online.

1. Log into Turbo Tax
2. Select Scroll down Your tax returns & documents in your landing page.
3. Select Amend (change) return.  if you used TT Online in the past, years 2021-2023 should appear here.

To amend using the 2021-2023 Desktop Software, go to:

1. Federal Taxes
2. Other Tax Situations>other tax forms
3. Amend a return

Reach out if you have additional questions.

@serge_lamarre