Which form is required to be filed by US persons with foreign financial accounts if the aggregate value exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year?

• A. Currency Transaction Report (CTR)
• B. FBAR
• C. CMIR
• D. SAR

Answer: (B)

When a US person has foreign financial accounts whose combined value exceeds a certain threshold during the year, there’s a specific reporting obligation to disclose those accounts. The form used for this is the FBAR, filed with FinCEN as FinCEN Form 114. The key point is that the requirement looks at the aggregate value across all foreign accounts, not the balance of any single account, and it applies if that total is over ten thousand dollars at any time during the calendar year.

This reporting is separate from other forms that serve different purposes. For example, a Currency Transaction Report is filed by financial institutions for cash transactions over ten thousand dollars. The Currency and Monetary Instrument Report covers movement of monetary instruments across borders, typically in relation to imports/exports. A Suspicious Activity Report is filed when there’s reason to suspect illicit behavior. FBAR specifically targets foreign account disclosure to help authorities identify undeclared assets and income.