Modelo 720 vs the FBAR and Form 8938: three declarations, no overlap
Americans in Spain routinely assume one covers the other. They are filed with different governments, on different rules, about different things — and doing one has no effect on the other two.
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.
An American living in Spain is inside two asset-reporting regimes at once, and they mirror each other in a way that makes them easy to confuse. Spain wants to know about the assets you hold outside Spain. The United States wants to know about the accounts and assets you hold outside the United States. The same person, the same portfolio, and two governments asking near-opposite questions.
What each one actually is
Modelo 720
FBAR (FinCEN 114)
Form 8938
Filed with
Agencia Tributaria (Spain)
FinCEN (US Treasury)
IRS, attached to Form 1040
Asks about
Assets and rights located outside Spain
Financial accounts located outside the US
Specified foreign financial assets
Covers
Accounts, securities, immovable property, and certain other assets
Accounts only
Assets, including some without an account
Real estate?
Yes
No
Generally no, when held directly
Who files
Spanish tax residents
US persons
US persons meeting the threshold
Relationship to the tax return
Separate informative declaration
Separate — not part of the return
Part of the return
The mirror is the point. Your Spanish bank account is a foreign account to the US and a domestic one to Spain. Your US brokerage account is a foreign asset to Spain and a domestic one to the US. Neither declaration is a subset of the other, so neither can substitute for it.
The consequence people miss
A US citizen who moves to Spain and keeps a US brokerage account has a new Spanish declaration to think about that has nothing to do with the IRS. A US citizen in Spain who opens a Spanish current account has a new US report to think about that has nothing to do with the Agencia Tributaria. Most people notice one of these and assume it was the whole obligation.
Where the US side actually bites
Modelo 720 is an informative declaration: it reports, it does not itself tax. The US reporting forms are also informative — but the underlying US position is not, and this is where an American in Spain typically finds the real cost. Spanish investment funds and European ETFs held through a Spanish bank are non-US pooled vehicles that commonly meet the PFIC tests, so the same holdings that generate a line on Modelo 720 can generate a Form 8621 on the US return.
FBAR. Spanish current accounts, savings accounts and brokerage accounts count toward the $10,000 aggregate — measured as the maximum during the year, across every non-US account you hold anywhere.
Form 8938. The same accounts, plus certain assets without an account, count toward the specified-foreign-financial-asset thresholds ($300,000 for a single filer abroad at any point in the year).
Form 8621. Generally one per PFIC per year for Spanish or European funds held in a Spanish account.
Foreign Tax Credit. Spanish income tax paid on the same income is what makes the US credit available — see the France and Spain desks for how the treaty allocates each income type.
The 2022 CJEU ruling, and what it did not change
Modelo 720's original enforcement regime was aggressive: penalties without a limitation period, and undeclared assets treated as unjustified capital gains. In January 2022 the Court of Justice of the European Union held in Commission v Spain (C-788/19) that this regime was contrary to EU law, and Spain amended it.
What survived is the declaration itself. The obligation to file Modelo 720 was not struck down — only the disproportionate consequences of failing to. Reading the ruling as having abolished the declaration is a common and expensive misunderstanding, and it says nothing at all about the US forms, which the CJEU has no jurisdiction over.
Working out what you owe to whom
List every account and asset you hold, and tag each one by the country it is located in.
For Spain: identify what is located outside Spain — including US accounts, US property and US retirement accounts.
For the US: identify what is located outside the US — including every Spanish account, whatever its balance.
Take the maximum value of each non-US account during the calendar year and total them against the $10,000 FBAR figure.
Separately test the Form 8938 thresholds, which are different numbers on a different measurement basis.
List every pooled fund in a Spanish account with its ISIN, because that is where the US tax rather than merely the US reporting is decided.
See which US thresholds you actually cross
Enter your account values and the free checker shows whether you cross the FBAR line, the Form 8938 line, both, or neither — with the reasoning shown.
AEAT · Modelo 720 — Agencia Tributaria — Modelo 720, informative declaration of assets and rights held abroad
CJEU C-788/19 — Court of Justice of the European Union, Commission v Spain (C-788/19, 27 January 2022) — Modelo 720 penalty regime held contrary to EU law
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)
IRC §1297 — IRC §1297 — Definition of a passive foreign investment company
IRS Form 8621 — About Form 8621 — Information Return by a Shareholder of a PFIC or QEF
US–Spain Income Tax Treaty — Convention between the United States and Spain (signed 1990), as amended by the 2013 Protocol (in force 2019)
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
Does filing Modelo 720 satisfy my FBAR obligation?#
No. They are filed with different governments about different things: Modelo 720 goes to the Agencia Tributaria and covers assets held outside Spain, while the FBAR goes to FinCEN and covers financial accounts held outside the United States. Neither filing has any effect on the other, and an American resident in Spain can readily owe both.
No, though they are closer in spirit than the FBAR is, since both cover assets rather than only accounts. They still differ on what counts — Modelo 720 reaches immovable property, which Form 8938 generally does not when held directly — and on thresholds, dates and the government receiving them. Form 8938 is filed with your Form 1040; Modelo 720 is a standalone Spanish declaration.
If you are a Spanish tax resident, US accounts are assets held outside Spain and fall within the declaration's scope in the same way any other non-Spanish asset does. This is the mirror-image point that catches Americans out: the accounts you think of as home accounts are the foreign ones from Spain's perspective.
No. In Commission v Spain (C-788/19, January 2022) the Court of Justice held that the penalty regime attached to Modelo 720 was contrary to EU law, and Spain amended the regime. The obligation to file the declaration itself survived. The ruling also has no bearing on US reporting, which is outside the Court's jurisdiction.
What is the FBAR threshold for an American in Spain?#
The same as everywhere: $10,000 aggregated across every non-US financial account you hold anywhere in the world, measured at each account's maximum during the calendar year. Spanish accounts and any account left behind in another country are added together against that single figure.
Spanish fondos de inversión and European ETFs held through a Spanish bank are non-US pooled vehicles and commonly meet the PFIC income or asset test. That is a separate and generally more expensive problem than the reporting forms, because it changes what you owe rather than only what you file.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.