topic Fbar reporting for saving certificate in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Fbar reporting for saving certificate

Sofyan — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 07:14:44 GMT

I am preparing to submit the Fbar report but I am so confused I have saving account in foreign bank and I purchased saving certificates from this bank and the bank deducted the saving certificates amounts from this account and all saving certificates interest added to this account

my question should I report the bank account and all saving certificates separately or only I have to report the bank account

Re: Fbar reporting for saving certificate

Anonymous_ — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 15:55:11 GMT

@pk

Re: Fbar reporting for saving certificate

pk — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 19:32:42 GMT

@Sofyan , as I understand the savings certificates, CDs etc. are still within the same bank , just under a different bin -- just not accessible to you on a day to basis i.e. it is your monies but not available ( without penalty ) for a time period. Thus , to me this is still part of what you hold in that bank account. For aggregate / total holdings these are counted ( for FBAR purposes ) but not quite liquid. So it counts for FBAR / FATCA purposes of total holding in that bank. I would include these under the bank & account name ( for FBAR purposes ) i.e. report the total amount.

Here is a small cutting out of IRS doc :

"Financial Account
Financial accounts include:
• Bank accounts such as savings and checking accounts, and time deposits,
• Securities accounts, such as brokerage accounts, securities derivatives
accounts, or other financial instruments accounts;
• Commodity futures or options accounts;
• Insurance or annuity policies with a cash value (such as a whole life
insurance policy);
• Mutual funds or similar pooled funds (i.e. a fund available to the public with
a regular net asset value determination and regular redemptions), and;
• Any other accounts maintained in a foreign financial institution or with a
person performing the services of a financial institution "

Does this help and/or do you need more assistance ?

Re: Fbar reporting for saving certificate

villaproject12 — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 19:32:51 GMT

To be reportable, the total value on any single day in the year has to greater than $10k.

If the highest total in one account, use that value. On the other hand, if the certificates are in a separate account, I suggest treating each account individually; this just to be on the safe side, even if only one account is over $10k.

Re: Fbar reporting for saving certificate

Sofyan — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 03:59:48 GMT

Thank you for you reply ,so if I will report them under the same account then how I can calculate the maximum value let me give you an example

Let us say my account balance was 25000 before I purchased the certificate

then I purchased the certificate and the account balance became zero

then they added interest 1000

then I returned this certificate so they added 25000

Then I added 1600 to my account

and then purchased another certificate 15000

also I want to add a side note that when I review the certificate number is similar to the bank account number

so if I report all separately and report the savings certificate under other category is there any risk for that? I just think loudly with you

I want to be on the safe side

Re: Fbar reporting for saving certificate

pk — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 20:21:12 GMT

@Sofyan , per your example

Checking/ Saving account amounts ----- 25,000 -> 0 -> 1000 -> 26,000 -> 27,600 ->12,600

Certificate account amounts ------------------- 0 -> 25,000 --> 25,000 -> 0 - > 0 -> 15,000

Thus if you were to report these two accounts as ONE account then max value for the year is 27,600

If on the other hand you choose to show these as two different accounts in the same bank

Savings/Checking Max for the year -- 27,600

Certificate account max value for the year ---- 25, 000

In my view since the certificates ( fixed for a period ) and Checking/Savings accounts are in the same bank and describable as two bins in the same bank, I would declare these as ONE account with a max value of 27, 600.

Does this make sense ? Is there more I can do for you ?

Re: Fbar reporting for saving certificate

Sofyan — Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:08 GMT

Thank you very much, it’s clear for me