Maximum account value

The FBAR, FinCEN Form 114, reports each foreign account at its maximum value, in item 15. The same figures decide whether you file at all. Once the maximum values of your foreign accounts total more than $10,000, every one of them is reported. The peaks count even when they came on different days.

Periodic statements are enough if they fairly show the account’s maximum value for the year. Value each account separately, in the currency it is held in.

Convert a foreign currency account to dollars at the Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange for the year’s last day. If Treasury has no rate for that currency, use another verifiable rate and state its source. Round up to the next whole dollar, so $15,265.25 becomes $15,266. If the value comes out negative, enter zero.

The usual slip is to report the balance on December 31 instead of the year’s peak. December 31 sets only the exchange rate, and that one rate applies to every account, even one that peaked months earlier.