Can I enter a list of foreign accounts in a single data entry template?

[RR-x]

After living 20 years in a foreign country, I have a couple of checking accounts, a savings account, and a number of retirement savings accounts.  It's tedious to go through form 8938 one by one.

[GeoffreyG · Accepted solution]

We would certainly not disagree with you that the reporting process for foreign financial account disclosure can indeed be tedious.  The short answer to your question is that, unfortunately, such accounts must each be specified individually, and the foreign financial firm and address named for each account as well,  according the IRS rules.  The longer answer to your question is discussed below.

In fact, there are two separate disclosure forms that may be required for foreign financial accounts and assets; each also has different reporting rules.  The one you highlight is known as IRS Form 8938, and can be attached to the relevant yearly Form 1040 tax return.  The other is FinCen Form 114, which can only be filed via the internet.  The following Internal Revenue Service webpage describes them in some detail, and provides their dollar value reporting levels:

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/comparison-of-form-8938-and-fbar-requirements

Form 8938 is included in TurboTax.  FinCen Form 114 is not included in TurboTax, and you may need to access that reporting webpage separately, if your foreign financial assets total over the limit(s).  Note that you can get to the FinCen reporting internet site directly through the above IRS link.

In conclusion, the answer to your original question is that you are legally required to report each account individually on Form 8938.  That process, although laborious where many foreign accounts are involved, is specified under current US law.  The good news however, is that no actual tax ever results from this disclosure form.  Additionally, you may be subject to FinCen Form 114 as well (which is a separate legal disclosure obligation, despite the fact that the Treasury Department which gathers the FinCen 114 information is also the "home" Department of the IRS, which collects Form 8938).

Please remember that we don't make the underlying tax laws here at TurboTax; we only help our customers try to navigate them.

Thank you for asking this important question.

[RR-x]

I understand that the IRS wants a separate form for each account.  But clever Turbotax can design and input form which asks for the data on a single page and then inserts the data onto the separate forms.  That's my recommendation.