FBar and Form 8938 reporting?

jsss8791

So recently after about 20 years I started looking at my financial assets in my home country. I had invested a very moderate sum of money(less than $10k ) 20 years ago via some financial advisors in some mutual funds and stocks. My home country had strict requirements to access those accounts so for the most part my login and any information about how those stocks were doing were all unknown to me. As I worked to unfreeze my brokerage accounts in my home country, I realized that some mutual funds etc. had given me 3500% return. My stock portfolio had ballooned into a fairly substantial amount (more than $60k). Which means I have to file for FBar and Form 8938 but I don't know for how many years I have to file going back because I don't know like what my net asset value was in all those years. Should I just start filing from this year? If I file for the previous years I don't even know what the asset values were for those years

KristineS

Hi jsss8791,

Thanks for your question.

You may wish to consult with a paid tax professional to carefully review all the facts and circumstances of your situation, which sounds like it covers a number of years.

There are some exceptions of the need to file Form 8938, a form our software does support, even if your balance at any time of the year is more than $75,000 or $50,000 as of December 31st.

You aren't required to report a financial account or other specified foreign financial assets* if one of the following exceptions apply:

• The foreign financial account is maintained by a U.S. payer, such as a domestic bank, U.S. brokerage firm, or a U.S. branch of a foreign bank.
• The foreign financial account is at a foreign branch or subsidiary of a U.S. financial institution.
• Accounts maintained by dealers or traders in securities or commodities if all of the holdings in the account are subject to the mark-to-market accounting rules for dealers.
• There are other less common exceptions, see the Form 8938 instructions  for a full list of exceptions and details on who needs to file Form 8938 .

Failure to file the annual FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) with FinCEN when required to do so can carry heavy penalties. Coming into compliance may need careful consideration with a licensed professional which is outside the scope of what we offer.

* Specified foreign financial assets include any financial account maintained by a foreign financial institution and, to the extent held for investment, any stock, securities, or any other interest in a foreign entity and any financial instrument or contract with an issuer or counterparty that is not a U.S. person.