IRS Form 8938 | Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets

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Form 8938 is an IRS form used to report your foreign financial assets. The 8938 is often confused with the FBAR, which is a document required by the treasury Department, not the IRS. It is mostly US Citizens, Green Card Holders and Resident Aliens who may need to file Form 8938. The other main factor is your total foreign holdings. For example, if you are single, living in the US and your total foreign financial assets totaled $50,000 or more on the last day of the year, or $75,000 or more at any time during the year, you must file this form. If you are married taxpayers filing a joint return and you live abroad, and if your total foreign holdings exceed $400,000 on December 31st, or $600,000 on any day of the year, then you, too must file.

How to Fill-in

Part I of the Form 8938 is for reporting accounts at foreign financial institutions. There are separate sections for Deposit Accounts and Custodial Accounts. Part II is the Other Foreign Assets Summary. These include financial instruments such as stocks and bonds. Part III is a summary section. Each item in Part I and in Part II will have one or more of such financial results as interest, dividends, gains or losses associated with it. In Part III, you will report each amount for both accounts in foreign financial institutions and for other types of financial assets. You will here state where, in the rest of your federal tax forms, you make note of each result so that it becomes a factor in determining what your final federal tax obligation will be. Part IV is for noting specific types of financial assets that are not reported on Form 8938 because they must be reported on one of six other types of forms. Each is listed here, and you must note, in Part IV, just how many of each of these types of forms you have filed. In Part V, you report specific, detailed information about each account that you included in Part I. If you have more than one account to report on, you must attach a Continuation Sheet, one of which is included on the last page of Form 8938. Part VI of Form 8938 is where you report the specifics of the items that you listed in Part II, the foreign assets you own which are not held in financial institutions. Again, there is room here for only one asset. If you are reporting on more than one, you will also find a continuation sheet that you can use on the forms last page. The Continuation Sheets for both Part V and for Part VI can be copied as many times as needed.