You must correct only the years in which your combined reportable foreign accounts exceeded $10,000—and if you mean 2024 and 2025, only 2024 is late because the 2025 FBAR remains timely through October 15, 2026.
“I haven't filed an FBAR for the past 2 years after transferring over $10,000 from my US bank to a foreign bank. What are the current rules and potential penalties for late FBAR submissions, and what are my options for getting compliant?”
Resumen
A late FBAR does not automatically produce a penalty: a qualifying FBAR-only correction carries an IRS no-penalty assurance, may independently prevent a penalty, and examiners have discretion. The serious willful penalties matter only if the facts support conduct; an ordinary mistake belongs in a non-willful route (Sources 3-7 and 11-12).
Your correct route depends on whether an FBAR was actually required, which calendar years are late, whether the account income was fully reported, where you lived, and whether the omission was or .
This is your route if you were not a with a financial interest in or authority over the foreign account, or if the of all reportable foreign accounts never exceeded $10,000 during that year. A transfer exceeding $10,000 does not independently create an duty (Sources 1-2).
The 2025 FBAR is due April 15, 2026 with an automatic extension through October 15, 2026. As of September 22, 2026, file FinCEN Form 114 electronically before October 15; no extension request is necessary (Source 1).
Use this route for a late 2024 or earlier if all income from the reported accounts was properly included on your U.S. returns, all related tax was paid, no return must be corrected to report additional tax, and the IRS has not contacted or examined you. File electronically, choose the late-filing reason, and include your explanation; the IRS says it will not impose an FBAR penalty when all stated conditions are satisfied (Source 3).
If you lived in the United States, need to correct foreign income or information reporting, and can certify conduct, the domestic procedure generally requires three years of amended returns, six years of delinquent FBARs, Form 14654, tax and interest, and a 5% miscellaneous offshore penalty based on the highest covered aggregate value. It is unavailable after an IRS civil or criminal examination begins (Source 9).
If you qualify as residing outside the United States and can certify conduct, file three years of delinquent or amended returns, six years of delinquent FBARs, Form 14653, and tax plus interest. A citizen or green-card holder generally meets the residence test by having no U.S. abode and being outside the United States for at least 330 full days in at least one relevant three-year period; both spouses must qualify on a joint filing. An eligible filer who follows the instructions is not subject to FBAR or the listed tax penalties (Source 10).
If the omission was or creates criminal exposure, the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Practice is the relevant route to evaluate before ordinary back-filing. Submit Part I of Form 14457 to request preclearance by fax to 844-253-5613; after receiving preclearance, Part II is due electronically within 45 days. It can lead to no prosecution recommendation but does not guarantee immunity, and it must begin before the IRS or specified third-party information reaches your noncompliance (Source 11).
If the IRS has already contacted you or begun an examination or investigation, do not rely on the delinquent-FBAR or streamlined eligibility rules described below (Sources 3 and 9).
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Watch out for
Próximos pasos
These steps determine what you owed for each year and place each required filing into the correct official compliance route.
Start here
Reconstruct each calendar year
For each account, identify a reasonable approximation of its greatest annual value. Convert each foreign-currency maximum to U.S. dollars using the Treasury year-end rate, then add the account maximums for that calendar year. A report is generally required when the combined amount exceeded $10,000 at any time; keep the account records for five years from the FBAR due date (Sources 1-2).
Requisitos
Before back-filing
Classify your correction before submitting
Use the FBAR-only route if all account income was reported and taxed and no return correction is needed. Use domestic or foreign streamlined procedures only for non-willful omissions that meet their residence and examination rules; use the Form 14457 voluntary-disclosure route for willful or criminal-risk facts (Sources 3 and 9-11). Also apply the Form 8938 thresholds in Source 13 to each tax year.
Requisitos
Still timely
File the 2025 FBAR by October 15, 2026
Submit FinCEN Form 114 through the individual BSA E-Filing page at https://bsaefiling.fincen.gov/file/fbar. Enter calendar year 2025 and submit by October 15, 2026; the extension from April 15 is automatic and does not require a request (Source 1).
Requisitos
For 2024 or earlier
Correct each genuinely late year
For the FBAR-only route, file each year separately at https://bsaefiling.fincen.gov/file/fbar, select the late-filing reason, and include the explanation. For domestic streamlined filing, submit the three-year amended-return package with Form 14654, six covered FBAR years, tax, interest, and the 5% penalty under https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/us-taxpayers-residing-in-the-united-states. For foreign streamlined filing, use Form 14653, three covered return years, six covered FBAR years, tax, and interest under https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/us-taxpayers-residing-outside-the-united-states. For VDP, fax Form 14457 Part I to 844-253-5613 and submit Part II electronically within 45 days after preclearance (Sources 3 and 9-11).
Requisitos
After filing
Save the filing evidence
Retain the account name, number, bank name and address, account type, maximum annual value, filed FBAR, and confirmation. FBAR account records generally must be kept for five years from the report’s due date (Source 1).
Requisitos
Fuentes legales
These rules come from FinCEN, the IRS, the current Code of Federal Regulations, the United States Code, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
FinCEN Form 114 / IRS FBAR guidance
This establishes who files, the $10,000 aggregate test, the annual deadline, the automatic extension, electronic filing, exceptions, and record retention.
A U.S. person, including a citizen, resident, corporation, partnership, limited liability company, trust and estate, must file an FBAR to report: a financial interest in or signature or other authority over at least one financial account located outside the United States if the aggregate value of those foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported. The FBAR is an annual report, due April 15 following the calendar year reported. You’re allowed an automatic extension to October 15 if you fail to meet the FBAR annual due date of April 15. You don’t need to request an extension to file the FBAR.
FinCEN FBAR maximum-value guidance
FinCEN explains how to determine each account’s maximum value, combine accounts, and convert foreign currency.
The maximum value of an account is a reasonable approximation of the greatest value of currency or nonmonetary assets in the account during the calendar year. If the maximum account value of a single account or aggregate of the maximum account values of multiple accounts exceeds $10,000, an FBAR must be filed.
IRS Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures
This gives the eligibility conditions, filing method, explanation requirement, and no-penalty assurance for qualifying delinquent FBARs.
Include a statement explaining why you are filing the FBARs late. File all FBARs electronically at FinCEN’s BSA E-Filing System. On the cover page of the electronic form, select a reason for filing late. The IRS will not impose a penalty for the failure to file the delinquent FBARs if you properly reported on your U.S. tax returns, and paid all tax on, the income from the foreign financial accounts reported on the delinquent FBARs, and you have not previously been contacted regarding an income tax examination or a request for delinquent returns for the years for which the delinquent FBARs are submitted.
31 CFR 1010.821
This is the current inflation-adjusted table for the non-willful and willful statutory dollar maximums.
§1010.821(b), Table 1
|[31 U.S.C. 5321(a)(5)(B)(i)](https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/31/5321) |Foreign Financial Agency Transaction—Non-Willful Violation of Transaction |10,000 |16,536 | |[31 U.S.C. 5321(a)(5)(C)(i)(I)](https://www.govinfo.gov/link/uscode/31/5321) |Foreign Financial Agency Transaction—Willful Violation of Transaction |100,000 |165,353 |
Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85
The Supreme Court held that non-willful FBAR penalties accrue by annual report, not by each unreported account.
Syllabus; opinion page 6
Held: The BSA’s $10,000 maximum penalty for the nonwillful failure to file a compliant report accrues on a per-report, not a per-account, basis.
31 USC 5321(a)(5)
The statute provides the reasonable-cause exception and the 50% component of the willful civil maximum.
§5321(a)(5)(B)-(D)
(ii) Reasonable cause exception .-No penalty shall be imposed under subparagraph (A) with respect to any violation if- (I) such violation was due to reasonable cause, and (II) the amount of the transaction or the balance in the account at the time of the transaction was properly reported. (C) Willful violations .-In the case of any person willfully violating, or willfully causing any violation of, any provision of section 5314- (i) the maximum penalty under subparagraph (B)(i) shall be increased to the greater of- (I) $100,000, or (II) 50 percent of the amount determined under subparagraph (D), and
IRM 4.26.16.5.2.1
IRS examination guidance confirms that an FBAR penalty is discretionary rather than automatic.
IRM 4.26.16.5.2.1
The examiner may determine that the facts and circumstances of a particular case do not justify asserting a penalty. The examiner has discretion in determining the amount of the penalty, if any, based on the facts and circumstances of the case.
IRM 8.11.6.4.1
This establishes the six-year civil-penalty assessment period for failing to file an FBAR.
IRM 8.11.6.4.1
Failure to file FBAR (either willful or non-willful) |6 years from the due date of the FBAR. For calendar years 2015 and prior, due date is 6/30/YYYY. For calendar years 2016 and later, due date is 4/15/YYYY.
Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures
This establishes the domestic streamlined filing periods and 5% miscellaneous offshore penalty.
U.S. taxpayers (U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and those meeting the substantial presence test of IRC section 7701(b)(3)) eligible to use the streamlined domestic offshore procedures must (1) for each of the most recent 3 years for which the U.S. tax return due date (or properly applied for extended due date) has passed (the “covered tax return period”), file amended tax returns, together with all required information returns (e.g., Forms 3520, 3520-A, 5471, 5472, 8938, 926, and 8621), (2) for each of the most recent 6 years for which the FBAR due date has passed (the “covered FBAR period”), file any delinquent FBARs (FinCEN Form 114, previously Form TD F 90-22.1), and (3) pay a Title 26 miscellaneous offshore penalty. The Title 26 miscellaneous offshore penalty is equal to 5 percent of the highest aggregate balance/value of the taxpayer’s foreign financial assets that are subject to the miscellaneous offshore penalty during the years in the covered tax return period and the covered FBAR period.
Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures
This establishes the foreign streamlined filing periods and its penalty treatment.
U.S. taxpayers (U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and those meeting the substantial presence test of IRC section 7701(b)(3)) eligible to use the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures must (1) for each of the most recent 3 years for which the U.S. tax return due date (or properly applied for extended due date) has passed, file delinquent or amended tax returns, together with all required information returns (e.g., Forms 3520, 5471, and 8938) and (2) for each of the most recent 6 years for which the FBAR due date has passed, file any delinquent FBARs (FinCEN Form 114, previously Form TD F 90-22.1). A taxpayer who is eligible to use these Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures and who complies with all of the instructions outlined below will not be subject to failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties, accuracy-related penalties, information return penalties, or FBAR penalties.
IRS Criminal Investigation VDP / Form 14457
The IRS explains when voluntary disclosure is appropriate and its limits.
The VDP is a compliance option if you have willfully failed to comply with tax or tax related obligations or committed tax or tax-related crimes and therefore have criminal exposure due to your willful violation of the law. A voluntary disclosure will not automatically guarantee immunity from prosecution; however, a voluntary disclosure may result in prosecution not being recommended.
31 USC 5322
This statute states the ordinary and aggravated criminal maximums for willful violations.
§5322(a)-(b)
(a) A person willfully violating this subchapter or a regulation prescribed or order issued under this subchapter (except section 5315, 5324, or 5336 of this title or a regulation prescribed under section 5315, 5324, or 5336), or willfully violating a regulation prescribed under section 21 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or section 123 of Public Law 91–508, shall be fined not more than $250,000, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both. (b) A person willfully violating this subchapter or a regulation prescribed or order issued under this subchapter (except section 5315, 5324, or 5336 of this title or a regulation prescribed under section 5315, 5324, or 5336), or willfully violating a regulation prescribed under section 21 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act or section 123 of Public Law 91–508, while violating another law of the United States or as part of a pattern of any illegal activity involving more than $100,000 in a 12-month period, shall be fined not more than $500,000, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.
IRS Form 8938–FBAR Comparison
This establishes that Form 8938 and FBAR are separate obligations with different filing destinations and thresholds.
The Form 8938 filing requirement does not replace or otherwise affect a taxpayer’s obligation to file FinCEN Form 114 (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts). Unlike Form 8938, the FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) is not filed with the IRS. It must be filed directly with the office of Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, separate from the IRS.
These are the official rules as published on the cited dates; rules change.
This is general information about official processes, not legal advice, and SettleKit is not a law firm.
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