FBAR for your UK company's bank account

When does an owner have a financial interest in company accounts

When they own, directly or indirectly, more than half of the total value of the company's shares or more than half of the voting power. Either test is enough. At that level the FBAR treats the owner as having a financial interest in every account the company holds, although the bank lists the company as the account holder.

The rule sits in the definition of financial interest. Ownership of record is the obvious case, but the definition goes on to cover accounts held by an agent or nominee for you, and accounts held by a corporation, partnership or other entity you own above that line. A UK limited company is a corporation for this purpose. Because indirect ownership counts, holding the shares through a UK holding company does not, on the wording of the definition, take the trading company's accounts outside the rule.

Exactly half is not more than half. Two unrelated founders who each hold half the shares do not have a financial interest in the company accounts through ownership alone. The IRS manual on the FBAR (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) adds that the family attribution rules of the tax code do not apply, so a spouse's shares are not added to yours. The same manual treats a person who sets up an entity to avoid reporting as having a financial interest anyway, and a co-owner who can instruct the bank will usually have signature authority in any case.

• A sole director and shareholder of a personal service company: financial interest
• A founder who keeps a majority stake after an early funding round: financial interest
• An owner whose shares sit in a holding company above the trading company: financial interest
• Two shareholders on exactly half each: no financial interest through ownership alone
• A minority shareholder who signs on the accounts: signature authority only

Is it financial interest or signature authority if you also sign

It is financial interest. Most owner-directors are also signatories on the company's bank mandate, but the part of the FBAR for signature authority is reserved for accounts in which the filer has no financial interest. An owner above the line reports each company account once, as an account they have a financial interest in.

This changes what goes on the form. A signature authority entry gives the account owner's details and the filer's title, and many employees abroad can use a shortened version with no balances, as our post on FBAR signature authority for UK employees explains. That shortened report is written for officers and employees of an employer and does not fit an owner with a financial interest. The owner gives full details for each company account: the bank's name and address, the account number, the type of account and its maximum value.

We enter the company accounts in Part II of FinCEN Form 114, with the owner's personal accounts. Each is valued in the same way as a personal account: the highest balance in the calendar year, converted at the Treasury rate for the last day of the year and rounded up, as our post on the FBAR maximum value and exchange rate sets out. A business current account, a deposit account and a currency account held by the company are separate accounts, each with its own entry.

How do company accounts affect the FBAR threshold

They count in full towards the owner's aggregate. The highest values of the company accounts are added to the highest values of the owner's personal accounts, and if the total exceeded $10,000 at any time in the calendar year, a report is due listing every account, personal and company alike.

For many owners the business account settles the question. A company that collects client fees, holds money back for corporation tax and VAT, and pays its owner a salary and dividends will often pass the threshold within a single month. Nothing is apportioned by shareholding. The instructions ask for the maximum value of the account, so an owner with a majority stake below full ownership still reports each company account at its full highest balance.

An owner with a financial interest in 25 or more foreign accounts, counting personal and company accounts together, can use a shorter report. The instructions say to answer yes at item 14a, enter the number of accounts and leave the account parts blank, while keeping full details of every account. FinCEN or the IRS can ask for those details, so the records must be complete.

The deadline is the ordinary one: 15 April, extended automatically to 15 October, with no request needed for the extension. The report is filed with FinCEN through the BSA E-Filing System and not with the tax return, and the IRS guidance on the FBAR (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) links to the same system. Records for each company account are kept for five years from the due date, in the same way as for personal accounts.

Does the UK company file an FBAR of its own

No. The FBAR is filed by United States persons, and for an entity that means a corporation, partnership or limited liability company created or organised in the United States or under its laws. A company incorporated at Companies House is created under UK law, so it is not a US person and has no FBAR of its own.

FinCEN's instructions add that federal tax treatment does not decide whether an entity has to file. They make the point about US entities that are disregarded for tax, which still file. On the same reasoning, a UK company that has elected to be disregarded for US tax remains a company organised under UK law, and the reporting stays with its US owner. That election changes the tax return, bringing in Form 8858 in place of Form 5471, but it does not change who files the FBAR.

The consolidated FBAR does not alter this. The instructions allow an entity that is itself a US person, and that owns more than half of another entity required to file, to file one report covering both. An individual cannot file a consolidated report, and a UK company is not required to file in the first place, so there is nothing to consolidate.

Do the company or its shares go on Form 8938

The shares do, and the company's accounts do not. Stock in a foreign corporation held outside a financial account is a specified foreign financial asset under the Form 8938 instructions (opens the official IRS page in a new tab). The accounts belong to the company, and owning shares does not by itself give you an interest in assets the company holds.

Form 8938 is needed only where its own threshold is met and a tax return is required. For tax year 2025, a US person living abroad and not filing jointly files when specified foreign financial assets exceed $200,000 at year end or $300,000 at any time, and the joint figure is $400,000 at year end or $600,000 at any time. The shares count towards that total alongside personal accounts, ISAs and pensions, at their maximum fair market value in the year. For shares held outside an account the instructions allow the year-end value unless you know it does not reflect the maximum, and they say a third-party appraisal is not needed.

Where the owner files a timely Form 5471 for the company, the instructions excuse reporting the shares twice. They are not listed again on Form 8938, but the number of Forms 5471 filed is entered in Part IV, and a specified individual still counts the shares when testing the threshold. A company disregarded for US tax is different, because its assets are then treated as the owner's for Form 8938. Our page on Form 8938 covers the form, and our individual tax return service prepares it.

• Company bank accounts: the FBAR, as a financial interest, but not Form 8938
• Shares in the company: Form 8938, or a Form 5471 count in Part IV, but not the FBAR
• Personal accounts, ISAs and pensions: both reports, once each threshold is met
• Accounts of a company disregarded for US tax: the FBAR, and Form 8938 as the owner's own

Where does Form 5471 fit for a majority owner

It sits alongside both reports, attached to the tax return. A US person who owns more than half of a UK company by vote or value generally files Form 5471 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) each year with Form 1040. It reports on the company itself: who owns it, what it earned, its balance sheet and its dealings with its shareholders.

The three filings answer different questions. The FBAR tells FinCEN where the money is held. Form 8938 tells the IRS what foreign assets the owner has. Form 5471 tells the IRS what the company did. A sole owner of a UK limited company usually falls within more than one Form 5471 filing category, and the instructions for Form 5471 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) set out which schedules each requires. Our post on Form 5471 for a one-person UK limited company and our page on Form 5471 work through them.

Take a US citizen who runs a software consultancy in Cambridge through a limited company she owns outright. The company has a business current account and a deposit account where it sets aside money for corporation tax, and she signs on both. She reports both on her FBAR as accounts in which she has a financial interest, with her own current account and cash ISA. Her shares count towards the Form 8938 threshold, and if she is over it they appear there only as a Form 5471 count in Part IV. The company files nothing with FinCEN.

Where years were missed, the FBARs, Forms 5471 and any Form 8938 are usually corrected together, and the route depends on whether the tax returns were also wrong. Our business tax returns service prepares the company filings, our foreign income and FBAR reporting service prepares the annual report, and the guide for founders, fund managers and executives covers the wider tax position. The rules for every other kind of account are in our guide to FBAR and FATCA for UK residents.