Do I need to file FBAR?

[natshkel]

Here is my situation. 3 years ago ABC Inc.(UK company) has been acquired by XYZ Inc. (US company). As the result of companies merger's agreement I have received a share award which was converted to XYZ shares (NASDAQ listed) . These shares were held in UK brokerage company Computershare. I am still employee of XYZ. Do I need to file FBAR for that UK account? 

[DanielV01 · Accepted solution]

It depends.  But, with the FBAR there is a good rule of thumb:  if in doubt, file it.  There are no penalties for filing the FBAR if it is not truly needed.  However, if it is needed and not filed, the penalties can be very large.  There are no taxes paid with the FBAR (and it is not an official part of your tax return, but rather a separate filing), so you may have a filing fee and the time it takes to submit the return for peace of mind if there is doubt

As a general rule, if you were the owner of a Foreign account (or had signing power on a Foreign account) that had more than $10,000 at any point in time in the year, you are required to file an FBAR.  If that was the case, or even if it is very close, filing the FBAR will be a protection for you.

You can't file the FinCEN 114 through TurboTax (there is a separate website which exclusively handles this),  but you do need to answer the Foreign Accounts questions accurately and TurboTax can direct you to the site to file the FBAR if you need it.