Comparison · Foreign asset reporting
FBAR vs Form 8938: What's the Difference?
Two forms, two agencies, two thresholds, and a large overlap that makes people think they have already filed when they have not. Here is the comparison, line by line.
By Danilson Ramos · Founder, Atamatax
Published August 2026 · Updated October 2026
Check it for your own assets
Do you need to file Form 8938?
Four questions, no figures typed. The thresholds depend on where you live and how you file, so the module states your own pair before it asks.
Free, no account, nothing you answer leaves this page. Open the full FBAR / Form 8938 checker
A threshold screen, not a filing determination. The thresholds come from the same rule the product uses; whether a specific asset is 'specified' is a question the full checker and the form's instructions answer.
The short answer: the FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is a Bank Secrecy Act filing made to FinCEN, triggered when your foreign accounts exceed $10,000 combined at any point in the year. Form 8938 is a tax filing made to the IRS with your Form 1040, triggered at much higher thresholds, over a wider set of assets. They are separate obligations, and satisfying one has no effect on the other.
The comparison, line by line
| FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) | Form 8938 (FATCA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed with | FinCEN, via the BSA E-Filing System | The IRS, attached to your Form 1040 |
| Legal basis | 31 U.S.C. §5314 and 31 CFR §1010.350 | IRC §6038D |
| Threshold (abroad, single) | $10,000 combined, at any point in the year | $200,000 year-end or $300,000 peak |
| Does filing status change it? | No — the same $10,000 for single and joint filers | Yes — $400,000 / $600,000 filing jointly |
| Does living abroad change it? | No | Yes — the abroad thresholds are far higher |
| Covers | Foreign financial accounts, including ones you only have signature authority over | Foreign financial accounts plus directly-held foreign securities, pension interests, cash-value insurance, and interests in foreign entities |
| Deadline | April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 | The return's deadline, extensions included |
| Filed when no return is due? | Yes — it is independent of the return | No — it is part of a return |
| Non-wilful penalty | Up to $16,536 per report | $10,000, rising to a maximum of $50,000 for continued failure after IRS notice |
Why so many people file both
A US person abroad with a salary account, a brokerage account, and a pension can pass $10,000 without noticing and reach the Form 8938 thresholds a few years later. Those two forms then run in parallel every year, listing several of the same accounts. Reporting an account on both is exactly what the rules contemplate — the FBAR is a currency-and-financial-crimes filing and Form 8938 is a tax filing, and they are not designed to defer to one another.
The differences that actually change your answer
- Signature authority. An account you can sign on but do not own — an employer's account, a parent's account, a club treasury — is reportable on the FBAR. Form 8938 asks about assets you have an interest in, so the same account frequently belongs on one form and not the other.
- Assets without an account. Foreign shares held on a register rather than in a brokerage account are invisible to the FBAR and reportable on Form 8938.
- Peak vs year-end. The FBAR only asks about the peak. Form 8938 has both a year-end and a peak test, and either one triggers the form.
- No return, still a filing. If your income is below the return-filing threshold you may owe no return and therefore no Form 8938 — but the FBAR is still due on its own terms.
- Which currency date. The FBAR uses the Treasury year-end rate for maximum balances; the Form 8938 valuation follows the return's conventions. The two figures for the same account can legitimately differ.
If you have missed one, or both
The two forms have genuinely different catch-up routes, and picking the wrong one is a common and expensive mistake. Where returns were filed and only FBARs were missed, the late FBARs are filed with FinCEN with a reasonable-cause statement — the IRS withdrew its published delinquent-FBAR procedures on July 1, 2026, but the filing and the examiner standard are unchanged. Where returns are missing too, that is a Streamlined Foreign Offshore question. Where returns were filed but an international information return was not, the delinquent international information return procedures are a third, separate door with its own reasonable-cause requirement.
Work out which forms your year actually triggers
The free threshold checker runs both tests on the same set of accounts and shows which of the two forms your year crosses, and by how much. No account needed. This is general information, not advice on your facts.
How Atamatax handles the pair
Both tests run off one set of account and holding data, so an account entered once is evaluated for both forms with the right valuation convention for each. The paid package includes the Form 8938 pages that are supported and an FBAR worksheet with the figures the FinCEN filing needs. You file the FBAR through FinCEN's e-filing system — the only channel for it — and the return with the instructions in the package.
Authorities cited
- FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
- 31 CFR §1010.350 — 31 CFR §1010.350 — FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) filing requirement and $10,000 threshold
- 31 U.S.C. §5314 — 31 U.S.C. §5314 — Statutory basis for the FBAR (foreign financial account reporting)
- IRS Form 8938 — About Form 8938 — Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
- IRC §6038D — IRC §6038D — Information reporting of specified foreign financial assets (Form 8938)
- 31 U.S.C. §5321 — 31 U.S.C. §5321 — Civil penalties for FBAR violations (§5321(a)(5))
- Bittner v. United States (2023) — Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85 (2023) — the non-willful FBAR penalty applies per report, not per account
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.