# Form 8938



## sam123larry (Oct 9, 2020)

I am using to turbotax to file taxes. Let's say I have an account A with maximum balance of 500k. I opened an account B in 2020 and transferred 400k from account A to B. Hence, account A is left with 100k and account B has 400k. I report both deposit accounts on form 8938 with the maximum amount in account A 500K and the maximum amount in account B 400K. The maximum for all accounts is still 500k. 
Upon checking the form 8939 part I, Line 2 "maximum value of all deposit accounts", turbo tax is showing 900k instead of 500k. It is calculating the maximum of both accounts. Is turbotax interpreting this correctly and that is what supposed to be reported or that is an error and it should be 500k? If it is an error, how would this be resolved as the form cannot be edited in the online version.


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## Jca1 (Aug 7, 2019)

Taken literally, the instructions for the form say to "Report the total maximum value of these accounts and assets," i.e. arguably a sum of the maximum values reported for each account. Obviously this can be very misleading regarding the total value of the assets, but it might be a correct interpretation of the instructions.

On the other hand, someone here says they called the IRS and was told this is incorrect:






Possible error in TurboTax calculation of maximum value of deposit accounts in Part I of Form 8938


I believe TurboTax is wrong in how it calculates the value for Item 2 (Maximum Value of All Deposit Accounts) in Part I of Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. The IRS instructions for this item state to "Report the total maximum value of these deposit accounts." This...




ttlc.intuit.com





Nonetheless I don't see a way around it other than to try a different program or paper file. There should be no tax consequences for overstating the total amount. 

Edited: the person in the answer noted above says they added a note with the correct value.


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

The filing requirement occurs when the aggregate balance exceeds the filing threshold.

Once the aggregate balance exceeds the filing threshold then you may well end up reporting the same money more than once if you move funds between accounts.

I have done so several times.. at one time the forms seemed to indicate my financial position was three times what it actually was...

The thing to bear in mind is that the history of FBAR reporting (and consequentially FBAR reporting) is its history as an anti-money laundering initiative not a net wealth initiative.

The forms do not capture this subtle nuance.


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