I am a US citizen living outside the US for several years. For the first time, I had over $10,000 in a foreign account. Apparently, now I have to file an FBAR. I have several accounts overseas but all except one have balances less than $10k. Am I required to include the others in my FBAR?
If I have several foreign accounts, only one of which is >$10k, do I need to report all on the FBAR?
1 Answer
The $10K limit is aggregate. You might have had a filing obligation in prior years as well, if the total of all of your accounts together in any one day was $10K or more.
If you have more than $10K on a single account - yes, you're required to file FBAR, and you're required to list all of your accounts.
Pay attention: FBAR is not only for classical bank accounts (what is in the US called "checking" or "savings"). It is also for pensions, investment accounts, cash-value insurance policies, retirement schemes, etc etc.
Many people look at their bank account, that they left back in the home country, see that there's $1K on it, and think they don't need to file FBAR. And they forget that they have accumulated $100K on their retirement account.