The short version
- The FBAR is about accounts, and the bar is low. If your foreign accounts together exceed $10,000 at any point in the calendar year, a US person files FinCEN Form 114.
- Form 8938 is about assets, and the bar moves. Its threshold depends on filing status and whether you live in the US or abroad.
- An apartment in your own name is on neither form. Directly held foreign real estate isn’t reportable on the FBAR or on Form 8938.
- A SAS changes the picture. The company interest can be a Form 8938 asset, and its bank account can be an FBAR account for an owner or a signer.
- The deadlines differ. The FBAR is due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15; Form 8938 travels with your tax return.
For Americans in Colombia, tax season has two layers. One is the income tax return itself. The other is a set of information reports that exist to tell the US Treasury where your money is held abroad. They don’t usually create tax on their own. They do carry their own penalties for not filing, which is why they are worth understanding in plain English before January.
Two reports, two agencies
The two filings people group together as “FBAR and FATCA” are separate obligations (IRS, checked October 2026):
- FBAR — FinCEN Form 114. The Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. It is filed electronically with FinCEN, the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, through its BSA E-Filing System. It is not filed with your tax return and not filed with the IRS.
- Form 8938 — Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. This is the individual reporting requirement that came out of FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. It is attached to your annual income tax return.
Many people file both, reporting the same Colombian account twice. That is expected. Filing one does not satisfy the other.
The FBAR: the $10,000 aggregate test
A US person — citizens, resident aliens, and US entities among them — must file an FBAR when they have a financial interest in, or signature authority over, foreign financial accounts whose aggregate value exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year (FinCEN and IRS, checked October 2026).
Two words in that sentence do most of the work:
- Aggregate. The accounts are added together. A Colombian savings account, a CDT (certificado de depósito a término, a fixed-term deposit) and a small brokerage account can each be modest and still cross the line together.
- At any time. The test is the highest point, not the year-end balance. A single month in which a property payment or a large transfer sat in an account can trigger the filing even if the account was nearly empty in December.
For each account, the FBAR reports the maximum value during the year in the account’s own currency, converted to dollars at the end-of-year exchange rate (IRS). The FBAR is due April 15, with an automatic six-month extension to October 15. No request is needed for the extension.
Form 8938: thresholds that depend on where you live
Form 8938 is filed by “specified individuals” — US citizens, resident aliens and certain others — whose specified foreign financial assets exceed a threshold. Unlike the FBAR, that threshold changes with filing status and with whether you live in the US or abroad (IRS, checked October 2026):
| Filer | Total value on the last day of the tax year | Or at any time during the year |
|---|---|---|
| Unmarried or married filing separately, living in the US | More than $50,000 | More than $75,000 |
| Married filing jointly, living in the US | More than $100,000 | More than $150,000 |
| Unmarried or married filing separately, living abroad | More than $200,000 | More than $300,000 |
| Married filing jointly, living abroad | More than $400,000 | More than $600,000 |
Source: IRS, “Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements” (page updated September 2026; checked October 2026).
“Living abroad” is a defined status, not a feeling. The higher thresholds apply only if you meet the presence tests set out in the Form 8938 instructions, so check them before assuming the larger numbers apply. Assets are valued at fair market value in dollars, using the end-of-year exchange rate.
Form 8938 is due with your income tax return, including extensions. For Americans living abroad on the regular due date, that return gets an automatic extension to June 15, though interest still runs on any tax unpaid after April 15 (IRS).
What counts, and what doesn’t
The IRS publishes a side-by-side chart of which assets go on which form. Applied to the things Americans most often hold in Colombia, it reads like this:
| What you hold in Colombia | FBAR | Form 8938 |
|---|---|---|
| Savings or checking account in your name | Yes | Yes |
| CDT at a Colombian bank | Generally yes, as a deposit with a foreign bank — confirm with your preparer | Generally yes — confirm with your preparer |
| Brokerage account holding Colombian shares | The account is reportable; its contents aren’t listed separately | Same |
| Shares held directly, outside any account | No | Yes |
| Apartment owned in your own name | No | No |
| Apartment owned through a SAS | No (the property itself) | The SAS interest is reportable, and its value includes the property |
| SAS bank account you own more than 50% of | Yes, as an indirect interest | No (the account itself) |
| Company account you can only sign on | Yes, subject to exceptions | No, unless you have another interest |
Mapped from the IRS comparison chart (checked October 2026). The CDT row is our reading of a deposit account; the chart does not name CDTs.
When property sits inside a SAS
Some foreign buyers hold Colombian property, or a rental business, through a SAS (sociedad por acciones simplificada, Colombia’s standard simplified company). On the US side, that structure moves the property from “not reportable” to “reportable, indirectly” in three ways:
- The company becomes a Form 8938 asset. An apartment owned in your own name is outside Form 8938. Shares in a SAS that owns the same apartment are a specified foreign financial asset, and the IRS says the entity’s value includes the real estate.
- The company’s bank account can become your FBAR account. The FBAR reaches accounts held through an entity when your ownership or beneficial interest is greater than 50%.
- Signature authority counts on its own. If you are the SAS’s legal representative and can sign on its Colombian account, that authority can require an FBAR even where you have no other interest in the account, subject to the exceptions in FinCEN’s rules.
Owning a foreign company can also trigger other US information returns beyond these two. Which ones apply depends on ownership and structure. That is a conversation to have with a US CPA before forming the company, not after the first deadline.
Penalties, stated carefully
We state these as the IRS states them, because penalty figures are where misinformation spreads fastest:
- Form 8938. Failure to file can mean a penalty of up to $10,000, plus up to $10,000 more for each 30 days of non-filing after an IRS notice, to a potential maximum of $60,000. Criminal penalties may also apply.
- FBAR. Civil penalties are adjusted for inflation every year. For assessments made before 1 August 2016, the IRS gives non-willful violations as up to $10,000 and willful violations as up to the greater of $100,000 or 50% of the account balances; current inflation-adjusted amounts are higher. Criminal penalties may also apply.
- Per report, not per account. In Bittner v. United States (February 2023), the US Supreme Court held that the non-willful FBAR penalty applies per report, not per account.
We don’t estimate what anyone would actually be charged. That depends on facts, conduct and the IRS’s own procedures, and it is exactly what a US tax professional is for.
A tax-season checklist
- List every Colombian account you own, co-own or can sign on: savings, checking, CDTs, brokerage, and any company accounts.
- Record each account’s maximum value during the calendar year, in pesos, from the statements.
- Add them up to see whether the $10,000 FBAR line was crossed at any point.
- Total your specified foreign assets, including any SAS interest, against the Form 8938 threshold that fits your filing status and residence.
- Diary the dates: FBAR by April 15 (automatic extension to October 15); Form 8938 with the return, which for Americans abroad is automatically extended to June 15.
What we’d verify first
- Whether you meet the Form 8938 “living abroad” presence tests for the year in question — it changes the threshold four-fold.
- How your preparer treats CDTs and any fintech or digital wallet balances held with Colombian institutions.
- Which additional US information returns apply if you own or control a SAS.
- The current year’s inflation-adjusted FBAR penalty amounts, directly from IRS or FinCEN rather than a blog.
None of this is US tax advice. Before you file, confirm your position with a US-licensed CPA or enrolled agent who works with Americans abroad, and for the Colombian side of any company or account, a licensed Colombian contador.
Questions people ask
Do I need to file an FBAR for a Colombian bank account?
If you are a US person and the combined value of your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year, yes. The test adds all your foreign accounts together and looks at the highest point, not the year-end balance.
Do I report an apartment in Colombia on the FBAR or Form 8938?
Not if you own it directly in your own name. The IRS lists directly held foreign real estate as not reportable on either form. If the apartment is held through a foreign company such as a SAS, the company interest can be reportable on Form 8938, and its value includes the property.
When is the FBAR due?
The FBAR is due April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15. It is filed electronically with FinCEN through the BSA E-Filing System, not with your tax return.
Are the Form 8938 thresholds higher if I live in Colombia?
They can be. The IRS sets higher thresholds for taxpayers who live abroad, starting at more than $200,000 at year-end or $300,000 at any time for unmarried filers. You must meet the presence tests in the Form 8938 instructions for the higher thresholds to apply.
Do I need an FBAR if I only have signature authority on my company's Colombian account?
Often, yes. The FBAR covers foreign accounts a US person can sign on even without a financial interest, subject to exceptions in FinCEN’s rules. Form 8938 does not cover signature-only authority unless you have another interest in the account.
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Sources
- IRS, “Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements” (thresholds, due dates, asset chart, penalties; page updated September 2026), irs.gov (checked October 2026).
- FinCEN, “Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts,” fincen.gov (checked October 2026).
- IRS, “U.S. citizens and resident aliens abroad” (automatic June 15 extension), irs.gov (checked October 2026).
- The Tax Adviser (AICPA), “Nonwillful FBAR penalties apply per report, not per account” (on Bittner v. United States), thetaxadviser.com (checked October 2026).