How do I file an FBAR (FinCEN 114)? Which Chinese accounts count, how the $10,000 test works, and what missing one costs

The FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, FinCEN Form 114) is how U.S. persons report foreign financial accounts to FinCEN, the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. If you have a financial interest in or signature authority over foreign accounts whose combined maximum values exceed $10,000, you file every year. It's an information report; no tax is paid with it.

The FBAR comes from the Bank Secrecy Act and belongs to FinCEN. The IRS enforces it and examines penalties, but it's a separate system from your tax return.

• U.S. citizens: wherever you live. A U.S. citizen living in China files too.
• Green card holders: you're a U.S. tax resident from the year you get the card, and your accounts in China are reportable.
• Substantial presence residents: for example, H-1B or L-1 workers who meet the 183-day test are U.S. persons and file.
• F-1 and J-1 students and scholars: during "exempt individual" years (generally the first 5 calendar years for students) you aren't a U.S. tax resident and generally don't file. From the year you become a resident, you do (see the guide at yclcpa.com/1040nr).
• U.S. corporations, partnerships, LLCs, trusts and estates: entities formed in the U.S. are U.S. persons too. A single-member LLC that's disregarded for income tax still files an FBAR in its own name.
• Minor children: the child is the filer for accounts in the child's name. If the child can't file, a parent or guardian files for them.

Find each foreign account's maximum value during the year, convert each to dollars, and add them up. If the total is more than $10,000, you file. It's each account's own high point, not the year-end balance and not the total on any single day. Once you're over, every account goes on the report, including tiny ones.

Description: Three examples: adding each account's maximum, transfers counted twice, and going over for a single day.

Example	Accounts and maximum values	In dollars (rounded up)	Total	File?
1: Two small accounts	ICBC max ¥30,000; China Merchants Bank max ¥40,000	$4,226; $5,634	$9,860	No
2: Money moved between accounts	ICBC max ¥40,000, all moved to CMB in June; CMB had ¥5,000, max ¥45,000 after the transfer	$5,634; $6,339	$11,973	Yes, list both accounts
3: Over for one day	Agricultural Bank usually ¥20,000; parents deposit ¥60,000 in March, moved out the next day; max ¥80,000	$11,268	$11,268	Yes

• Transfers count twice: in example 2 the same money sat in two accounts, and both maximums count. That's how the FBAR works; there's no netting.
• Zero or negative balances: report a maximum of zero, but still list the account.
• Foreign-currency accounts: a USD or HKD account at a Chinese bank is a foreign account too, converted at the Treasury rate for that currency.
• Opened or closed mid-year: if the account existed at any point during the year, use its maximum while it existed. An account closed during the year still goes on the report.

A financial interest means the money is yours: the account is in your name (including jointly), or held through a company or trust you control. Signature authority means the money isn't yours but you can move it by instructing the bank directly, like an authorized signer on a company account. Both are reportable, in different parts of the FBAR.

• 25 or more accounts: if you have a financial interest in or signature authority over 25 or more accounts, you can report just the number, but you must keep the details and provide them on request.
• Companies you own more than 50% of: even if the company files its own FBAR, you report those accounts as a shareholder too.

For FBAR purposes, a financial account includes bank accounts, securities accounts, pooled funds offered to the public with a regular net asset value, and insurance or annuity policies with a cash value. Savings, time deposits, brokerage, funds, wealth products and savings-type insurance in China generally count. As of October 2026, FinCEN has no specific guidance on WeChat Pay or Alipay balances.

• Where the account is matters, not the currency: a U.S. bank account holding foreign currency isn't a foreign account. A USD account at a Chinese bank is.
• Whose money is it? If your parents put money in an account in your name, the account is yours and reportable. Large gifts from parents may also call for Form 3520 (see the guide at yclcpa.com/gift).
• Forgotten accounts get missed: student cards, old payroll cards, provident fund-linked cards and the cash account inside a brokerage account all need to be listed.

The FBAR covers a calendar year and is due April 15 of the following year, with an automatic extension to October 15 that you don't have to request. Individuals file online through FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System without registering. If a CPA files for you, the CPA registers as an institution and you sign Form 114a to authorize it.

Description: Six steps from gathering records to saving the confirmation.

Step	What to do	Watch for
1. Gather records	Each account's institution name and address, account number, type and maximum value; the Treasury year-end rate	Use the Treasury rate for December 31 of that year and round up
2. Open the site	Go to FinCEN's BSA E-Filing site and choose the individual FBAR	No registration needed; use only the official site, not look-alike filing services
3. Filer information	Calendar year, taxpayer ID (SSN or ITIN), name, date of birth, address	If late, pick a late-filing reason and explain
4. Accounts	Separately owned, jointly owned, signature authority only and accounts held through entities each go in their own part	Joint accounts need the other owners' information
5. Validate, sign, submit	Once the form validates, sign and submit	Save a PDF copy before submitting
6. Save the confirmation	Keep the confirmation page and BSA tracking number; a BSA ID acknowledgment follows	Keep with your account records for 5 years

• Not filed with your return: the FBAR isn't attached to the 1040, and tax software won't submit it unless your preparer files it separately through BSA E-Filing.
• Disaster extensions: FinCEN sometimes gives filers in disaster areas more time; check that year's notices.
• Fixing mistakes: if you find an error after filing, submit an amended FBAR (mark it as an amendment and enter the prior BSA ID) with all information re-entered.

Spouses generally file separately. One spouse can file for both only if all three conditions are met: every reportable account of the non-filing spouse is jointly owned with the filing spouse, the filing spouse reports those joint accounts on a timely FBAR, and both spouses sign Form 114a. Form 114a isn't sent to FinCEN; you keep it.

• One separate account rules it out: if the wife has a payroll card in China in her name alone, she files her own FBAR, and each spouse lists the joint accounts.
• Form 114a is the authorization: whether spouses file jointly or a CPA files for you, Form 114a is signed and kept for 5 years, to be provided if FinCEN or the IRS asks.
• A nonresident spouse: a spouse who isn't a U.S. person doesn't file. You still report the full balance of accounts you hold jointly with them.
• A joint 1040 isn't a joint FBAR: the two have separate rules.

Convert using the Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange for the last day of the calendar year (December 31), no matter when the maximum occurred. If Treasury doesn't publish a rate for a currency, use another verifiable rate and note the source. Keep each account's records for 5 years.

• Round up: round the converted amount up to the next whole dollar; $15,265.25 becomes $15,266.
• The maximum can be a reasonable estimate: the highest balance shown on periodic statements is generally acceptable if it fairly reflects the maximum. If you can export transactions, use them.
• What to keep: the name on each account, the account number, the institution's name and address, the account type and the maximum value, for 5 years from the FBAR due date.
• Different from your tax return: interest and dividends on your return are generally converted at the rate when received or a yearly average, while the FBAR uses the year-end rate. The two won't match, and that's normal.

As of October 2026, the civil penalty for a non-willful failure is up to $16,536 per FBAR, counted per report, not per account, and none applies if there was reasonable cause and the accounts are properly reported. A willful failure can cost up to the greater of $165,353 or 50% of the account balance at the time of the violation, per account per year, and can be prosecuted. The IRS has 6 years from the violation to assess an FBAR penalty.

• No 2026 inflation adjustment: FBAR penalties are adjusted for inflation each year, and the amounts above were published by FinCEN on January 17, 2025. In April 2026, the White House Office of Management and Budget told agencies there would be no 2026 adjustment and to keep using the 2025 amounts.
• Why Bittner matters: the IRS used to count non-willful penalties per account, so 10 accounts missed for 5 years could mean 50 penalties. In 2023 the Supreme Court held it's one penalty per annual report, which sharply cut the non-willful maximum. Willful penalties are still per account.
• These are maximums, not fixed amounts: the IRS manual (IRM 4.26.16) has mitigation guidelines that look at account balances, cooperation and prior history.
• "Willful" is broader than it sounds: courts have accepted willful blindness and reckless disregard as willfulness, for example checking "no" on the tax return's foreign account question when you clearly had one.

They're different forms. The FBAR goes to FinCEN with a $10,000 threshold. Form 8938 is filed with your 1040 to the IRS, and its thresholds are much higher (for a single filer living in the U.S., more than $50,000 at year-end or $75,000 at any time). The coverage overlaps but isn't identical, many people file both, and one never replaces the other.

Description: Compared row by row on who files, thresholds, coverage, where it's filed and penalties.

Item	FBAR (FinCEN 114)	Form 8938
Who files	U.S. persons: citizens, residents, U.S. corporations, partnerships, LLCs, trusts and estates	Specified individuals (citizens, residents and others) and specified domestic entities
Threshold	Foreign accounts' combined maximum values over $10,000	Living in the U.S.: single or MFS over $50,000 at year-end or $75,000 at any time; joint $100,000 / $150,000. Living abroad: single $200,000 / $300,000; joint $400,000 / $600,000
Coverage	Foreign financial accounts, including signature-only accounts	Specified foreign financial assets: foreign accounts plus directly held foreign stock, foreign partnership interests, foreign-issued financial instruments and more; not signature-only accounts
Where and how	FinCEN, e-filed through BSA E-Filing	IRS, attached to the 1040
Due date	April 15, automatically extended to October 15	With your return, including extensions
Exchange rate	Treasury year-end rate	Treasury year-end rate (or another verifiable rate)
Penalty	Non-willful up to $16,536 per report; willful $165,353 or 50%	$10,000; $10,000 more per 30 days if not filed 90 days after an IRS notice, up to $50,000 more; a 40% accuracy penalty on related unreported income
Directly owned foreign real estate	Not reported	Not reported

For the details of Form 8938, see the guide at yclcpa.com/8938.

Two questions first: did you also miss income, and was it willful? If all the income was reported and only the FBARs are missing, file them late through FinCEN with an explanation. If income was missed too, the streamlined procedures are usually the place to look. If it was willful, talk to an attorney first.

• Situation A: you reported the interest and gains from your Chinese accounts, but never filed FBARs. File the late FBARs through BSA E-Filing, choose a late-filing reason and explain. The IRS took down its dedicated "Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures" page in 2026, but its internal manual (IRM 4.26.16.3.11) still says no penalty is asserted for an account when the failure wasn't willful, was due to reasonable cause, and the account is properly reported on the late FBAR.
• Situation B: the interest, wealth product and fund income weren't reported either, and it wasn't willful. Look at the streamlined procedures: SFOP if you live abroad and qualify, SDOP if you live in the U.S., with 3 years of returns and 6 years of FBARs (see the guide at yclcpa.com/sfop).
• Situation C: Forms 8938, 8621, 5471, 3520 or similar were also missed, but all income was reported. File the information returns under the Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures (see the guide at yclcpa.com/diirsp) and the FBARs separately through FinCEN.
• Situation D: the accounts were willfully hidden. Streamlined isn't the right tool. IRS Criminal Investigation has a Voluntary Disclosure Practice (VDP); talk to an attorney, who evaluates and handles it, and we support the tax calculations.
• Situation E: you've already received an IRS exam notice or a bank inquiry. Once the IRS has opened an exam, streamlined is off the table. Have a CPA read the letter before you respond or file anything.