Service 04Highest-penalty risk

FBAR & FATCA Guidance: Every Account, Correctly Reported.

Foreign account reporting is where expat penalties actually happen — starting around $10,000 for one missed form. We map every account and asset you hold to the right report, threshold, and deadline, before penalties become a possibility.

Map My Accounts

Who It’s For

If Any of These Is You, Reporting Applies

Everyday Account Holders

A checking account plus a savings account abroad crosses $10,000 faster than people think — the threshold is combined, at any moment.

Joint Accounts & Spouses

Married to a non-American? Joint accounts report at full value, and filing choices affect what’s visible — worth getting right.

Signature Authority

You can sign on your employer’s account, a parent’s account, or an association’s? That’s FBAR-reportable even though it’s not your money.

Investors & Pension Holders

Brokerage accounts, foreign pensions, and insurance products with cash value — classification decides which form each belongs on.

What You Get

An Account-by-Account Map, Not Guesswork

The rules sound simple ($10,000 for FBAR) but the reality is classification: does your French assurance-vie count? Your Australian superannuation? The company account you can sign on? Your half of a joint account — or all of it?

We inventory everything you hold, classify each item against both regimes — FBAR (FinCEN 114) and FATCA (Form 8938) — and give you a clear filing map with deadlines. Where filings are needed, we coordinate them with a matched professional; where past years were missed, we route you to the correct catch-up procedure rather than a risky quiet fix.

Remember: neither form creates tax — they’re information reports. The entire cost of getting this right is a little diligence. The cost of getting it wrong starts around $10,000 per violation.

What the service includes

Full account inventory — a guided worksheet covering banks, brokerages, pensions, insurance, business accounts, and signature authority.
Threshold analysis — FBAR’s $10,000 aggregate test and Form 8938’s higher, filing-status-dependent thresholds, applied to your actual numbers.
Classification calls — pensions, insurance wrappers, and PFIC-adjacent products mapped to the right treatment, with specialist input where needed.
Deadline schedule — including FBAR’s automatic October 15 extension and how it interacts with your return.
Missed-years routing — Delinquent FBAR Procedures vs. Streamlined, chosen correctly for your history.
Filing coordination — matched with a professional for preparation or amendments where required.

The Process

From Inventory to Filed in Four Steps

Step 1

Inventory

Complete the guided worksheet — about 20 minutes, plus digging out a few statements.

Step 2

Classify & Test

We map each item to FBAR/8938 treatment and run both threshold tests on your numbers.

Step 3

Your Filing Map

A written summary: what to file, by when, with maximum-value figures ready to drop into the forms.

Step 4

File or Fix

Current-year filings coordinated; missed years routed through the correct procedure with a matched professional.

Pricing

Small Fee. Five-Figure Downside Avoided.

Fixed fee, quoted upfront

The guidance and filing map are a flat fee agreed in writing. Preparation of FBARs/8938s (current or delinquent) is quoted separately and fixed by the matched professional. Bundled with an Assessment or Streamlined package, this work is typically included — ask and we’ll structure it the cheapest sensible way.

Common Questions

The Details People Ask

My accounts only crossed $10,000 for a few days. Do I still report?

Yes — the test is the combined maximum at any moment in the year. One salary deposit sitting overnight above the line makes the year reportable. Filing is easy; the threshold isn’t negotiable.

Does my foreign pension really belong on the FBAR?

Most employer pension accounts and personal retirement accounts abroad do count for FBAR. Classification varies by country and plan type — exactly the kind of call this service exists to make correctly.

I missed several years of FBARs but my returns were fine. Now what?

That’s the classic case for the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures — late FBARs with an explanation, typically resolved without penalty for non-willful cases. Don’t just backfile quietly; use the procedure.

Is cryptocurrency reportable?

Crypto held on a foreign exchange in an account may raise FBAR/8938 questions, and guidance has been evolving; self-custodied wallets are generally treated differently. Flag any crypto in the inventory and we’ll apply the current rules with a professional.

Ready?

Know Exactly What to Report — This Week

Start with the free Tax Check; if account mapping is what you need, you’ll have the worksheet the same day.