Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: Form 8938 is titled Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. It is attached to the annual return, and whether it is required turns on the total value of the filer’s specified foreign financial assets measured against a threshold that depends on marital status, the type of return and where the filer lives. The thresholds are in the table below, exactly as the instructions print them.
More IRS forms and schedules, read line by line: Form 1040-NR nonresident return and Form 2350 extension for filers abroad.
Form lines read one part at a time: Form 3520 Part IV, Form 3520-A and Form 3520-A Parts II and III.
S corporation return (Form 1120-S) for 2025, read line by line: Form 1120-S Schedule K lines 14 to 16.
Partnership return (Form 1065) for 2025, read line by line: Form 1065 Schedule B questions 7 to 12 and Form 1065 Schedule B questions 13 to 24.
Schedule A and Schedule B (Form 1040) for 2025, read line by line: Schedule B line 7 and Schedule B line 8.
Read box by box from the IRS form text: Form 1099-R boxes 12 and 13.
More IRS forms and schedules, read line by line: Form W-7 instructions.
Related reading on this site: FBAR deadline 2027.
What Form 8938 is
The form’s title is “Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets”. The instructions give the purpose in one sentence: “Use Form 8938 to report your specified foreign financial assets if the total value of all the specified foreign financial assets in which you have an interest is more than the appropriate reporting threshold.”
The instructions also describe how current the edition is: “Form 8938 and these instructions have been converted from an annual revision to continuous use.”
Who must file
“Unless an exception applies, you must file Form 8938 if you are a specified person (see Specified Person, later) that has an interest in specified foreign financial assets and the value of those assets is more than the applicable reporting threshold.” “A specified person is either a specified individual or a specified domestic entity, defined later.”
For individuals, the list includes citizens and some residents: “A resident alien of the United States for any part of the tax year (but see Reporting Period, later).” For entities, the instructions open with this rule: “Certain domestic corporations, partnerships, and trusts that are considered formed or availed of for the purpose of holding, directly or indirectly, specified foreign financial assets (specified domestic entities) must file Form 8938 if the total value of those assets exceeds $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or $75,000 at any time during the tax year.”
A filer with no income tax return has a stated carve-out: “If you do not have to file an income tax return for the tax year, you do not have to file Form 8938, even if the value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than the appropriate reporting threshold.”
Filing thresholds by filer type
The thresholds depend on whether the filer is married, whether a joint return is filed and where the filer lives. For filers living in the United States the instructions say the following.
| Filer type | As printed in the instructions |
|---|---|
| Unmarried, living in the United States | “If you are not married, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
| Married, joint return, living in the United States | “If you are married and you and your spouse file a joint income tax return, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $100,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $150,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
| Married, separate returns, living in the United States | “If you are married and file a separate income tax return from your spouse, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
For filers living abroad, and for specified domestic entities, the instructions print higher figures for individuals. The living-abroad rule begins with a tax home test: “If your tax home is in a foreign country, you meet one of the presence abroad tests described next, and no exception applies, file Form 8938 with your income tax return if you satisfy the reporting threshold discussed next that applies to you.”
| Filer type | As printed in the instructions |
|---|---|
| Unmarried, living outside the United States | “If you are not married, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $200,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $300,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
| Married, joint return, living outside the United States | “If you are married and you and your spouse file a joint income tax return, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $400,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $600,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
| Married, separate returns, living outside the United States | “If you are married and file a separate income tax return from your spouse, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $200,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $300,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
| Specified domestic entity | “If you are a specified domestic entity, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
The two presence abroad tests are printed as follows. “A U.S. citizen who has been a bona fide resident of a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year.” “A U.S. citizen or resident who is present in a foreign country or countries at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months that ends in the tax year being reported.”
The test counts two dates, which matters when an asset is sold during the year. Example 3 in the instructions makes the point: “You satisfy the reporting threshold even though you do not hold any specified foreign financial assets on the last day of the tax year because you did own specified foreign financial assets of more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year.”
What counts as a specified foreign financial asset
The instructions list two groups. “Specified foreign financial assets include the following assets.” The first is “Financial accounts maintained by a foreign financial institution.” The second group applies when the asset is not in a financial institution account: “The following foreign financial assets if they are held for investment and not held in an account maintained by a financial institution.”
The second group includes “Stock or securities issued by someone that is not a U.S. person (including stock or securities issued by a person organized under the laws of a U.S. possession).” and “Any interest in a foreign entity.” Examples named in the instructions include “Stock issued by a foreign corporation.”, “A capital or profits interest in a foreign partnership.” and “An interest in a foreign trust or foreign estate.” The partnership case connects to the Form 8865 explainer.
What it means to hold an asset for investment is defined as follows: “You hold an asset, including a partnership interest, for investment if you do not use it in, or hold it for use in, the conduct of any trade or business.”
What does not have to be reported
Two kinds of exception are printed. The first is by type of account: “A financial account that is maintained by a U.S. payer, such as a domestic financial institution.” The second is duplicate reporting: “You do not have to report any asset on Form 8938 if you report it on one or more of the following forms that you timely file with the IRS for the same tax year.” Those forms are Form 3520, Form 3520-A, Form 5471, Form 8621 and Form 8865. Part IV of Form 8938 records how many were filed. For a specified individual, the assets still count toward the threshold: “you must include the value of the assets reported on Forms 3520, 3520-A, 5471, 8621, and 8865 in determining whether you satisfy the reporting threshold that applies to you.” Related topics are covered on the foreign inheritance and Form 3520 page and on the Form 8621 page.
How to value the assets
The form reports a maximum value, not just a year-end value. “You must report the maximum value during the tax year of each specified foreign financial asset reported on Form 8938.” For accounts, “You may rely on periodic account statements for the tax year to report a financial account’s maximum value unless you know or have reason to know based on readily accessible information that the statements do not reflect a reasonable estimate of the maximum account value during the tax year.”
Foreign currency amounts are converted to dollars: “If your specified foreign financial asset is denominated in a foreign currency during the tax year, the maximum value of the asset must be determined in the foreign currency and then converted to U.S. dollars.”
The form also asks for a value range: “Check the box for the value range that represents the maximum value of the account or asset during the tax year.” “If the maximum value is more than $200,000, enter the maximum value on line 32e.”
How Form 8938 relates to the FBAR
The instructions address the other foreign-account report in a boxed note: “Filing Form 8938 does not relieve you of the requirement to file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), if you are otherwise required to file the FBAR.”
The instructions refer readers to a chart on IRS.gov that compares the two sets of requirements. A plain-language comparison of the two rulebooks is on the FBAR and Form 8938 page.
The penalties and the statute of limitations
The instructions group the penalties under one heading and the table below prints the main ones.
| Item | As printed in the instructions |
|---|---|
| Failure to file | “If you are required to file Form 8938 but do not file a complete and correct Form 8938 by the due date (including extensions), you may be subject to a penalty of $10,000.” |
| Continuing failure | “The maximum additional penalty for a continuing failure to file Form 8938 is $50,000.” |
| Accuracy-related | “If you underpay your tax as a result of a transaction involving an undisclosed specified foreign financial asset, you may have to pay a penalty equal to 40% of that underpayment.” |
| Fraud | “If you underpay your tax due to fraud, you must pay a penalty of 75% of the underpayment due to fraud.” |
| Reasonable cause | “You must affirmatively show the facts that support a reasonable cause claim.” |
Married filers on a joint return share the exposure: “If you are married and you and your spouse file a joint income tax return, the failuretofile penalties apply as if you and your spouse were a single person.”
A worked illustration of the continuing-failure rule: if the first $10,000 penalty applies and then 2 thirty-day periods pass after the 90-day period that follows the IRS notice, the computed amount of the additional penalty is $10,000 times 2 periods, which makes $20,000 of additional penalty. The computed amount with the first penalty is $30,000. This is a computed illustration, not an IRS example.
Key numbers at a glance
The figures that matter most are collected here, each as printed.
| Item | As printed |
|---|---|
| Domestic entity trigger | “if the total value of those assets exceeds $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or $75,000 at any time during the tax year.” |
| Presence abroad, days | “at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months that ends in the tax year being reported.” |
| Failure-to-file penalty | “you may be subject to a penalty of $10,000.” |
| Maximum additional penalty | “The maximum additional penalty for a continuing failure to file Form 8938 is $50,000.” |
Which revision applies
The edition read for this page is Form 8938 (Rev. November 2021) and the Instructions for Form 8938 (Rev. November 2021), which are the revisions irs.gov served when they were read on 2026-10-16. Check the revision printed on the form you are filing, because a later revision can change the thresholds, the parts of the form and the penalty wording.
Common mistakes
- Using the same dollar figures for every filer. The instructions print different thresholds for unmarried filers, married filers on a joint return and married filers on separate returns, and higher ones for those living abroad.
- Checking only the year-end value. The instructions say the threshold can also be met by a value above the second figure at any time during the tax year, and Example 3 shows an asset sold before year end that still triggers the form.
- Treating an FBAR filing as the end of the matter. The instructions say filing Form 8938 does not relieve the filer of the FBAR requirement, and the comparison is on the FBAR and Form 8938 page.
Related: FBAR and Form 8938 compared, foreign inheritance and Form 3520, Form 8621 passive foreign investment companies, US brokerage accounts when you move abroad, and retiring abroad financial checklist.
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Answer againSources
- Form 8938 (Rev. November 2021), Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8938.pdf
- Instructions for Form 8938 (Rev. November 2021): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8938.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.