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Topic · Australia

FBAR for Americans in Australia: super counts too

An everyday transaction account, an offset account against the mortgage and a superannuation balance will clear the FBAR threshold between them without anyone mentioning it.

By Danilson Ramos · Founder, Atamatax

Published August 2026 · Updated October 2026

Part of the Australia desk — every US tax topic for Australia in one place.

Check it for your own accounts

Do you need to file an FBAR?

Three questions, no balances typed, no email. The read explains the aggregate rule — the part most people get wrong — and what would settle the rest.

Free, no account, nothing you answer leaves this page. Open the full FBAR / Form 8938 checker

Are you a US person?

A US citizen, a green-card holder, or a US resident for the year.

Do you have financial accounts outside the US?

Bank, savings, brokerage, a pension with a cash value, a fintech balance held by a non-US entity.

A threshold screen, not a filing determination. Three answers cannot establish whether a specific account is reportable; the full checker and the account's own terms can.

The FBAR is a reporting form with no tax attached, which is exactly why it gets missed. Nothing in Australia prompts it, no Australian institution mentions it, and the amounts involved are ordinary — an everyday account, an offset account sitting against a mortgage, and a super balance that has been accumulating since your first job.

The threshold is worldwide, and it is a maximum

The test is the $10,000 aggregate MAXIMUM across all your non-US financial accounts at any point during the calendar year — not the closing balance, not the average, and not only Australia. And it is a US-dollar threshold, so the arithmetic has to be done in US dollars: A$9,000 is roughly US$6,500, not US$9,000. Someone with A$14,000 in an everyday account and US$4,000 left in an account in another country is over the line, even though neither would be alone.

Australian accountReportable?Note
Everyday / transaction accountYesThe ordinary case
Offset account against a mortgageYesIt is a deposit account, whatever it offsets
Term depositYesHeld at a foreign financial institution
Superannuation (industry or retail)Generally yesReportable independently of how its income is characterised
Self-managed super fundGenerally yesThe fund's accounts, and possibly your authority over them
CommSec / Stake / SelfWealth brokerageYesReport the account, not each holding
A US-dollar account at an Australian bankYesThe currency is irrelevant; the institution's location is not
Super is the one people leave off, usually reasoning that its US tax treatment is unsettled so it cannot be reportable. The inference does not hold. The FBAR is a Bank Secrecy Act report about ACCOUNTS; it does not ask whether the income inside them is taxable, and the unsettled characterisation question has no bearing on it.

Working it out

  1. For each account, find the MAXIMUM value it reached at any point in the CALENDAR year — not the Australian financial year, and not the closing balance.
  2. Convert to US dollars at the Treasury year-end rate for that year.
  3. Add every account together, including any held outside Australia.
  4. Compare the total to $10,000. If it exceeds that figure, EVERY account is reported — not only those that individually cross it.
  5. Include accounts you have signature authority over but do not own.
  6. File FinCEN Form 114 electronically, April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15

If you have never filed

Penalties are $16,536 for non-willful violations and $165,353 where conduct is willful, but the ordinary case of someone who did not know is a compliance problem rather than an enforcement one. Late FBAR filing with a reasonable-cause statement is the route where returns are otherwise correct (the IRS withdrew its published Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures on July 1, 2026; the filing and the examiner standard are unchanged), and the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures where returns are also late.

Check whether you cross the line

Enter your account balances and the free checker shows which reporting thresholds you cross — FBAR, Form 8938, or neither.

Check my thresholds

Authorities cited

Primary sources (Cornell Legal Information Institute for the US Code and CFR; IRS.gov for forms, procedures, and treaty documents). This page is general information, not individualized tax or legal advice.

Atamatax provides tax preparation support and educational resources. This website does not constitute legal or tax advice.

Frequently asked questions

Do I report my superannuation on the FBAR?#
Generally yes. Superannuation is a foreign financial account, and it is reportable independently of the unsettled question about how its income is characterised for US tax. The FBAR asks about accounts, not about taxability.
Is my mortgage offset account reportable?#
Yes. An offset account is a deposit account held at a foreign financial institution; what it offsets does not change its character for FBAR purposes.
Does the Australian financial year matter for the FBAR?#
No. The FBAR is measured on the calendar year, so the July-to-June Australian financial year is irrelevant to it — a common source of the wrong maximum being reported.
Does the $10,000 threshold apply only to my Australian accounts?#
No. It is the aggregate maximum across every non-US financial account you hold anywhere in the world. Australian accounts and any account left behind in another country are added together against the same $10,000 figure.
When is the FBAR due?#
It is April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 It is filed with FinCEN rather than the IRS, and is the same $10,000 for single and joint filers
What if I have never filed one?#
The route depends on whether your tax returns are otherwise correct. Where they are, the late FBARs are filed with a reasonable-cause statement (the published procedures were withdrawn July 1, 2026); where returns are also late, the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures cover the most recent 3 years and the most recent 6 years.

Related guides

Preparation · price before you start

If you want the return and the account reporting prepared

Which route fits depends on a few facts, not on the balances. These are the common situations and the route the same rules give each one. Nothing is charged until you generate a package or accept a written quote.

  1. Returns up to date, accounts over the thresholds, no non-US funds

    Simple · $299 · Self-serve preparation

    The threshold is met and no non-US fund is in play: the Simple package prepares the return with the FBAR and Form 8938 logic inside it.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    A draft filing package for one tax year: Form 1040 and the supported schedules, Form 1116 inputs, FBAR/Form 8938 threshold logic and filing instructions — with every assumption disclosed.

    The Atamatax engine prepares a draft package from the figures you enter and confirm. No person prepares it.

    Nobody at Atamatax reviews it before you download it. A package generated with an open gap is stamped DRAFT — INCOMPLETE and lists what must be resolved, and every assumption is listed for you, or a professional you choose, to check.

    You file — the return with the IRS using the package's instructions, the FBAR on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System — or a professional you engage files for you. Atamatax transmits nothing to the IRS or FinCEN.

    Start a Simple return

  2. Every return was filed; only the FBARs were missed

    Simple · $299 · Self-serve preparation

    Your returns appear current and only FBARs were missed. Late FBARs are filed with FinCEN directly, with the reason for filing late and a reasonable-cause statement, so the annual package covers the return side. The threshold is met and no non-US fund is in play: the Simple package prepares the return with the FBAR and Form 8938 logic inside it.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    The Atamatax engine prepares a draft package from the figures you enter and confirm. No person prepares it.

    Nobody at Atamatax reviews it before you download it. A package generated with an open gap is stamped DRAFT — INCOMPLETE and lists what must be resolved, and every assumption is listed for you, or a professional you choose, to check.

    You file — the return with the IRS using the package's instructions, the FBAR on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System — or a professional you engage files for you. Atamatax transmits nothing to the IRS or FinCEN.

    Start a Simple return

  3. The accounts hold non-US funds or ETFs

    PFIC Portfolio · $499 · Self-serve preparation

    Non-US funds mean Form 8621 wherever a holding is a PFIC. The PFIC package screens each one from its domicile and drafts the form only where it applies.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    Everything in Simple plus up to 25 supported Forms 8621 with QEF / mark-to-market / §1291 inputs per holding, fund-domicile classification with confidence shown, and the assumption log — for one tax year.

    The Atamatax engine prepares a draft package from the figures you enter and confirm. No person prepares it.

    Nobody at Atamatax reviews it before you download it. A package generated with an open gap is stamped DRAFT — INCOMPLETE and lists what must be resolved, and every assumption is listed for you, or a professional you choose, to check.

    You file — the return with the IRS using the package's instructions, the FBAR on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System — or a professional you engage files for you. Atamatax transmits nothing to the IRS or FinCEN.

    Prepare my PFIC portfolio

  4. Returns are missing too, not only the FBARs

    Streamlined Essential · $1,590 · Scoped by hand

    Wages, pensions or bank accounts with no non-US funds is the standard catch-up scope: three returns, six FBARs, and the certification package.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    A Streamlined Foreign Offshore preparation package: up to three delinquent returns and six FBAR years as worksheets mapped to each year's official forms (official PDFs for the current filing year), a document completeness check, the Form 14653 organiser, and filing instructions — one scoped quote, one payment.

    A person at Atamatax prepares the three returns, the six FBAR years and the Form 14653 organiser from your documents, against the written scope, with the engine computing the figures. You write your own statement of facts.

    A person at Atamatax checks the package for completeness before release — an operational check, not a review by a credentialed tax professional. No EA or CPA review is included unless your written scope names one.

    You mail the returns to the IRS as the Streamlined instructions direct, and file the FBARs on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System. Atamatax transmits nothing to the IRS or FinCEN.

    Get a scoped quote

When a professional's judgment is needed. Missed years beyond the FBARs, a foreign pension whose US treatment is unsettled, or an IRS letter about the accounts are read by a person before a route is chosen — the account reporting is the easy part; what the accounts earned is the part that needs judgment.

In every route the signatures and the filing stay with you or the accountant you choose; nothing is filed on your behalf. Written questions to hello@atamatax.com reach a person — we aim to reply within one business day. Who does what in each route.

Free preliminary result · a few questions

See which foreign-account filings may apply to you

The FBAR and Form 8938 have different thresholds, different definitions and different penalties. A few questions show which one — or both — your accounts point at, and what else rides along.

Check my foreign-account filingsNo signup. Answers stay yours.

Your next step · free

Do your accounts cross the threshold?

Enter each account's highest balance as a band. The checker runs the FBAR aggregate and the Form 8938 threshold for your filing status and where you live, and says which form — or both — the numbers point at. Free, no account.

Check my FBAR and Form 8938 thresholdsCheck my FBAR and 8938 thresholds