To amend an FBAR, log back into the BSA E-Filing System, start a new FinCEN Form 114 for the year you need to fix, check the “Amended” box, and enter the BSA Identification Number from your original filing. Fill in the corrected information for every account on the report, not just the ones that changed, add a short explanation on the cover page, and submit. The amended report replaces the original as the authoritative record for that year.
That is the whole process when you caught your own mistake and the original was filed on time. If you never filed an FBAR for the year in question, or your foreign income was also missing from your tax return, a straight amendment is the wrong tool and a formal IRS compliance program is where you should go instead.
Errors That Call for an Amendment
The most common reason to amend is a foreign account you left off the original. A dormant savings account or a brokerage account you rarely look at gets overlooked, and once you notice, the fix is to add it to a corrected filing.
Misstating the maximum account value is the other frequent trigger. The FBAR asks for the highest balance the account reached during the calendar year, not the year-end figure, and foreign-currency balances must be converted to U.S. dollars using the Treasury Department’s exchange rate for the last day of the calendar year.1Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Reporting Maximum Account Value Using the wrong date’s rate, or the wrong peak balance, makes the reported value inaccurate.
Other mistakes worth correcting include the wrong account type, a joint account listed as individually owned, an incorrect account number, or a misspelled institution name. Pull together your bank and financial statements for the reporting year before you start, so every detail on the amended form is right. Filing multiple amendments for the same year invites attention you do not want.
Filing the Amendment Step by Step
Everything happens inside the same BSA E-Filing System you used the first time. Open a new FinCEN Form 114 for the calendar year that needs correcting and select the “Amended” option near the top of the form. The system will prompt you for the BSA Identification Number assigned to your original filing, which is how the correction gets linked to the right record.2Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FBAR Line Item Filing Instructions
You cannot download your original submission and resubmit it with edits. The system requires a fresh form.3Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Filing the FBAR Using the Online Form Enter the corrected information for every account that belongs on the report, because the amended filing becomes the complete record for that year.
On the cover page, add a brief, factual explanation of what you are fixing. Something like “Added one omitted foreign bank account” or “Corrected maximum account value due to currency conversion error” is enough. Keep it short and neutral. Sign electronically and submit. The system issues a new confirmation number and a new BSA ID for the amended report. Save both the new confirmation and the original BSA ID in your records.
If You Cannot Find Your Original BSA ID
The BSA ID appears on the confirmation email FinCEN sent when you filed the original report. If the email is gone, contact FinCEN’s Regulatory Helpline at 800-949-2732, or 703-905-3975 from outside the United States.4Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN FBAR Help Without the BSA ID, the system has no way to connect the amendment to your original filing.
How Long You Have to Amend
The FBAR itself is due April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 if you miss that date, no request required.5Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) An amendment to an FBAR that was filed on time can go in at any point through the BSA E-Filing System. There is no separate deadline for amendments.
That said, the sooner you correct the record, the less likely the error draws scrutiny. The IRS has six years from the original due date to assess civil penalties for an FBAR violation,6Internal Revenue Service. IRM 8.11.6 FBAR Penalties so an uncorrected mistake stays exposed for years.
When Amending Is Not the Right Fix
A standard amendment assumes you filed an FBAR on time and now want to correct it. If you never filed for a given year, or your tax return also failed to report income from the foreign accounts, you need one of the IRS compliance programs instead. Which one depends on whether all foreign income was reported and whether your failure to file was willful.
Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures
This is the simplest path, and it applies when you failed to file an FBAR but properly reported and paid tax on all income from the foreign accounts. You file the missing FBARs electronically through the BSA E-Filing System, select a reason for filing late on the cover page, and include a statement explaining why the reports are late.7Internal Revenue Service. Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures
Three conditions apply: you cannot already be under IRS civil examination or criminal investigation, the IRS cannot have already contacted you about the missing FBARs, and all income from the foreign accounts must have been reported on your tax returns. If those conditions are met, the IRS will not impose a penalty for the late filing.7Internal Revenue Service. Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures
Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures
When missing FBARs come paired with unreported foreign income, delinquent submission alone is not enough. The Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures handle both problems and are open to taxpayers whose non-compliance was non-willful, meaning it resulted from negligence, misunderstanding, or an honest mistake.8Internal Revenue Service. Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures
The program requires three years of amended or delinquent income tax returns on Form 1040-X, all required international information returns, and six years of delinquent FBARs. You also submit a certification of non-willful conduct on Form 14653 if you live in the United States or Form 14654 if you live abroad.8Internal Revenue Service. Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures
U.S. residents using the domestic version pay a miscellaneous offshore penalty of 5%, calculated on the highest aggregate year-end balance of unreported foreign financial assets across the covered period. That 5% replaces FBAR penalties and accuracy-related penalties.9Internal Revenue Service. U.S. Taxpayers Residing in the United States Taxpayers who qualify under the foreign version pay no miscellaneous offshore penalty, though back taxes and interest on unreported income still apply.
IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice
If your failure to file was deliberate, neither of the above programs is available. The IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice is the route for intentional non-compliance and begins with a pre-clearance request on Part I of Form 14457. It requires you to acknowledge willful conduct and cooperate fully with the IRS, and the disclosure must be timely, meaning the IRS has not already started a civil exam, received third-party information about your accounts, or opened a criminal investigation into your noncompliance.10Internal Revenue Service. IRS Criminal Investigation Voluntary Disclosure Practice
Why Quietly Refiling Is a Bad Idea
Some taxpayers try to resolve past non-filing by sending in late FBARs and amended returns without entering any formal program. The IRS calls these “quiet disclosures,” and they carry real risk. A quiet filing creates no penalty protection, and the IRS has warned that these submissions can be examined and may lead to criminal prosecution in serious cases.8Internal Revenue Service. Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures
If you already made a quiet disclosure and now want to enter the streamlined procedures, you can, but any penalties already assessed will not be reversed. The formal programs exist to give you a structured resolution with known consequences, and skipping them to save paperwork rarely works out.
What to Keep After You Amend
FBAR records must be retained for five years from the due date of the report. For a 2025 FBAR, due April 15, 2026, records must be held until at least April 15, 2031. Required records include the account name and number, the name and address of the foreign institution, the account type, and the maximum value during the reporting period.11Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Record Keeping
After filing an amendment, save the BSA E-Filing confirmation receipts for both the original and the amended report. Keep the underlying bank statements, account summaries, and the currency conversion calculations behind your maximum-balance figures. If you went through the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures or the streamlined program, hold onto your reasonable cause statement or your Form 14653 or 14654 with the rest of the file. The penalty statute of limitations runs six years while the record-keeping rule is five, so holding records for the full six years is the safer practice.