FBAR and FATCA: Reporting Your Foreign Bank Accounts

Why this matters

Many Russian-speakers in the US keep at least one bank account back home — for elderly parents, for inherited property, for a brokerage account opened years ago, or simply because nobody told them to close it. US law requires you to report most of these accounts to the federal government every year. Forgetting is one of the most expensive compliance failures we see among Russian immigrants.

The asymmetry is what makes it dangerous: as of 2026, you can be fined up to $16,536 for failing to report a single $4,000 account. Most people facing those penalties had no idea the requirement existed.

This guide explains whether you need to file, what to file, how to file, and what to do if you are behind.

Do you need to file? A 30-second check

You must file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) if all three are true:

• You are a "US person" — a US citizen, green card holder, or resident alien (someone who passes the substantial-presence test)
• You had at least one financial account outside the US during the calendar year — yours, jointly held, or one you had signature authority on
• The total balance across all of those accounts, summed at each account's high point during the year, ever crossed $10,000

You may also need to file FATCA Form 8938 with your tax return if your foreign financial assets crossed the higher thresholds in the table below.

If you are not sure whether the substantial-presence test applies to you, see our guide on filing US taxes as an immigrant.

Part 1: FBAR (FinCEN Form 114)

What counts as a "foreign financial account"

The FBAR scope is broad. Reportable accounts include:

• Bank accounts in any foreign country (checking, savings, certificates of deposit)
• Brokerage and securities accounts — including Tinkoff Investments, BCS, VTB Brokerage, Finam, Sberbank Investor
• Mutual fund accounts
• Russian non-state pension funds (НПФ) and similar retirement-equivalent accounts
• Cash-value life insurance and annuity contracts
• Some prepaid cards and digital wallets held abroad

Not reportable on FBAR:

• Real estate held directly — your apartment in Moscow does not go on FBAR (although it may matter elsewhere on your return)
• Personal property abroad (art, jewelry)
• Foreign currency you physically hold outside the US
• Cryptocurrency in non-custodial wallets

Cryptocurrency held on foreign-domiciled custodial exchanges is a gray area. FinCEN proposed including these on FBAR in late 2020 but has not finalized the rule as of May 2026. The conservative practice — and the one many Russian-speaking tax professionals recommend — is to report custodial foreign crypto holdings on FBAR using the "Other" account type.

The $10,000 threshold and what "aggregate" really means

The threshold is not per account. It is the sum of the maximum balance from each account during the year. A few examples:

• Three accounts that each peaked at $4,000 → aggregate is $12,000 → you must file
• One account that hit $15,000 in February and a second that held $200 all year → aggregate is $15,200 → you must file
• Two accounts that each peaked at $7,000, but at different times of year, so they never held $7,000 simultaneously → aggregate is still $14,000 → you must file

This last case catches people. The IRS is not looking at any single day's snapshot. It is looking at each account's high-water mark across the year and adding those numbers up.

Signature authority — the most-missed trap

You must file FBAR even if none of the money is yours, as long as you have signature authority over the account. This catches:

• Power of attorney on a parent's Russian account — extremely common; the parent stays in Russia, you handle payments
• Signature authority on a sibling's or grandparent's account
• Joint accounts with a non-US-person spouse abroad
• Any account where you are listed as an authorized signer

If you are an authorized signer on a parent's account that holds 1,500,000 rubles (about $16,000 at recent rates), you have an FBAR obligation — even if the money is not yours and you have never touched it.

How to find your "maximum balance"

For every foreign account that existed during the year:

• Find the highest balance shown at any single point during the year. No averaging, no pro-rating. The peak.
• Convert to USD using the Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange as of December 31. Treasury publishes these at fiscaldata.treasury.gov. Use the December 31 rate even for accounts that closed mid-year.
• If you cannot access an account anymore — closed by sanctions, lost credentials, frozen — use the last balance you have evidence of, and keep a written note of what you tried.

The Treasury exchange rate for rubles has moved significantly in recent years. Use the year-end rate for the year you are reporting, not today's rate.

How to file

FBAR is filed electronically on the FinCEN BSA E-Filing site at bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov — not through the IRS, not on your 1040. It is a separate website with a separate account.

A few things that trip people up:

• One FBAR per person per year. You list all your reportable accounts on a single form, not one form per account.
• For a joint account between two US persons, one filing covers both if both sign. Otherwise each US-person joint holder files separately and indicates the account is joint.
• For signature-authority-only accounts, check the right box so you are not declaring ownership of money that is not yours.

Deadline

April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. You do not have to request the extension — it is automatic.

Part 2: FATCA (Form 8938)

FATCA is a separate but overlapping requirement. Unlike FBAR, it is filed with your tax return, on Form 8938.

Who must file

US persons whose foreign financial assets exceed these thresholds (as of 2026):

"Live abroad" here means a specific IRS standard: your tax home is in a foreign country and you were physically present outside the US for at least 330 full days during any 12-month period that includes part of the tax year. Most Russian-speakers in the US do not qualify and use the lower thresholds.

What is reportable on Form 8938

Everything that is on FBAR, plus:

• Ownership interests in foreign entities — including a stake in a Russian ООО (LLC) or ИП (sole proprietorship)
• Foreign stock or securities held outside an account (uncommon for most people)
• Foreign-issued life insurance and annuities with cash value
• Foreign pension plans and НПФ accounts

What is NOT reportable on Form 8938

• Foreign real estate held directly — your Moscow apartment, your dacha
• Personal property abroad
• Foreign currency held physically

FBAR vs FATCA at a glance

Filing one does not satisfy the other. Many people meet both thresholds and must file both forms. The two forms have different scopes and go to different agencies.

Part 3: The penalties — what is actually at stake

Non-willful (you did not know)

As of 2026, the maximum non-willful FBAR penalty is $16,536 per form per year. The figure is adjusted annually for inflation under federal law.

In Bittner v. United States (February 2023), the Supreme Court held that this penalty applies per form — meaning per year — not per account. Before Bittner, the IRS had been stacking penalties account-by-account, so someone with thirty small foreign accounts could face a $300,000-plus non-willful penalty. After Bittner, the maximum for non-willful conduct is roughly $16,500 per missed year, regardless of how many accounts you had.

For someone who missed three years of FBAR non-willfully and is then audited, the worst case is around $50,000 — not seven figures. That is bad. It is not ruinous. The catch is that it can still happen for what is essentially a paperwork mistake.

Willful (you knew and did not file)

As of 2026, the maximum willful penalty is the greater of $165,353 or 50% of the account balance, per year. Plus potential criminal prosecution — up to five years in prison and a $250,000 criminal fine.

What "willful" actually means

The bar is lower than people expect. Courts have found willfulness when:

• You signed a tax return that asked "do you have foreign accounts?" and checked "no" while having them
• You instructed a foreign bank not to mail statements to your US address
• You told a tax preparer about a foreign account, the preparer did not file FBAR, and you did not follow up to check
• You read about FBAR somewhere and chose to wait

"Reckless disregard" has been found to be willful. If you have foreign accounts and you have not been filing, talk to an attorney — not just an accountant — before doing anything.

Part 4: Catching up if you missed prior years

If you are behind, stop and read this section before doing anything. The wrong move here is much more expensive than the right one.

There are two main paths into compliance for non-willful cases:

Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (SFO)

Open to US persons who lived outside the US for at least 330 full days in one of the most recent three years for which the tax filing deadline has passed.

What you submit:

• Amended tax returns for the most recent 3 years (Form 1040X)
• 6 years of delinquent FBARs
• Form 14653 (a written certification that your non-filing was non-willful, with an explanation)
• Payment of any back tax plus interest

If accepted: no offshore penalty. This is the gentlest path. Most Russian-speakers in the US do not qualify because they live in the US — but if you spent a year or more in Russia before returning, the SFO door may be open.

Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures (SDO)

For US residents — the situation most Russian-speakers in the US fall into.

What you submit:

• 3 amended returns, 6 delinquent FBARs, payment of back tax plus interest
• Form 14654 (the US-resident version of the non-willful certification)
• A 5% miscellaneous offshore penalty, calculated against the highest year-end aggregate balance of your foreign financial assets across the 6 FBAR years

So if your highest December 31 aggregate across those years was $80,000, your penalty is $4,000. Less than the FBAR penalty for even one non-willful year, and far less than the willful exposure.

Both procedures require certifying under penalty of perjury that your conduct was non-willful. That word matters. See the willful section above before signing anything.

"Quiet disclosure" — don't

"Quiet disclosure" means just filing the past FBARs and amended returns without entering a program. The IRS has been clear that this is not authorized and offers no protection. If the IRS later concludes your conduct was willful, you have effectively handed them the timeline of accounts they need to prove it.

Why an attorney, not just a CPA

The choice between SFO, SDO, the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice (for willful cases), and not entering a program at all turns on the willfulness question — and that is a legal judgment, not an accounting one. Conversations with an attorney are protected by attorney-client privilege; conversations with a CPA generally are not. If there is any chance your situation could be characterized as willful, talk to an attorney first.

Part 5: Russian-immigrant scenarios

A few patterns we see specifically:

Lena: $3,000 Sberbank + $4,000 Tinkoff brokerage + small rental income

Her aggregate was around $7,000 most of the year but spiked to $12,000 in July when rent came in. She files FBAR (over $10K aggregate at some point during the year). Her FATCA threshold is not met, so no Form 8938.

Pavel: $80,000 from selling a Moscow apartment, briefly held in a Russian bank account

That account peaked above $10,000 — Pavel files FBAR. He is single and lives in the US, so $80K is above the $75K Form 8938 trigger; he also files FATCA. Important: the apartment itself was never reportable on either form. Only the cash from the sale.

Marina: signature authority on her elderly mother's Sberbank account

Mother lives in Russia; the account is in her name. Marina has power of attorney so she can pay her mother's bills. Marina has signature authority — Marina must file FBAR for that account if its maximum balance pushed her aggregate over $10K. Her mother is not a US person and files nothing.

Alex: account at a Russian bank now under OFAC sanctions, no access

He still must report it. Sanctions do not suspend FBAR. Use the last balance he has documentation for, file in the normal way, and keep notes on attempts to access.

Olya: 30% ownership in a Russian ООО from before she emigrated

The OOO interest is reportable on Form 8938 if she meets the threshold. The ООО's own bank accounts are reportable on FBAR if Olya has signature authority on them. The two forms catch different things.

Boris: crypto held on Garantex (Russian-domiciled exchange)

As of May 2026, FinCEN has proposed but not finalized custodial foreign crypto on FBAR. The cautious path: report it on FBAR under the "Other" account type, and on Form 8938 if the threshold is met. Talk to your accountant about your specific facts.

A practical checklist for April

Two months before tax time, set yourself a reminder to:

1. List every account outside the US you held, jointly held, or had signature authority on during the year — including brokerage, НПФ, crypto on foreign exchanges, and accounts belonging to family members where you have power of attorney

2. Pull December 31 statements (or the last statement you can access) for each one

3. Find each account's maximum balance during the year and convert to USD using the Treasury Reporting Rate of Exchange for December 31

4. If your aggregate ever crossed $10,000 at any single point: file FBAR at bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov

5. If you crossed the FATCA threshold from the table above: include Form 8938 with your 1040

6. Keep copies of the statements and the filed forms in one place — the IRS can ask up to 6 years back

If you have already missed years

Do not quiet-disclose. Do not ask a friend who "knows about taxes." Talk to a Russian-speaking tax attorney first. The Streamlined Procedures exist precisely for people in your situation — but the door narrows once the IRS contacts you.