What is included in the fee for FBAR & form 8938 disclosure?
Both US foreign-asset reports prepared from one account and asset list, with the different contents each of them requires, and reconciled to the return they accompany.
What would make FBAR & form 8938 disclosure cost more than the standard tier?
Accounts you do not think of as yours. Signature authority over an employer's or a relative's account is inside one report and often outside the other, and finding them takes longer than filing them.
Is the fee really fixed?
Yes, for the scope quoted. If the scope changes — another year appears, an entity turns up, a certificate becomes necessary — we re-quote before doing the work, so there is never an invoice you have not already agreed to.
Do I have to file both FBAR and Form 8938 or just one?
Often both, because they are different reports with different tests, and meeting one threshold says nothing about the other. The FBAR is filed with FinCEN and is triggered when the aggregate value of all your foreign financial accounts exceeds US$10,000 at any time during the calendar year. Form 8938 goes in with your return and, for the 2025 tax year, applies to an unmarried person living in the United States once specified foreign financial assets exceed US$50,000 on the last day of the year or US$75,000 at any point during it. Both figures are as published by the IRS.
What is the FBAR threshold and how is it measured?
For the 2025 calendar year, an FBAR is required where the aggregate value of all your foreign financial accounts exceeds US$10,000 at any time during that year, as published by the IRS. Two features catch people out. It is an aggregate across every account, not a test applied account by account, so several modest accounts can cross it together. And it is a high-water mark measured at any point in the year, not a year-end balance, so an account that held a house deposit for a fortnight counts at its peak even if it was emptied by December.
I live outside the United States. Is my Form 8938 threshold higher?
It is, if you meet the living-abroad test. For the 2025 tax year the IRS thresholds for a person who does not file jointly are specified foreign financial assets above US$200,000 on the last day of the year or US$300,000 at any time during it, and for a joint return US$400,000 and US$600,000 respectively. The test itself is a presence one: physically present in a foreign country or countries at least 330 days during a period of twelve consecutive months ending in the tax year. The FBAR threshold does not move with residence.
Does the FBAR get attached to my tax return?
No, and that is the single most common reason one gets missed. The FBAR is filed with FinCEN, separately from your return, while Form 8938 is filed as part of the return itself. A preparer who handles only the return may therefore complete one and never see the other, and a return filed on time tells you nothing about whether the account report went in. Our engagements prepare both from one account and asset list and reconcile them to the return, so the two reports and the filing they accompany describe the same holdings.
Which accounts count towards the threshold?
For the FBAR the test looks at foreign financial accounts in aggregate, which is broader than most people assume. Accounts you hold jointly count, as do accounts you have barely used, and the test is taken across all of them together at their highest point during the year rather than on the balance you remember. Form 8938 covers specified foreign financial assets, which is a different and in places wider category than accounts alone. Building one complete list first, then sorting it into what each report requires, is why the two are prepared together rather than separately.
I have missed these reports for several years. How is that quoted?
By the year, and only after we have seen what records exist. The work for each year is the same in shape — reconstructing the maximum value of every account during that year from statements, translating where the account is held in another currency, and preparing the reports consistent with the return for that year — but the effort depends entirely on how complete the statements are. We look first, then agree the fixed fee in writing before any preparation starts. You can reach us on +1 (416) 619-0068 to describe the position.
What is the penalty for a late T1135 or a missed FBAR?
Both are penalty regimes attached to the form rather than to any tax, which is why people who owed nothing still face them. The Canadian foreign property statement carries a per-month penalty with much larger amounts for a failure that continues or is made knowingly; the US account report is separate again and pivots on whether the failure was wilful. Relief exists — voluntary disclosure, reasonable cause, taxpayer relief — and it narrows once the authority makes contact. The reporting trigger on the US side is an aggregate balance over $10,000 at any point in the year. See late T1135 penalty relief.
Do I need to report a foreign business I own?
Almost certainly, and on more than one form. Canada requires reporting of foreign affiliates on the T1134; the United States has a family of returns keyed to the entity type and your level of control, and several carry penalties that apply whether or not any tax is owed. These are information returns, so the obligation follows the ownership rather than the profit. See T1134.
