Foreign bank account with less than $10,000 balance

[chelsea22]

So the same thing happened last year where I marked I have a foreign bank account, I was forced to upgrade to Deluxe to file appropriately, but then I didn't actually need to submit any extra forms because the amount in the account was less than $10,000. But I can't proceed further in submitting my taxes because the free edition doesn't cover Form 1040, which I need because I have a foreign account, but I also won't have to file anything extra or report the balance because its less than $10,000. Can someone explain this to me? Do I need Form 1040 if I'm not reporting the balance of the account and I didn't get any interest off it? It was frustrating last year paying for the Deluxe edition and then getting "we don't need to report this!" but I can't go back and undo the upgrade. 

[LinaJ2020]

Yes, you still need to file a Form 1040 if you are not reporting any financial account or assets.  If you are referring to whether if you can file a Form 1040-EZ,  it is no longer available starting from last year the 2019 tax season where you file your 2018 tax return. 

If you do have any foreign accounts for more than $10,000, TurboTax will not upgrade you from the Free edition.  There must be other reasons why you are upgraded from the Free edition. Click here for more information: Deluxe edition

[shammu]

I am having the same issue.

Spouse has a foreign account. I clicked "there is an active account" as you did. We use this bank account to pay a student loan in that country. No, we do not have any foreign income. The bank only exists to pay (auto-debit) a student loan that exist in that country.

We usually top off and replenish the account by a few hundred bucks so it never dries out from student loan payments.

IRS says you do not need report any income under 10k; which seems to be our case as we do not have any foreign income or interest. TurboTax is aware of it too ; because it asks the very same question during the process. Yet it choses to force one to upgrade. 

So what gives. TurboTax is being shady on this one? 

[shammu]

My spouse and I have income in the USA and nowhere else. But just because we indicated that we have a bank account abroad, it is forcing us to upgrade as well. 

If you are saying that TurboTax shouldn't, then there is a bug in the process? I guess. 

[MaryK4]

I am sorry that you had this experience- it really is not meant to get extra money, but to make sure your taxes are filed correctly.  See Can I downgrade to a lower-priced version of Turbo ...

@shammu