Official Sources
Every statement on this site should be checked against the primary sources below. These are the authoritative places to look.
Nothing on this site should be your last stop. The pages below are the primary sources — the form itself, the instructions, the statute, the regulations and the agencies’ own guidance. Where this site and an official source disagree, the official source governs.
About these links
All links go to United States government websites and open in a new tab. St Fin Corp is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting on behalf of any of these agencies. Government URLs change from time to time; the links were checked when this page was last reviewed (26 September 2026). If one no longer works, search the agency’s own site for the document title given here rather than trusting a third-party copy.
Filing the form
| Source | What it is |
|---|---|
| BSA E-Filing System | FinCEN’s electronic filing platform. The only place the FBAR is filed, and the starting point for both individual and institutional filers. |
| File an FBAR as an individual | The no-registration route for individuals, including the downloadable PDF version of Form 114 for offline completion. |
| FinCEN — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts | FinCEN’s own overview page, with links to the current form, the line-item filing instructions and filing information. |
| FinCEN Regulatory Support | The contact route for questions about the regulations, technical filing problems, and requests to file on paper where electronic filing is not possible. |
Filing is free
There is no government fee to file an FBAR. If a website implies that a payment to it is required in order to submit the form to the Treasury, that is a commercial preparation service at best. Reach the filing system through the government links above or by typing the address yourself — not through a search advertisement.
IRS guidance
Although the form belongs to FinCEN, the IRS enforces it and publishes the most accessible explanatory material.
| Source | What it is |
|---|---|
| IRS — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) | The main IRS landing page: who must file, what to report, deadlines and penalties, with links onward. |
| IRS FBAR Reference Guide | A detailed reference document covering definitions, exceptions, valuation and penalties. The single most useful free document on the subject. |
| Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements | The IRS’s own side-by-side table. Read this alongside our comparison page. |
| About Form 8938 | The Form 8938 form and instructions, including the full threshold grid and asset definitions. |
| IRS International Taxpayers | The gateway to guidance for U.S. persons abroad and non-residents, including filing requirements beyond the FBAR. |
Correction procedures
| Source | What it is |
|---|---|
| Delinquent FBAR submission procedures | For filers who did not file FBARs but did report and pay tax on the related income. |
| Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures | For taxpayers whose failure to report foreign assets and income was non-willful. Includes both the foreign and domestic variants and the certification forms. |
| IRS Criminal Investigation Voluntary Disclosure Practice | The route where conduct may have been willful. Not to be used without representation. |
Statute, regulations and case law
| Citation | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 31 U.S.C. § 5314 | The reporting authority itself — the requirement to keep records and file reports on relationships with foreign financial agencies. |
| 31 U.S.C. § 5321 | Civil penalties, including the non-willful and willful provisions and the reasonable cause exception. |
| 31 U.S.C. § 5322 | Criminal penalties for willful violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. |
| 31 C.F.R. § 1010.350 | The core FBAR regulation: who reports, what is reportable, the threshold and the exceptions. |
| 31 C.F.R. § 1010.420 | The recordkeeping requirement and the five-year retention period. |
| 31 C.F.R. § 1010.821 | The inflation-adjusted civil penalty amounts — where to find the figure actually in force. |
| Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85 (2023), No. 21–1195 | The Supreme Court’s holding that the non-willful penalty applies per report rather than per account. |
Currency conversion
| Source | What it is |
|---|---|
| Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange | Published quarterly by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service. For the FBAR, use the rate for the last day of the calendar year being reported. |
| IRS yearly average exchange rates | Useful for income tax purposes — but note that the FBAR instructions call for the year-end Treasury rate, not an annual average. |
Notices and relief
Two categories of FBAR relief are granted by individual notices rather than by regulation, and both have to be checked for the specific year in question:
- Disaster relief, postponing the deadline for filers in areas covered by a federal disaster declaration.
- Signature-authority extensions, postponing the deadline for certain individuals with signature authority but no financial interest — renewed repeatedly since 2011 in a series of annual notices.
These are published on FinCEN’s website. Because the terms differ from notice to notice, read the operative notice itself rather than any summary — including ours. See deadlines and extensions for the background.
Finding professional help
We do not recommend, endorse or receive payment from any tax practitioner, and we cannot refer you to one. If you need advice, these are the neutral ways to verify that someone is who they claim to be:
- IRS Directory of Federal Tax Return Preparers with Credentials and Select Qualifications — searchable by location and credential.
- Your state board of accountancy, to confirm that a CPA’s licence is current.
- Your state bar association, to confirm that an attorney is admitted and in good standing.
- The IRS Taxpayer Advocate Service, an independent organisation within the IRS, if you have an unresolved problem with the IRS itself.
Where willfulness, significant balances or multiple unfiled years are involved, the relevant professional is usually a tax attorney rather than a return preparer — partly for the expertise, and partly because of the protections attaching to legal advice.
Reminder. FBAR Reference is published by St Fin Corp and is not affiliated with FinCEN, the IRS, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Supreme Court or any other agency or body listed on this page. The links are provided for reference only; we do not control their content and are not responsible for it. Nothing on this site is tax or legal advice.