I had a foreign bank account with a balance of less than $10,000.00 U.S. Do I have to report that account? If so, where?

[californiasummer]

Is the $10,000 limit for USD only? or do you have to file an FBAR even if the amount is $10,000 in a currency other than USD (but when converted to USD it is less than $10,000)?

[DS30 · Accepted solution]

You do not have to report your foreign bank account on your tax return unless the foreign account goes over $10,000 for just one day, you have to file an FBAR.

Also you will need to report any foreign bank interest you receive because US citizens and residents are required to report all worldwide income in USD on your tax return.

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.

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)

[californiasummer]

Is the $10,000 limit for USD only? or do you have to file an FBAR even if the amount is $10,000 in a currency other than USD (but when converted to USD it is less than $10,000)?

[yer_sister]

This is probably a redundant question but I actually saw a reply by an attorney that says to report your account even if you closed it with any amount in it for that year, so I want to make sure.

What if you had $200k in your foreign account but withdrew all of it except $300 in 2018, then closed your account Jan 3, 2019 removing the final $300 balance; so the most ever in the account for 2019 was $300 the entire year.  Would we still need to file an FBAR for 2019 to alert them the account is closed and only $300 was the max that year?

I've been filing FBARS for 7 years approximately $200k in a foreign account, do I need to alert FBAR that I no longer have this account and that for 2019 had no more than $300 in it the entire year?  Or do we simply just stop filing.  Won't IRS wonder why suddenly after 7 years of $200k filing there's no FBAR or wonder why they didn't receive an FBAR from me for 2019?

Seems there should be some way of providing explanation to FBAR that the account is closed and at no time did the account have more than $10,000 in it.  Just $300 in it for 3 days in 2019.  This would avoid any red flags of someone "not reporting," who the IRS has seen reporting for many years.

[yer_sister]

They literally say "$10,000" which is US DOLLARS, the IRS is not interested in the value in foreign currency, just what the value of that foreign currency is in US DOLLARS.  So you would need to report any value worth over $10,000 US DOLLARS.  So you'd have to calculate

The IRS is only interested if it is the value of any amount that exceeds the value of $10,000 US DOLLARS regardless if the foreign currency calculates less when converted from US DOLLARS.

Example: you have €9500.00 euro in an Italian bank, but the value of that in US dollars is $10,324.00 then YES you'd need to file FBAR because the value is over $10,000.00

Example: you have CHF 9,800.00 swiss francs in a Swiss bank, but the value of those francs in US dollars is $10,009.00 then YES you need to file FBAR because the value of what you have in the foreign bank is in fact over $10,000.00 US DOLLARS.

You would use the IRS conversion table for the year you are filing. Here--> scroll 1/4 way down on page:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates

[yer_sister]

No, you do NOT have to file if the money held in the foreign account is $10k or less when it is converted to US DOLLARS:

Example:  you have 10,500 in foreign currency, but when you convert that to US Dollars the amount is $9,800.00 in US DOLLARS then NO you do not have to file FBAR because it is not more than $10,000.00 US dollars. 

But if when you convert 9,800 in foreign currency into US Dollars and the US Dollar value is $10,500.00 then YES you would file FBAR because it is over $10,000.00 USD.

The IRS is only interested in account values of OVER $10,000 in US dollars, they don't care what the foreign currency value is, they only care what the US DOLLAR VALUE is.

You would use

They literally say "$10,000" which is US DOLLARS, the IRS is not interested in the value in foreign currency, just what the value of that foreign currency is in US DOLLARS.  So you would need to report any value worth over $10,000 US DOLLARS.  So you'd have to calculate

The IRS is only interested if it is the value of any amount that exceeds the value of $10,000 US DOLLARS regardless if the foreign currency calculates less when converted from US DOLLARS.

Example: you have €9500.00 euro in an Italian bank, but the value of that in US dollars is $10,324.00 then YES you'd need to file FBAR because the value is over $10,000.00

Example: you have CHF 9,800.00 swiss francs in a Swiss bank, but the value of those francs in US dollars is $10,009.00 then YES you need to file FBAR because the value of what you have in the foreign bank is in fact over $10,000.00 US DOLLARS.

You would use the IRS conversion table for the year you are filing. Here--> scroll 1/4 way down on page:
https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/yearly-average-currency-exchange-rates

If after you convert your foreign currency to USD and the USD is $10,000.00 or less you do NOT file FBAR,

If after you convert your foreign currency to USD and the USD is OVER $10,000.00 you DO file an FBAR

[Kamranmunib197]

If i am transferring from my USA account to a foreign account do I still have to report? All my money in my USA account is tax paid. Its just transferring to a foreign account through legal process.

Do I still have to report the same income just because its in a foreign account now?