US Expat Taxes in 2026: FBAR, FATCA & Filing Deadlines for Americans Abroad

The rule every American abroad has to live with

The United States is one of only two countries that taxes by citizenship, not residence. That means moving abroad does not end your IRS relationship — you file a Form 1040 on your worldwide income every year you hold a US passport, even if you never set foot in the country and owe nothing.

The good news: the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit almost always wipe out the actual tax bill. The catch is the reporting — three separate obligations that carry steep penalties if you skip them. Here's exactly what they are.

FBAR — the $10,000 rule (FinCEN Form 114)

The FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts) is the one most expats don't know about until it's too late. You must file it if the combined value of all your foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any single point during the year — even for one day, even if the money was just passing through.

It's filed electronically with FinCEN (the Treasury's financial-crimes network), separately from your tax return, and it's purely informational — filing it costs you nothing in tax. What counts toward the $10,000:

• Foreign checking, savings, and brokerage accounts.
• Foreign pensions and some foreign retirement accounts.
• Accounts you have signature authority over (e.g. a business or a relative's account).
• It's the aggregate of every account — five accounts with $2,001 each trips the $10,000 wire.

FATCA — Form 8938 (a different, higher threshold)

FATCA (Form 8938) overlaps with the FBAR but is not the same — it's filed with your tax return, and the thresholds are much higher. For US citizens living abroad, you file Form 8938 if your specified foreign financial assets exceed:

• $200,000 single / $400,000 married-filing-jointly on the last day of the year, OR
• $300,000 single / $600,000 married-filing-jointly at any point during the year.
• (The thresholds for Americans living inside the US are far lower — $50,000 — so don't use those figures by mistake.)
• Yes, you may have to report the same account on both the FBAR and Form 8938. Overlap is normal; file both when you cross both thresholds.

The deadlines that are actually different for you

Living abroad changes your calendar, and getting this wrong is the most common avoidable mistake:

• Form 1040: you get an automatic 2-month extension to June 15 (no form needed) simply for being abroad on the regular due date. Need more? File Form 4868 for an extension to October 15.
• Important: the extension is to FILE, not to PAY. Any tax owed still accrues interest from April 15 — though with the FEIE/FTC most expats owe nothing.
• FBAR: due April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 (you don't request it).
• State return, if you still owe one: follows your state's own calendar (see the state-tax exit guide).

The forms a typical American abroad files

Most expats file some combination of these. It looks like a lot; in practice it's a stack you assemble once and repeat:

• Form 1040 — your annual return on worldwide income.
• Form 2555 (FEIE) or Form 1116 (Foreign Tax Credit) — the tool that erases double taxation.
• FinCEN 114 (FBAR) — if foreign accounts topped $10,000.
• Form 8938 (FATCA) — if you cross the higher asset thresholds above.
• Form 8621 — if you hold foreign mutual funds or ETFs (PFICs), which are punitively taxed; many expats avoid non-US funds entirely because of this.

Why this matters: the penalties are not small

The IRS treats unreported foreign accounts seriously. A non-willful FBAR violation can draw a penalty of around $10,000 per violation; willful failures can reach the greater of $100,000 or 50% of the account balance. Form 8938 penalties start at $10,000. These are reporting penalties — they can apply even when you owed no tax at all.

That's the whole point of getting the paperwork right: the tax is usually zero, but the penalties for skipping the forms are not.

Behind on filing? There's an official way to fix it

Thousands of Americans only learn about FBAR/FATCA after they've already moved. The IRS has a dedicated path for them: the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, for taxpayers whose failure to file was non-willful (i.e. you didn't know). You file the last 3 years of returns and 6 years of FBARs, certify non-willfulness, and the penalties are generally waived.

If this is you, don't quietly start filing this year and hope — that can forfeit the streamlined protection. Talk to a cross-border CPA about the right way in.