Form 8938 is designed to be used by the Internal Revenue Service for combating international tax evasion and requests information about foreign asset s.
Certain U.S. taxpayers holding specified foreign financial assets with an aggregate value exceeding $50,000 will report information about those assets on new Form 8938 , which must be attached to the taxpayer’s annual income tax return.
Form 8938 requests information about foreign asset s and accounts, while the FBAR requests information only about foreign account s.
Married individuals filing jointly and residing in the United States are required to file Form 8938 if their foreign financial assets are valued greater than $100,000 on the last day of the year or greater than $150,000 at any point during the year.
If you are required to file Form 8938 but do not by the due date, you may be subject to a penalty of $10,000 per year.
There is a $10,000 penalty for failing to file Form 8938 by the due date.
Generally not, but it depends. Form 8938 itself is not an audit trigger. If you follow the rules and report foreign asset s, you will generally not be audited.
Yes, if you are required to report foreign financial assets. For example, unmarried individuals residing in the United States are required to file Form 8938 if the market value of their foreign financial assets is greater than $50,000 on last day of the year or greater than $75,000 at any time during the year.
Yes, the IRS can check foreign bank accounts via FATCA reporting by foreign banks.
Sometimes legal counsel is not necessary to correct Form 8938 errors. In some cases, legal counsel is strongly recommended. Unsure? Contact us.