Form 8938

[Frankd1]

Forgive me if this is a silly question and I may be over thinking this....

With regards to form 8938 I am reading through the instructions and when determining if you meet the threshold for filing 8938.....
Is the filing requirement met when the value of your foreign financial assets (bank accounts, rrsp etc) exceeds the threshold amount after being converted to US dollars or before conversion?

Example: a U.S Citizen lives and works in Canada as PR and files mfs. They have a threshold of $200,000 or more on the last day of the year and a $300,000 or more threshold at anytime during the year...

Their total combined financial assets in Canada on the last day of the year is $207,000 CAD (They did not get to the 300k mark during the year). After converting this amount to USD (year end exchange rate), you get $180,000 usd due to exchange and a lower Canadian dollar. If I understand correctly, and correct me if I'm wrong, they do not have to file 8938 because the cad amount when converted to usd is below the 200k year end threshold even though initially it is above before conversion...

I understand that everything has to be converted to US for filling in the amounts in parts I and II, but I want to make sure of what is the actual trigger for the threshold and filing requirement.

Again, I apologize if this is a silly question but I hope it's one of those scenarios where the only silly question is the one you don't ask.

Thanks

[nelsona]

The value of the account in CAD is absolutely meaningless to IRS in any context.