This Form 8938 guide explains the IRS Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. Form 8938 reports specified foreign financial assets under the applicable taxpayer, residence and value rules. It is an income tax return attachment and does not automatically replace other foreign account or information reports. The asset definition and reporting threshold must be checked for the filer actual facts.
Reviewed October 31, 2026. This is an independent guide. The version and availability information below identifies the IRS documents used for this page.
What Form 8938 does and who prepares it
A specified individual or entity covered by the instructions reports specified foreign financial assets when the filing conditions apply.
For the connected reporting route, see Form 1040 (Schedule B). Keep the role of that document separate from the task explained on this page.
| Official form | Form 8938 |
|---|---|
| IRS title | Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets |
| Guide period | the applicable reporting period |
| Target version | Nov 2021 |
| Availability | Current IRS catalog PDF |
| Last checked | October 31, 2026 |
Get the Form 8938 PDF and check its status
Use the IRS source to confirm the document before completing a real filing. The download link is a reference to the official file; it is not a statement that every copy inside the PDF may be printed and submitted. Follow any instructions about electronic filing, scannable copies, recipient copies or attachments.
Which version of Form 8938 should you use?
This form follows a revision or continuing-use format rather than a new title for every calendar year. Check the revision printed on the document and the period requested inside it. A revision date, transaction date and tax year are different pieces of information. The current document should be read with the instructions that apply to the actual transaction or return.
Records to gather for Form 8938
- Foreign account and asset statements.
- Ownership information.
- Maximum and year-end values.
- Currency conversion support.
- Related foreign information return records.
Keep a working reconciliation with these records. It should show the source of each reported item, any correction made before filing and the reason a different amount appears on a connected form. This is especially useful when a statement is corrected or a prior-year balance continues into the current calculation.
How to work through Form 8938
- Confirm applicability. Start with the purpose, filer category and version of the form. Complete any eligibility or applicability question before spending time on the numerical calculation.
- Prepare the source workpapers. Gather the records listed below and reconcile their totals. Keep prior-year balances, current-year transactions and estimated payments separate where they serve different purposes.
- Complete dependent calculations first. When a line refers to another form, schedule or worksheet, finish that supporting calculation first. Preserve any classification, limitation and carryforward information.
- Follow the line sequence. Use the actual line labels and arithmetic in the applicable form. A line number from an older version may refer to something different after a revision.
- Reconcile the filing package. Check names, identifying numbers, tax periods, totals and required attachments. Then use the filing method, signature process and deadline that apply to this filer and form.
Form-specific IRS instructions and reporting details
The following points retain the operative wording of the IRS documents linked above. Read each point with its stated conditions and the applicable form version. References to another form or section describe a connected requirement; they do not mean that every reader must file every referenced document.
Use Form 8938 to report your specified foreign financial assets if the total value of all the specified foreign financial assets in which you have an interest is more than the appropriate reporting threshold. See Types of Reporting Thresholds, later. Filing Form 8938 does not relieve you of the requirement to file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), if you are otherwise required to file the FBAR. See FinCEN Form 114 and its requirements. Go to IRS.gov/ Businesses/Comparison-ofForm-8938-and-FBAR-Requirements for a chart comparing Form 8938 and FBAR filing requirements.
Unless an exception applies, you must file Form 8938 if you are a specified person (see Specified Person, later) that has an interest in specified foreign financial assets and the value of those assets is more than the applicable reporting threshold.
Special Rules Assets Reported on Another Form Specified individual. If you are a specified individual, include the value of all specified foreign financial assets, even if they are reported on another form listed in Part IV to determine if you satisfy the reporting threshold that applies to you. See Part IV. Excepted Specified Foreign Financial Assets, later. Specified domestic entity. If you are a specified domestic entity, exclude the value of any specified foreign financial asset reported on another form listed in Part IV to determine if you satisfy the applicable reporting threshold.
Additional reporting conditions
You must report the maximum value during the tax year of each specified foreign financial asset reported on Form 8938. In most cases, the value of a specified foreign financial asset is its fair market value. An appraisal by a third party is not necessary to estimate the maximum fair market value during the year. See Valuing Financial Accounts and Valuing Other Specified Foreign Financial Assets, later.
Valuing Other Specified Foreign Financial Assets In most cases, you may use the value of a specified foreign financial asset that is not a financial account and that is held for investment and not held in an account maintained by a financial institution as of the last day of the tax year, unless you know or have reason to know based on readily accessible information that the value does not reflect a reasonable estimate of the maximum value of the asset during the tax year. Example 15.
I have publicly traded foreign stock not held in a financial account that has a fair market value as of the last day of the tax year of $100,000, although, based on daily price information that is readily available, the 52-week high trading price for the stock results in a maximum value of the stock during the tax year of $150,000. If you are required to file Form 8938, the maximum value of the foreign stock to be reported is $150,000, based on readily available information of the stock’s maximum value during the tax year.
Calculations and supporting information
Certain Financial Accounts The following financial accounts and the assets held in such accounts are not specified foreign financial assets and do not have to be reported on Form 8938.
Domestic Investment Trusts If you are considered the owner under the grantor trust rules (sections 671 through 679) of any part of a domestic widely held fixed investment trust under Regulations section 1.671-5, you do not have to report any specified foreign financial asset held by the part of the trust you are considered to own.
Domestic Bankruptcy Trusts If you are considered the owner under the grantor trust rules (sections 671 through 679) of any part of a domestic liquidating trust under Regulations section 301.7701-4(d) that is created under chapter 7 or chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code, you do not have to report any specified foreign financial asset held by the part of the trust you are considered to own. Bona Fide Resident of a U.S.
Possession If you are a bona fide resident of a U.S. possession (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgin Islands), do not include the value of the following assets to determine if you satisfy the reporting threshold that applies to you. If you are required to file Form 8938, you do not have to report the following specified foreign financial assets on Form 8938.
Exceptions and related reporting
For this purpose, specified foreign financial assets include any specified foreign financial assets in which you have an interest without regard to the reporting threshold that applies to you and regardless of any exception from reporting a specified foreign financial asset on Form 8938.
Specific Instructions Before you begin. If you are a specified individual and report all of your specified foreign financial assets on a timely filed Form 3520, 3520-A, 5471, 8621, or 8865, you do not have to report them on Form 8938. Instead, enter your name(s) and taxpayer identification number (TIN) at the top of the form and complete Part IV only.
If you are a specified individual or a specified domestic entity and report only a part of your specified foreign financial assets on one or more of these forms, report the remaining assets on Form 8938 and complete Part IV. Additional statements. If you have more than one account or asset to report in Part V or VI, or more than one issuer or counterparty to report in Part VI, make additional copies of page 2 of this form and attach them to your form.
Check the box at the top of page 1 of the form to indicate that you are attaching additional statements, and enter the number of additional statements in the space provided.
Further form details
Foreign Grantor Trusts If you are treated as an owner of any part of a foreign grantor trust, you may have to file Form 8938 to report specified foreign financial assets held by the trust. If you are a beneficiary of the foreign trust, you may have to file Form 8938 to report your interest in the trust.
You do not have to report on Form 8938 any specified foreign financial asset held by the trust or your interest in the trust if you report the trust on a Form 3520, you timely file for the tax year, and the trust timely files Form 3520-A for the tax year.
Lines 29 Through 36 Enter the following information for each financial account and specified foreign financial asset not held in a financial account reported in Part II. For examples of specified foreign financial assets not held in a financial account, see Other Specified Foreign Financial Assets, earlier.
Reading the lines and boxes
These selected labels come from the linked target PDF. They are a reading aid, not a replacement for the full line instructions or a completed calculation. Match the label and document version before transferring any amount.
| Line or box | Label in the source form | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name(s) shown on return | Use the identity of the person or entity requested on this line. Check that the name and identification number agree with the underlying tax records. |
| 3 | Type of filer | Check the applicable line instructions and keep the source workpaper with the return records. Transfer only the information that matches the field and reporting period. |
| 4 | If you checked box 3a, skip this line 4. If you checked box 3b or 3c, enter the name and TIN of the specified individual who | Use the identity of the person or entity requested on this line. Check that the name and identification number agree with the underlying tax records. |
| 5 | Number of deposit accounts (reported in Part V) | Check the applicable line instructions and keep the source workpaper with the return records. Transfer only the information that matches the field and reporting period. |
| 6 | Maximum value of all deposit accounts | Check the applicable line instructions and keep the source workpaper with the return records. Transfer only the information that matches the field and reporting period. |
Further selected fields
| Line or box | Label in the source form | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Number of custodial accounts (reported in Part V) | Check the applicable line instructions and keep the source workpaper with the return records. Transfer only the information that matches the field and reporting period. |
| 8 | Maximum value of all custodial accounts | Check the applicable line instructions and keep the source workpaper with the return records. Transfer only the information that matches the field and reporting period. |
| 9 | Were any foreign deposit or custodial accounts closed during the tax year? | Use the date or tax period requested by this particular field. A payment date, acquisition date and return year can describe different facts. |
| 10 | Number of foreign assets (reported in Part Vl) | Check the applicable line instructions and keep the source workpaper with the return records. Transfer only the information that matches the field and reporting period. |
| 11 | Maximum value of all assets (reported in Part Vl) | Check the applicable line instructions and keep the source workpaper with the return records. Transfer only the information that matches the field and reporting period. |
A practical example
A taxpayer holds several foreign financial assets and receives foreign income. The preparer reviews the asset reporting tests and separately accounts for the income and any other information returns that the same facts may require.
This example illustrates the order of the review. It does not assume an unverified deduction, exemption, treaty rate or final tax amount. The applicable form instructions and the actual records determine the result.
Common mistakes to avoid with Form 8938
- Do not assume another foreign report eliminates every Form 8938 obligation.
- Check the appropriate threshold and taxpayer category.
- Report related income through its own return route rather than treating asset disclosure as income reporting.
Questions about Form 8938
Does receiving or downloading this form mean I must file it?
A specified individual or entity covered by the instructions reports specified foreign financial assets when the filing conditions apply. The form purpose and the applicable filing or furnishing conditions determine the action. Downloading a blank PDF does not itself create a filing obligation or establish eligibility for a tax benefit.
Is the revision date always the same as the tax year?
No. Some forms show a tax year, while continuing-use forms show a revision date and ask separately for the reporting period. Check the actual document and instructions. Do not relabel a payment or transaction solely because it was reported in a later calendar year.
What should I do if the underlying information is wrong?
Do not assume another foreign report eliminates every Form 8938 obligation. Keep the original record and the correction trail. The issuer correction process, an amended return and an updated certificate can be different procedures. Choose the process that matches the document and the actual error.
Which records should I keep with the completed form?
Retain the source documents, applicable worksheets, submitted version and filing or furnishing confirmations. For this form, the working file should include foreign account and asset statements, ownership information, maximum and year-end values. Keep continuing balances and prior-year support for as long as they remain relevant under the applicable recordkeeping rules.
Related forms and next steps
Use these guides when the connected issue applies to your records. Each page has its own purpose, reporting year and availability status.