# Question about FBAR Questionnaire



## Fledermaus

Hello,

I've been procrastinating about getting my US taxes filed, mainly due to lack of time and the motivation to tackle the whole mess. As well I figured that over the past 20 years in which I've lived in Germany I've barely earned enough as either a student or a stay-at-home mom to three. Now I discover that I need to declare any foreign account which has my name on it (i.e., my joint savings account with my German husband). My questions are about filling out the "Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedure for NRA, Non-Filer questionnaire": 

1. The German gov't has a mandatory retirement insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) Money has been paid into this, mostly by the German govt' as the time you take care of your children is also considered "work". Is this really considered a retirement account or does question 7 of the questionnaire refer to retirement plans that are private. 

2. I have a small savings/checking account in the US ( I opened it to cash checks that the kids got as presents for their baptisms, birthdays, Xmas etc). There is not much money on it and it gets next to no interest. Do you think this will disqualify me for this procedure. 

Thanks in advance.

Beth


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## Bevdeforges

Fledermaus said:


> 1. The German gov't has a mandatory retirement insurance (Deutsche Rentenversicherung) Money has been paid into this, mostly by the German govt' as the time you take care of your children is also considered "work". Is this really considered a retirement account or does question 7 of the questionnaire refer to retirement plans that are private.


Government pension plans are specifically excluded from the FBAR reporting process. The question relates only to private pension plans where you contribute money that is then invested.



> 2. I have a small savings/checking account in the US ( I opened it to cash checks that the kids got as presents for their baptisms, birthdays, Xmas etc). There is not much money on it and it gets next to no interest. Do you think this will disqualify me for this procedure.


No, the FBAR stuff does not have anything to do with accounts held in the US. Those are already reported to the IRS every year anyhow. The FBAR is meant to find foreign accounts that the IRS would otherwise not get information about.
Cheers,
Bev


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## Fledermaus

Thank you so much for your quick reply. Now I can get down to the business of sending it in. 

Cheers,
Beth


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