FBAR question for Joint/Separate accounts

andsoitgoes · Post by **andsoitgoes** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 2:30 pm

I'll try to make this short. I am American living in Canada. My wife is Canadian living in Canada.

My wife and I have a joint account that handles everyday expenses. At no point has this account shown a balance of $10,000+ from my knowledge. I cannot get statements prior to 2008 and I think it may have come CLOSE to that in 2007, but I highly doubt it.

My wife has her own account, this account has not exceeded $10,000 but may.

If HER account exceeds the $10k limit, is there any need to report anything to the FBAR? I assume no as she is not tied to the US in any way outside of us being married, but I want to ensure that I am not potentially creating problems.

So simply put, if my Canadian wife opens up a bank account in her name only and it ends up with a value over $10,000, will I have any worry of FBAR requirements.

Thanks :)

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:01 pm

To answer your question, if she does not file jointly with you on your 1040, she never has to FBAR regardless of big HER accounts are

But If she does file jointly with you, she must report the account, along with all other accounts that she has any authority or acces to, including your joint account and her standalone account. You yourslef said that your joint account and hers probably esxceed 10K at some point, and you haven't even mentionned other accounts.

FBAR requirements are not based on single account values. they are based on TOTAL of all accounts that you and/or she have access to, including investemtb accounts, RRSP, savings, GICs, etc.

andsoitgoes · Post by **andsoitgoes** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 3:07 pm

She files her Canadian taxes jointly with me, however when I file my US taxes I do not include her in any way.

So as long as I never file jointly with her on my 1040 (which there would be no point for me to do anyway) as long as a joint account we have together has not exceeded $10k, there is nothing that needs to be done.

As for our account, I've looked back and it doesn't seem to have exceeded $10k at any point. We reviewed some of the transactions that were in the account and they were a few thousand here, then that went out and a few thousand there, totalling $10k but not at any one time.

Thankfully now it's simple, we have our one account and that's it. She has RRSPs but those are in her name only and not tied into our joint account.

What it seems to be here is that I should keep our accounts separate, especially as far as savings go, to avoid needing to deal with the FBAR.

I'm sure in the future, within the next 5 or 10 years when I have my stuff in order I will need to deal with the FBAR then, but that's a ways down the road and who knows if I'll end up keeping my US citizenship when that happens.

nelsona · Post by **nelsona** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 4:01 pm

How does she file Cdn taxes jointly, such a provision does not exist?

andsoitgoes · Post by **andsoitgoes** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 4:03 pm

Maybe not in the same way, but we do file jointly.

For example, because of my income she claims our children as her dependants but I would claim the child care benefit on my taxes. Now, she will claim my disability amount since I'm not earning any money.

However I think you are right, I guess the system is different in the US. I assumed "filing jointly" just meant linking the returns together.