To file the FBAR from the UK, use the online form on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System. It is a browser form for individuals, it does not go through the IRS, and it is not attached to your tax return. You enter your details, list each account with its highest value in dollars, submit, and keep the confirmation. Our guide to FBAR and FATCA for UK residents explains who has to file and why.
This post is for US citizens and green card holders in Britain who know an FBAR is due and want the mechanics: what to have to hand, how the form is laid out, how to treat the numbers, what comes back after submission, and when a spouse or adviser can file instead. It does not decide whether an account is reportable, which our other posts cover.
Where do you file the FBAR online from the UK
You file it with FinCEN, the Treasury bureau that owns the report, through its BSA E-Filing System. The system is a website, so it works from a UK address and a UK internet connection. An individual can use the online form without opening an account. Nothing is posted to the IRS and nothing is sent with Form 1040.
The FinCEN page on foreign account reporting (opens the official FinCEN page in a new tab) links to the filing system, and the IRS page on the FBAR (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) confirms that the report is filed electronically. The report is due on 15 April, extended automatically to 15 October, and the extension needs no request. The tax return and the FBAR are separate filings with separate recipients, which is why a return completed on time says nothing about whether the report was made.
Be careful about where you start. Search results include commercial sites that describe the process or offer to file for a fee. The filing itself is made on FinCEN's own system, and a site that asks for payment to submit the form on your behalf is a service, not the government route. Our page on FinCEN Form 114 describes the form in more detail.
What do you need before you start the form
Gather your own identifying details and a schedule of every reportable account before you open the form. The online form does not let you save your progress, so a half-finished entry is lost if you close the window. Preparing the schedule first turns the filing into a short session of copying figures across.
FinCEN's guidance says the online form needs an active internet connection throughout, and that if the connection drops, the data entered is lost. A laptop on a stable home connection is a better choice than a phone on a train. Set aside an unbroken block of time and have your statements open in another window.
- Your full name, address and date of birth, which the form asks for in month, day, year order
- Your Social Security number or ITIN, or a passport or foreign tax reference if you have no US number
- An email address you can access, because FinCEN sends status messages there
- For each account, the institution's name and address and the account number
- For each account, the type of account and its highest value in the year, converted to dollars
How do you complete the online form step by step
Start on the FinCEN page for the report (opens the official FinCEN page in a new tab), reach its filing option for individuals without registration and choose the online form. You first enter filer contact information. FinCEN says the email address is used only for correspondence about the submission, and the other contact details help the help desk identify you if you call. The FBAR itself opens from a button at the bottom of that page.
The form then asks about you as the filer, the calendar year being reported and the accounts. The reporting year is the year the balances relate to, so a report filed in 2026 is normally for 2025. Accounts you own alone, accounts you own jointly and accounts over which you only have signing authority sit in separate parts of the form, so sort your schedule that way beforehand.
For your tax identification number, FinCEN's instructions describe a Social Security number, an ITIN or an employer number, and say a filer with none of these completes the foreign identification item instead, choosing a passport, a foreign tax identifier or another document. A US citizen will normally have a Social Security number, but a green card holder with a recent arrival may need the alternative.
- Open the online form and enter the filer contact information
- Start the FBAR and complete the filer section and the reporting year
- Enter each account in the correct part of the form
- Review the figures, then sign electronically and submit
How do you enter the accounts and maximum values
Enter one line for each account, with its highest value during the year expressed in US dollars. FinCEN's instructions say to round up to the next whole dollar and to enter zero if the calculation produces a negative value. The instructions describe the maximum as a reasonable approximation of the greatest value held in the year, so an exact daily peak is not demanded.
Work out the maximum in the currency of the account first, as the FinCEN page on reporting foreign accounts (opens the official FinCEN page in a new tab) describes, which for most readers means pounds, and then convert it. Our post on the FBAR maximum value and the exchange rate to use covers the conversion. Using one consistent rate source for every account, and writing down which one, makes the schedule easy to defend later.
A worked example shows the shape. A US citizen employed in Manchester has a current account, a savings account and a stocks and shares ISA, and a joint account with a British spouse. Four lines go on the form, the joint account is entered in the joint part, and each value is the account's own highest balance. The threshold is tested on the combined highest balances, but each account is still listed.
What happens after you submit the FBAR
FinCEN sends an email about the status of the filing, and about two business days later a second email confirming acknowledgement and giving a unique BSA identifier. Keep that second email. If you ever need to amend the report, FinCEN's guidance says the identifier has to be entered on the amendment.
On the confirmation page you can download a read-only copy of the report, and FinCEN also suggests saving the page from your browser. Do both. The system does not hold a copy for you to retrieve through an account, so the copy you save is your own record. Store it with the statements and the working schedule behind each figure.
The Internal Revenue Manual on the FBAR (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) and FinCEN both point to record keeping: the records behind the report must generally be kept for five years from the due date and made available if FinCEN or the IRS asks. UK banks often limit how far back online statements go, so download the year's statements when you file. Our post on correcting a mistake on an FBAR you already filed explains what to do if you spot an error later.
Can a spouse or someone else file the FBAR for you
A spouse can in a narrow case. The exception applies where every account the non-filing spouse must report is owned jointly with the filing spouse, the filing spouse reports those accounts on a timely signed report, and the non-filing spouse has completed and signed Form 114a. If either spouse has an account in their sole name, each files separately.
The online system does not take two signatures on one report, which is why Form 114a exists. The form is not sent to FinCEN. The person who signs it keeps it and produces it on request. The same form is the authority when someone else files on your behalf, so a preparer should hold a signed copy and so should you.
Tax filing status makes no difference to this exception. A couple filing separately for income tax can still use one FBAR for jointly owned accounts. Where one spouse is not a US person, that spouse has no FBAR to file at all, though the joint accounts still appear on the US spouse's report. Our foreign income and FBAR service prepares the report with the return.
What should you do if the FBAR is already late
File it anyway. The extended date for the 2025 report has now passed, and a report for a past year can still be submitted on the same system with a reason for the delay. Our post on what to do after the October extension has passed takes you through the explanation.
Where several years are missing, the facts matter more than the form. Whether the failure was wilful, whether the IRS has made contact and whether the returns were filed all affect which route fits, as the IRS page on the FBAR (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) indicates for penalties. The streamlined procedures (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) are one option for those who qualify, and our IRS streamline service works through eligibility.
For the next filing, a short routine helps: a single schedule of accounts kept through the year, updated at each statement, feeding the FBAR, Form 8938 and the return. Our guide to FBAR and FATCA sets out how the three fit together.
General information, not advice. The right answer depends on your circumstances and the tax year concerned.
