topic 8814 / 8938 and FBAR for child account in Deductions & credits

8814 / 8938 and FBAR for child account

cavoinne — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 20:04:14 GMT

My child has a foreign bank account (it's his only account) that generated $9 of interest last year.
Since he earned less than $1050, turboxtax says I don't need to file form 8814, is this correct ?
Since it is a foreign account, should I list his account on my form 8938? I have to file form 8938 because I also have foreign accounts.
Last question should I add his account on my FBAR ? Or should I file an FBAR for him? I don't think he needs an FBAR since his account has only $1000 ?
Thanks

If your child has less than $1,050 of unearned income, he...

JohnH2 — Tue, 04 Jun 2019 20:04:15 GMT

If your child has less than $1,050 of unearned income, he would not have to file a return. You would not have to file Form 8814, Parents’ Election to Report Child’s Interest, with this level of interest.

TurboTax handles the Foreign Financial Assets questions and prepares the Form 8938 if needed. Since you effectively control the activity in your son’s foreign bank account you can include his account activity with yours in answering the foreign account questions.

Since your son had less than $10,000 in his account he would not have to file an FBAR on his own. However, since you control his account and you have an FBAR filing requirement, you can include his account in your filing to make your filing complete.

You can quickly get to the Foreign Financial Assets section of TurboTax by typing the phrase “foreign financial assets” in the search bar in the upper right corner of your screen.

Re: 8814 / 8938 and FBAR for child account

kay2019 — Mon, 06 Apr 2020 07:24:35 GMT

I have a follow-up question to this. When the child’s account is reported in form 8938, should it be considered as “deposit” or “custodial” account? Thank you.