# FBAR filing needed for my case?



## sorkaxo

Hello, 

I am a French citizen living in the USA. I got the green card in mid-2014 and never heard of FBAR until last week. I own a couple of French savings accounts, for a combined amount < 25k euros. Those accounts are made of Livret A, Livret de Développement Durable and Plan d’Epargne Logement (PEL). I do not manage actively those accounts (my dad adds some euros for my bday and Xmas as gifts) since I left France mid-2000.

Here are my questions:

1/ Does one need to file FBAR only once one gets the green card? Or, in my case, should I have had filed FBAR for the previous years (i.e when I had an H1B and were a US tax resident)?

2/ As per the FATCA agreements from the USA and France, do I need to report my French Savinsg accounts, since they fall under the "Accounts Excluded from Financial Accounts (...) and therefore are not treated as U.S. Reportable Accounts"? Or that means that the French Bank is not obligated to send those account information to the USA but technically I am still supposed to report those accounts?


Please recommend me what I should do. File or not file FBAR for 2015? File or not file FBAR for years prior to 2015? Thank you in advance for your help!


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## Bevdeforges

You probably should file the FBAR for the accounts, though it's unlikely the banks are going to "rat you out" to the IRS, given the terms of the Bilateral Agreement. 
Cheers,
Bev


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## maz57

To the best of my knowledge, if you are a US tax resident you are required to file FBAR (now FinCEN 114) in any year the aggregate value of your accounts exceeded the US$10,000 threshold. 

It doesn't matter by what means you became a US tax resident or where in the world you live. This obligation doesn't go away even if your income is below the threshold for filing a tax return in any given year.

The chances are good you could file for 2014 and "sin no more" going forward without any problem, but technically you should file for any of the past years you had the obligation.


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## bissop

*carefull with form 8938*

Hi,

before deciding to file FBAR for the 1st time on accounts that are delinquent, you
should check if you will fit the reqs to file the form 8938 "disclosure of foreign assets"
That form requires to indicate whether an account or closed in the previous year.
if you don't have to file (I think the limit is 50K of foreign assets but I don't remember for sure), you can go aheadand file FBARs for this year. If do you do need
to file 8938, then it becomes more dicy... check your situation carefully.


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## BBCWatcher

IRS Form 8938 and FinCEN Form 114 are completely separate, independent requirements, Bissop. If they exist. I'm not sure what you're driving at.

There's no problem whatsoever here -- nothing is late yet. File IRS Form 4868 by April 15 to get an extension to file your 2014 tax return. (That doesn't extend your time to pay your final tax payment for 2014. Take your best guess and pay that if you think you still owe some tax.) File your 2014 FinCEN Form 114 by June 30, 2015. (You do have that requirement.) You probably won't have an IRS Form 8938 filing requirement, but if you do you'll have until October 15 to file it together with the rest of your tax return. So send in that IRS Form 4868 if you haven't already.


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## Bevdeforges

If you are resident in the US, you don't need to file the 8938 at all (even if you need to file regular tax returns) if the total of your overseas financial assets is less than $50,000. You've said that your French accounts amount to less than €25K, so you should be fine just filing the FBAR.
Cheers,
Bev


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