FBAR and FATCA for Your French Bank Accounts

Two separate US reports cover the same accounts

An American who opens a French bank account takes on two US reporting duties that are easy to confuse. The FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is a Treasury filing made to FinCEN, separate from your tax return. FATCA reporting is done on IRS Form 8938, which is filed with your Form 1040.

The two forms overlap but do not have the same scope or thresholds, so filing one does not satisfy the other. You may need to file both. The sections below set out when each applies, when it is due, and what happens if it is missed.

The practical difference is scale. The FBAR starts at a combined $10,000 across your foreign accounts, a figure a single French current account can pass. Form 8938, for a single filer living abroad, starts at $200,000 at year end or $300,000 during the year. The deadlines differ too: the FBAR follows its own FinCEN calendar, while Form 8938 follows your income tax return.

The FBAR: over $10,000 at any point in the year

You must file an FBAR if the combined value of your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the calendar year. The test is the aggregate: several small French accounts that together pass $10,000 on a single day trigger the filing. The threshold is fixed by statute and is not adjusted for inflation.

• What counts: all foreign bank and brokerage accounts, and many investment and pension-type accounts, in which you have a financial interest or signature authority
• Deadline: April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. No request is needed; FinCEN grants it to every filer who misses April
• How: electronically, through the FinCEN BSA E-Filing System on fincen.gov
• Cost: there is no fee to file

FATCA Form 8938: higher thresholds for Americans abroad

Form 8938 reports your specified foreign financial assets with your annual tax return. For taxpayers living abroad, it is required once those assets exceed either of two figures: a value on the last day of the year, or a higher value at any point during the year. The thresholds are unchanged for tax year 2026.

• Single or married filing separately, living abroad: more than $200,000 on the last day of the year, or more than $300,000 at any time during the year
• Married filing jointly, living abroad: more than $400,000 on the last day of the year, or more than $600,000 at any time during the year
• Due with your Form 1040: April 15, with the automatic two-month extension to June 15 for Americans abroad, and a further extension to October 15 if requested

The penalties are large, and they differ between the forms

Both reports carry civil penalties that can far exceed any tax involved. The FBAR figures are adjusted for inflation every year in FinCEN’s civil penalty table at 31 CFR 1010.821; the 2026 figures are below. Always confirm the current-year numbers on FinCEN’s published table, and the Form 8938 rules on irs.gov, before relying on a figure.

• FBAR, non-willful: up to $16,536 per violation
• FBAR, willful: the greater of $165,353 or 50% of the account balance at the time of the violation
• Form 8938, failure to file: $10,000, plus $10,000 for each 30-day period of continued non-filing after IRS notice, capped at $50,000 more, for a maximum of $60,000
• Tax underpaid on undisclosed foreign financial assets: a 40% accuracy-related penalty under IRC §6662(j), double the standard 20% rate

If you have missed past FBARs

If you have unfiled FBARs for earlier years, the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures run by the IRS and Treasury may offer a way back into compliance with reduced penalty exposure where the failure was non-willful. Eligibility depends on the facts of your case and is not automatic, so take advice from a cross-border tax professional before you use them.

Why your French bank asks whether you are American

Under the France–US FATCA intergovernmental agreement, French banks must identify accounts held by US citizens and other US persons and report them to the French tax authority, which forwards the data to the IRS. This exchange is largely automatic: it does not depend on you disclosing your US status, because banks look for US indicia such as place of birth and citizenship as part of standard account-opening checks.

So the bank’s questions are part of the same system as your own filings, not a substitute for them. When you open an account, the bank may ask for the documents below; the full account-opening process is in our guide to opening a French bank account.

• Your US Social Security Number and a completed W-9 form
• Photo ID and proof of US address, for FATCA compliance
• A certificate of US tax residence, which may be required