A US person who holds a UK account jointly with a non-US spouse reports the full value of that account on the FBAR and identifies the spouse as joint owner. The report does not divide the balance, and it does not ask whose money it is. The non-US spouse has no FBAR duty of their own.
This post is for Americans in the UK married to a British or other non-US national, and for couples where both are US persons. It builds on the joint accounts section of our guide to FBAR and FATCA for UK residents and covers the one-report exception for two US spouses, accounts in a spouse's sole name, children's accounts, Form 8938, and whether moving savings into the other spouse's name changes anything.
How much of a joint account goes on the FBAR?
All of it. Each US person who jointly owns a foreign account has a financial interest in the whole account and reports its entire maximum value. That holds where the other owner is a non-US spouse who paid in every pound, and where the US spouse has never used the account.
The rule is set out in the IRS guidance on the FBAR (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) and in the form itself, which has a separate part for jointly owned accounts. The full value also counts towards the aggregate test, so a joint account can take the US spouse over $10,000 without help from any other account. Once that happens, every account is listed on FinCEN Form 114, including small ones in the US spouse's sole name.
The form asks for the principal joint owner's taxpayer identification number where there is one. A British spouse with no US number is identified by name and address, and the number field is left blank. Naming the spouse does not register them with any US agency.
- The full maximum value of the account for the calendar year, in dollars
- The number of joint owners other than the filer
- The principal joint owner's name and address
- The principal joint owner's US taxpayer number, if they have one
Does the non-US spouse have to file anything?
No. The FBAR is filed by US persons: citizens, green card holders and people who are US residents under the day-count rules. A British spouse who is none of those has no FBAR, and being named as joint owner on someone else's report creates no filing duty and no US tax.
One point is often misunderstood. A couple can elect to treat the non-US spouse as a US resident so that they can file a joint income tax return. The IRS's internal manual says that election is not taken into account in deciding who is a US resident for the FBAR. It does, however, bring the spouse's worldwide income onto the US return, which is a far larger matter.
Separately, the UK bank has its own duty. Under the FATCA arrangements that HMRC describes in its introduction to automatic exchange of information (opens the official HMRC page in a new tab), a UK institution reports accounts held by US persons to HMRC, and a joint account with one US holder is such an account. The bank's report and the US spouse's FBAR should therefore describe the same account.
When can two US spouses file one FBAR?
Where both spouses are US persons, one report can cover both of them, but only if three conditions are all met. If any one fails, each spouse files separately and each reports the full value of every joint account. Income tax filing status has no bearing on the exception.
The consent is recorded on Form 114a, which FinCEN makes available through its page on reporting foreign accounts (opens the official FinCEN page in a new tab). It is not sent in with the report. It is kept with the couple's records and produced if FinCEN or the IRS asks for it. The same form is the one a filer signs to authorise a preparer to submit the FBAR on their behalf.
The exception fails more often than couples expect. One sole-name account, such as an old savings account or a pension pot, is enough, and so is signature authority over an employer's account. In a marriage between a US person and a non-US person the exception has no role, because the non-US spouse has nothing to report in the first place.
- Every account the non-filing spouse must report is owned jointly with the filing spouse
- The filing spouse reports those accounts on an FBAR that is filed on time and signed electronically
- Both spouses have completed and signed Form 114a
Are accounts in the non-US spouse's sole name reportable?
Not as a rule. An account owned solely by a non-US spouse is not the US spouse's account and stays off the FBAR. It becomes reportable if the US spouse has signature authority over it, or has a financial interest in it by some other route, such as the spouse holding it as nominee for them.
Signature authority is the power to control what happens to the money by instructing the bank directly, alone or with someone else. A third-party mandate gives that power. So does a power of attorney that allows the holder to operate the account, and the IRS's own example makes clear that it counts even if the power has never been used.
This is where households get caught. A British husband adds his American wife to his savings account so that she can move money while he is abroad. Nothing has been given to her, and none of it is hers, but she now reports the account at its full value in the signature authority part of her FBAR.
Who reports children's accounts and accounts under a power of attorney?
A child who is a US citizen is a US person with their own FBAR obligation once their accounts cross the aggregate threshold. Where the child cannot file, a parent or guardian files and signs for them. A US parent who can operate the child's account may also need to list it on their own report.
In a mixed marriage the children are frequently US citizens through the American parent, and their Junior ISAs and savings accounts are foreign accounts. Whether the US parent also reports them depends on the authority that parent actually holds. Where only the British parent is the registered contact and can give instructions, the US parent has nothing to add.
Powers of attorney follow the same logic. A US person appointed under a lasting power of attorney for a spouse, a parent or a parent-in-law has signature authority over the accounts the power lets them operate. Those accounts go on the FBAR. They do not go on Form 8938, which is concerned with assets the filer has an interest in.
How is the same joint account treated on Form 8938?
Form 8938 has its own joint ownership rules. A US citizen married to a non-US spouse normally files as married filing separately and, living abroad, files the form when assets exceed $200,000 at year end or $300,000 at any time. The instructions for Form 8938 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) say that where the joint owner is a spouse who is not a specified individual, the full value of the asset is included.
Filing status changes the arithmetic. Two US spouses filing jointly use the higher threshold of $400,000 at year end or $600,000 at any time and count a joint asset once. Two US spouses filing separately each count half of a joint asset towards the threshold. The form is only due where a tax return is, as the IRS comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) confirms, and our page on Form 8938 covers the detail.
Take a US citizen living in Leeds with her British husband. They hold a joint current account and a joint savings account, she has a small account of her own, and he has a savings account on which she holds a mandate. Her FBAR lists all four at full value. Her Form 8938 test takes the two joint accounts in full and her own account, and leaves out his.
Does moving savings into the non-US spouse's name solve anything?
It can take an account off the FBAR, but only if the US spouse really gives up both ownership and the ability to operate it. That is a gift, with consequences under the gift tax rules and in ordinary life. It is a decision to weigh, not a filing technique, and we do not recommend it as one.
Gifts between spouses are normally unlimited for US gift tax, but not where the recipient is not a US citizen. For 2025 the annual exclusion for gifts to a non-citizen spouse is $190,000. The IRS explains the framework on its gift tax page (opens the official IRS page in a new tab). Larger gifts mean a gift tax return on Form 709 and use of the lifetime exclusion, which our gift tax return service handles.
There are other effects. The money belongs to the other spouse, in law and on separation or death. Future interest is theirs and leaves the US return, while UK tax on it follows the new owner. Past years are not repaired: an FBAR that should have been filed is still missing. Couples weighing this usually want it looked at with the whole household, which is the work of our individuals and families division and our foreign income and FBAR reporting service. The broader rules are in the guide to FBAR and FATCA for UK residents.
General information, not advice. The right answer depends on your circumstances and the tax year concerned.
