Individuals and domestic entities must check the requirements and relevant reporting thresholds of each form and determine if they should file Form 8938 or FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR), or both. Reporting thresholds for the FBAR can be found here. Reporting thresholds for Form 8938 can be found here. Form 8938 is filed to the IRS as part of the annual tax return while the FBAR 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.

Form 8938 filing requirement does not replace or otherwise affect a taxpayer’s obligation to file FBAR or vice versa, and therefore it is important to understand the difference between those reports.