How to Fill Out the FBAR: Form 114 Parts, Deadline, and Filing

To complete FinCEN Form 114, gather each foreign account’s identifying details and maximum balance for the year, convert those balances to U.S. dollars using the December 31 Treasury exchange rate, enter each account in the part of the form that matches how you hold it (individually, jointly, or with signature authority only), then sign and submit electronically through the BSA E-Filing System. Knowing how to fill out FBAR Form 114 correctly comes down to matching each account to the right part of the form and using the right exchange rate. The form goes to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, not the IRS, and it is separate from your tax return.

Confirm You Need to File

File an FBAR if you are a U.S. person and the total value of all your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the calendar year. The threshold is cumulative. Three accounts holding $4,000 each on the same day put you over the line, and every account must then be reported.

“U.S. person” reaches beyond citizens. It includes permanent residents, resident aliens who meet the substantial presence test, and domestic corporations, partnerships, trusts, and LLCs.¹ Add up every foreign account’s maximum value during the year and compare the total to $10,000.²

A child with reportable accounts has the same obligation. If the child cannot file, a parent or guardian files on their behalf, signs electronically, and enters “Parent/Guardian filing for child” in Item 45 (Filer Title).³

A spouse can be covered on a single FBAR only if all three conditions are met: every account the non-filing spouse would report is jointly owned with the filing spouse; the filing spouse timely reports those accounts; and both spouses sign Form 114a (Record of Authorization to Electronically File FBARs) and keep it in their records. Miss any one, and each spouse must file separately and report the full value of the joint accounts.⁴

Information to Gather Before You Open the Form

For every foreign account you held at any time during the calendar year, pull together:⁵

The name the account is registered under.
The exact account number or designation the institution uses.
The full legal name and physical street address of the foreign institution.
The account type: bank, securities, mutual fund, insurance, or other.
The maximum value the account reached at any point during the year, in the original currency.

Periodic statements or a year-end summary are the easiest source for maximum value. If the institution did not issue periodic statements, use the highest balance you can identify from the year.⁶

Reportable accounts include foreign checking, savings, and time deposits; brokerage and custodial accounts at foreign institutions; foreign mutual funds; foreign-issued life insurance or annuities with a cash surrender value; foreign hedge funds and private equity funds held through a financial account; and accounts at foreign branches of U.S. banks.²

Some accounts are excluded: correspondent or nostro accounts, accounts owned by governmental entities or international financial institutions, accounts on U.S. military banking facilities, IRAs and retirement plan accounts where you are an owner, beneficiary, or participant, and trust accounts already covered by another U.S. person’s FBAR.⁷ Assets held directly, not through a financial account, also fall outside the FBAR: foreign real estate, foreign stock or securities held in your own name, foreign currency you physically possess, precious metals, and personal property.²

Under FinCEN Notice 2020-2, a foreign account holding only virtual currency is not currently reportable. If the same foreign account holds crypto alongside cash or securities, the entire account must be reported.

Convert Each Balance to U.S. Dollars

All amounts on Form 114 are reported in U.S. dollars, rounded up to the next whole dollar. The conversion has two steps:⁶

Identify the account’s maximum balance during the year in the original currency.
Convert that amount using the Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange for the last day of the calendar year (December 31).⁸

The rate date is always December 31 of the reporting year. It does not matter whether the balance peaked in March or July; you still use the year-end rate for the conversion.⁵ If no Treasury rate is published for a currency, use another verifiable rate and note the source. For countries with multiple exchange rates, use the rate that would apply if you converted the balance to dollars on December 31.⁶

Fill Out Each Part of Form 114

The form is divided into parts by the type of interest you hold. Matching each account to the right part is where most filing errors happen.

Part I: Filer Information

Your name, date of birth, Social Security number or taxpayer identification number, and address. This identifies you as the person with the reporting obligation.

Part II: Accounts You Own Individually

For each foreign account where you have a direct financial interest and sole ownership, list the institution name, account number, account type, and maximum value in U.S. dollars. Every account gets its own entry.

Part III: Jointly Owned Accounts

Report accounts you share with a spouse or another party here instead of Part II. Include the joint owner’s information along with the account details.

Part IV: Signature Authority Only

Use this part for accounts where you can control the funds through your signature but have no ownership stake. It comes up most often for corporate officers or employees managing a company’s overseas accounts.

Part V: Consolidated Reporting

Filers submitting on behalf of a business or trust that holds 25 or more foreign accounts can report in consolidated form rather than listing every account individually. Detailed records still have to be kept for each account.

Complete every field. Where a foreign address does not include a familiar element such as a zip code, enter “N/A” rather than leaving the field blank.

Sign and Submit Through BSA E-Filing

Form 114 must be filed electronically through the BSA E-Filing System at bsaefiling.fincen.gov.⁹ There is no paper option. Once your account data is entered:

Click “Sign the Form” within the online or PDF interface to apply your digital signature.
Enter your name and email address on the submission page.
Click submit to transmit the encrypted data to FinCEN.
Save the confirmation screen and the emailed receipt.

The receipt contains a unique BSA Identifier. You will need it if you ever amend the FBAR or have to prove compliance during an IRS inquiry. It is the only proof the filing was submitted on time. Store it with your tax records.

The Deadline and Automatic Extension

The FBAR is due April 15 of the year following the calendar year you are reporting. For 2025 accounts, that is April 15, 2026.⁷ If you miss that date, an automatic extension to October 15 applies with no request or paperwork required.¹⁰ Treat the extension as a safety net rather than a plan.

Amending a Filed FBAR

If you find an error after submitting, file an amended report through the same BSA E-Filing System. You cannot reuse the read-only copy of your original submission. Start a new FBAR, check the “Amended” box, and enter the BSA Identifier from the original filing. Complete every field, not only the ones you are correcting, because the amended version replaces the original entirely. There is no fixed deadline for amending, but correcting errors promptly helps if the IRS later reviews the filing.

Records to Keep After You File

Keep records supporting the FBAR for five years from April 15 of the year following the calendar year reported. For a 2025 FBAR, that means retaining records through April 15, 2031. Records should include account name, account number, institution name and address, account type, and maximum value for each account during the year. A copy of the filed form itself helps satisfy this. An employee who filed only because of signature authority over an employer’s account is not personally required to retain records for those accounts.¹¹

What Filing the FBAR Does Not Cover

Form 114 is not a substitute for IRS Form 8938, which reports specified foreign financial assets under FATCA on your income tax return. The two have different thresholds, different scopes, and separate filing paths.² For an unmarried taxpayer living in the U.S., Form 8938 starts at $50,000 in specified foreign assets on the last day of the year or $75,000 at any time; for joint filers, $100,000 and $150,000.¹² Form 8938 also reaches assets the FBAR does not, such as foreign stock or partnership interests held directly. Many people owe both. Filing one does not satisfy the other.

1
eCFR. 31 CFR 1010.350 – Reports of Foreign Financial Accounts
2
Internal Revenue Service. Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR Requirements
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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Filing for Child
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FinCEN.gov. Filing for Spouse
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Internal Revenue Service. FinCEN Form 114 – Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Reporting Maximum Account Value
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Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
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U.S. Treasury Fiscal Data. Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange
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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. BSA E-Filing System – Welcome to the BSA E-Filing System
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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Due Date for FBARs
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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Record Keeping
12
Internal Revenue Service. Do I Need to File Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets