In case you have an active bank account in any foreign bank, then it is your duty to report the account yearly to the treasury department of the US government. Quite interestingly, the nature of bank account varies from banks to banks. So for the convenience of our clients, we have provided you with the list of certain types of accounts. This includes mutual funds, brokerage accounts, current or savings accounts and other types of financial assets. It is worthwhile here to note that under the secrecy of bank act, each person living in the US have to file a FBAR. FBAR is the acronym of Foreign Bank Accounts Report. You can also submit the FinCEN form number 114 in case the combined balance in your bank account is at least 10000 dollars.
To be frank, the FinCEN form numbered 114 is a standard requirement for all US citizens who have accounts in foreign banks. In case you fail to file this form, you may attract strict penalties that also include criminal prosecution.
Note that in addition to FinCEN form numbered 114, you would also be required to file form-8938 of the FATCA. But here are some of the conditions that you have to meet to file the FATCA form.
You reside in the USA, and you are filing a tax return as a single entity. Moreover, you have foreign assets with a valuation of more than 50K dollars on the final day of the year. You would also be required to file this form if the value of your assets has reached 75K dollars at any time of the financial year.
You are an expat from the US living abroad and you are filing tax return as a single individual. Moreover, you have assets lying in foreign countries with a valuation of more than 200K dollars. If the value of your assets has reached 300K dollars, you would also be required to file this form.
You reside in the US and you are filing a return jointly with your spouse, and you have assets in foreign banks with a valuation of more than $100K at the end of the financial year.
You are an expat from the US living abroad and you are filing tax return jointly with your spouse. In case you have assets lying in foreign countries with an aggregate value of more than 400K dollars or the value of the assets have reached 600K dollars at any point of time.
