Reports of Foreign Financial Accounts Regulations and FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)

31 U.S.C. 5314 authorizes the Secretary to require any “resident or citizen of the United States or a person in, and doing business in, the United States, to . . . keep records and file reports, when the resident, citizen, or person makes a transaction or maintains a relation for any person with a foreign financial agency.” The term “foreign financial agency” encompasses the activities outside the United States of an entity that meets the statutory definition of “financial agency,” notably, “a person acting for a person as a financial institution, bailee, depository trustee, or agent, or acting in a similar way related to money, credit, securities, gold, or a transaction in money, credit, securities or gold, or a service provided with respect to money, securities, futures, precious metals, stone and jewels, or value that substitutes for currency.” The Secretary is also authorized to prescribe exemptions to the reporting requirement and to prescribe other matters the Secretary considers necessary to carry out 31 U.S.C. 5314. The regulations implementing 31 U.S.C. 5314 appear at 31 CFR 1010.350, 1010.360, and 1010.420. 31 CFR 1010.350 generally requires each U.S. person having a financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, a bank, securities, or other financial account in a foreign country to report such relationship to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for each year such relationship exists, and to provide and report such information specified in a reporting form prescribed under 31 U.S.C. 5314. The FinCEN Report 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), is used to file the information required by this section. The FBAR must be filed electronically with FinCEN. 31 CFR 1010.306(c) requires the FBAR to be filed for foreign financial accounts exceeding $10,000 maintained during the previous calendar year. No FBAR is required to be filed if the aggregate account value of foreign financial accounts maintained during the previous calendar year is below $10,000. 31 CFR 1010.420 outlines the recordkeeping requirements associated with foreign financial accounts required to be reported under section 1010.350. Specifically, filers must retain records of such accounts for a period of five years and make the records available for inspection as authorized by law.

The latest form for Reports of Foreign Financial Accounts Regulations and FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) expires 2027-09-30 and is listed under ICR 202403-1506-001.