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[DS30]

It depends -

Since this is your first year in the USA, your US filing status and your FBAR requirements will be determined if you meet certain IRS tests - Green Card Test or the substantial presence test.

Nonresident aliens only report US sourced income and have no FBAR filing requirements. Resident aliens report worldwide income including foreign sourced income and are required to file an FBAR is they meet the requirements as listed below.

If you do not meet these tests for the first year in the USA, you will be considered a nonresident alien and will file a Form 1040NR is not supported by TurboTax. Here is a link to the IRS website for Form 1040NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return. You would not be required to file an FBAR as a nonresident alien.

If you are a Nonresident Alien who will become a Resident Alien under the Substantial Presence test in the year following this taxable year, you may elect to be treated as a Dual Status Alien for this taxable year and a Resident Alien for the next taxable year if you meet certain tests. Refer to the First Year Choice area, under Dual-Status Aliens, of Chapter 1 in Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens. As a dual-status alien you would be required to file an FBAR.

If you meet the Green Card Test or the substantial presence test, then you will be considered a resident alien for the entire 2017 tax year.

See this link for additional information US Tax Guide for Aliens.

Regarding your FBAR requirement -

If you have foreign bank accounts, you may be required to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) if are a US citizen or resident and::

1. you had a financial interest in or signature authority over at least one financial account located outside of the United States; and
2. the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported.

Foreign financial accounts consist of all foreign financial accounts that you own separately or jointly or for which you have signatory authority over (such as a foreign business account that is owned by the business but for which you can sign checks or redirect funds).

To be directed to the US Treasury Government Website to prepare a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, click FBAR (TurboTax does not support this form)

[deeptowncitizen]

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[DS30]

If you are asking about the FBAR filing, it has nothing to do with interest income (or any type of income) from the foreign accounts. If you are considered a US citizen during the 2017 calendar year, what you need to do is look through all your foreign financial accounts (which consist of foreign bank accounts, foreign investment accounts and foreign private retirement accounts) and find the maximum value for the year for each account. Then you use the IRS year-end conversion rate and convert each max value (regardless of the date the max value occurred) using this year-end rate. If the total of all these amounts is greater than $10,000 USD, you will need to report all these accounts on an FBAR filing.

[ch_esxvyez]

If I'm a non-resident alien during the full year of 2017, but then a dual status alien (F1 OPT --> H1B) in 2018, would I have to file an FBAR for 2017 (in April 2018)? Or would I only have to start filing FBARs in April 2019 (for 2018)?