FATCA Requirements for Americans Abroad: 2026 Guide

FATCA — the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act — is one of the most misunderstood filing requirements for Americans abroad. Most expats have heard the term, but many aren't sure whether it applies to them or how it's different from the FBAR.

Here's what you need to know.

What is FATCA?

FATCA was enacted in 2010 to combat offshore tax evasion. It has two sides:

1. For foreign financial institutions: Banks worldwide must report accounts held by U.S. persons to the IRS. This is why foreign banks ask if you're an American citizen when you open an account.
2. For individual taxpayers: If your foreign financial assets exceed certain thresholds, you must report them on Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets), filed with your annual tax return.

We're focusing on the individual reporting requirement here — that's the part that affects you as an expat.

Do You Need to File Form 8938?

It depends on where you live and your filing status. The thresholds are higher for expats than for U.S.-based taxpayers:

Thresholds for Americans Living Abroad

Thresholds for Americans Living in the U.S.

You must file Form 8938 if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets exceeds either threshold — year-end or at any point during the year. Whether an item is a specified foreign financial asset depends on the asset and how it is held. The applicable reporting threshold depends principally on filing status, qualifying foreign residence, and the relevant values during and at the end of the tax year. The figures above are the commonly cited ones, but always confirm the current IRS Form 8938 instructions for the year at issue.

Note: For Form 8938 purposes, the higher thresholds for taxpayers living abroad apply only when the taxpayer satisfies the conditions in the current Form 8938 instructions. Those rules incorporate tax-home and bona-fide-residence or physical-presence requirements. Do not assume that merely living outside the United States or calling yourself an expat establishes eligibility for the higher thresholds.

What Assets Can Be Reportable?

Form 8938 applies to specified foreign financial assets. Depending on how an asset is held and the applicable rules, these can include:

• foreign financial accounts;
• certain stock or securities issued by non-U.S. persons;
• certain interests in foreign entities;
• certain interests in foreign trusts or estates;
• certain foreign-issued financial instruments or contracts;
• certain cash-value foreign life-insurance or annuity contracts.

Whether a particular pension, retirement arrangement, fund, entity interest, insurance contract, trust interest, or other asset is reportable requires applying the Form 8938 definitions, exceptions, duplicative-reporting rules, valuation rules, and filing threshold.

Items Generally Outside Form 8938 or Requiring Separate Analysis

• Directly held foreign real estate generally is not itself a specified foreign financial asset. An interest in a foreign entity that owns real estate is a separate asset and requires its own analysis.
• A financial account maintained by a U.S. payor generally is not a foreign financial account merely because the taxpayer lives abroad, subject to the current instructions.
• Certain interests in foreign social security, social insurance, or similar programs can receive specific treatment under the Form 8938 rules; apply the current instructions rather than classifying every foreign retirement arrangement from its local label.

How to Determine Asset Values

For Form 8938, determine the maximum value of each specified foreign financial asset under the valuation rules in the current instructions. Foreign-currency values are converted to U.S. dollars using the exchange-rate convention required by those instructions. Do not choose between transaction-date and year-end rates merely based on convenience.

Under the current instructions, a specified foreign financial asset denominated in a foreign currency is valued in that currency and then converted to U.S. dollars using the U.S. Treasury Bureau of the Fiscal Service foreign-currency exchange rate for purchasing U.S. dollars (or another publicly available rate, disclosed on Form 8938, if no Treasury rate is available). Use the rate on the last day of the tax year even if you sold or otherwise disposed of the asset before year-end, unless you rely on the foreign-currency conversion rate reflected in a financial account statement issued at least annually by the institution maintaining the account.

How to File Form 8938

Form 8938 is filed with your annual income tax return (Form 1040). It is not filed separately.

Key details:

• Due date: Same as your tax return (April 15, with extensions)
• E-filing: Form 8938 can be e-filed as part of your return
• Extension: If you extend your tax return, Form 8938 is automatically extended too
• No standalone filing: You cannot file Form 8938 by itself — it must accompany a tax return

Important: Form 8938 generally is filed with the taxpayer's annual income-tax return. Under the current instructions, a specified person generally does not have to file Form 8938 for a tax year if the person is not required to file an income-tax return for that year. Apply the current filing-year instructions and any applicable exceptions.

Form 8938 penalty and limitations-period framework

Failure to file a required Form 8938 can create penalties under Section 6038D, including provisions addressing an initial failure and certain continuing failures after IRS notice. Other penalty provisions can apply when an underpayment is attributable to an undisclosed foreign financial asset.

The statute-of-limitations consequences of omitted foreign-asset information are governed by separate Code provisions and depend on the facts. Do not describe every missing Form 8938 as automatically extending the entire return to six years.

Penalty amounts, continuing-failure rules, reasonable-cause provisions, and limitations periods should be checked against the current Form 8938 instructions and applicable Code provisions for the filing year.

FileAbroad does not determine fraud, willfulness, reasonable cause, or criminal exposure.

Form 8938 vs. FBAR

Form 8938 and FBAR are separate reporting systems. Form 8938 reports specified foreign financial assets and is attached to the federal income-tax return. FBAR focuses on reportable foreign financial accounts and is filed separately with FinCEN.

FBAR uses a $10,000 aggregate maximum-value test. Form 8938 uses separate reporting thresholds based principally on filing status, qualifying foreign residence, and relevant asset values.

An asset can be relevant to one, both, or neither regime.

See the full FBAR vs. Form 8938 comparison.

What if prior Forms 8938 are missing?

A missing Form 8938 does not automatically mean that the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures are the correct correction path.

The appropriate response depends on the taxpayer's return history, underlying income and tax reporting, other missing international information returns, IRS contact or examination history, and the facts surrounding the failure.

The Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures may be available to taxpayers who satisfy the applicable eligibility requirements, including the required non-willfulness certification. Do not promise penalty relief or select Streamlined solely because Form 8938 was omitted.

FileAbroad can screen filing history and preparation scope but does not determine willfulness or provide legal advice.

Still unsure how to proceed? Use the catch-up program tool to organize the questions, or start the intake for a written scope or referral recommendation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to file both FATCA and FBAR?

It depends on your facts. The FBAR test ($10,000 aggregate maximum value of reportable foreign financial accounts) is generally lower than the Form 8938 thresholds ($200,000/$300,000 for single filers abroad). A taxpayer who meets a Form 8938 threshold for a foreign account will often also meet the FBAR test — but the account and asset definitions differ, so verify each form against the current instructions.

Does my foreign pension count for FATCA?

Foreign pension and retirement arrangements require classification under the Form 8938 rules. Depending on the legal arrangement and how the interest is held, a foreign pension or retirement interest can be a specified foreign financial asset. Certain foreign social-security or similar governmental benefits are treated separately. Do not determine Form 8938 treatment solely from the local label.

What about cryptocurrency on foreign exchanges?

Digital-asset reporting under Form 8938 depends on the nature of the asset, the account or custodial arrangement, and current IRS guidance. Do not assume that the location of an exchange by itself determines Form 8938 treatment. Review the current Form 8938 instructions and digital-asset guidance for the filing year.

My foreign bank already reports to the IRS under FATCA. Do I still need to file Form 8938?

A foreign financial institution's FATCA reporting does not itself satisfy a taxpayer's separate Form 8938 obligation. If the taxpayer independently meets the Form 8938 filing requirements, the taxpayer must comply with those requirements even if a foreign institution also reports information under FATCA.

The Bottom Line

Form 8938 is not a universal filing requirement for Americans abroad. First determine whether the taxpayer is a specified person required to file an income-tax return, identify the specified foreign financial assets, determine whether the taxpayer qualifies for the applicable foreign-resident thresholds, and then compare the relevant values with those thresholds. The result depends on the facts: assets can be relevant to Form 8938, FBAR, both, or neither, so apply the current instructions rather than a blanket "most expats" rule.

Not sure how the thresholds apply to your facts? Let's take a look together.

Official IRS sources

• About Form 8938
• Instructions for Form 8938
• IRS — Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR Requirements
• IRC §6038D
• IRC §6501
• IRS — Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures