United States citizens are required to file an FBAR if they have a financial interest in or signature authority over at least one financial account located in Canada, and the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time in the year. This is an aggregate amount— meaning, if you had $5,000 in one account and $7,000 in another, both accounts must be reported. Even if your account(s) only hit $10,000 for a single day, FBAR must still be filed. FBAR is only filed electronically via the BSA e-filing system; no paper copies are accepted. The FBAR deadline now follows the US tax deadlines, which means US expats need to file their taxes by June 15, but there is an automatic extension until October 15th. If FBARs are not filed, the IRS can impose penalties of up to $10,000 per violation.
