IRS Form
IRS Form 8938: Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
Form 8938 is a US tax form that reports specified foreign financial assets to the IRS under the FATCA regime. It is filed with your income tax return and is separate from the FBAR, though many Americans in the UK must file both because the two reports serve different agencies and scopes.
The short answer
What Form 8938 is
Form 8938, the Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, is the US tax form through which individuals report certain foreign financial assets to the Internal Revenue Service. It exists because of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which was designed to improve transparency around assets that US taxpayers hold outside the United States.
The form is informational: it reports the existence and nature of qualifying assets rather than calculating a tax on them directly. It is attached to your annual income tax return.
Why Form 8938 exists
FATCA introduced a reporting framework intended to reduce the use of offshore accounts and entities to conceal income from US tax. Form 8938 is the individual taxpayer component of that framework, complementing the separate reporting that foreign financial institutions themselves provide. For Americans living in the UK, this means UK-based holdings can fall within the scope of US reporting even though they are held entirely outside the United States.
Who generally files Form 8938
- US citizens and certain residents who hold specified foreign financial assets above the applicable reporting thresholds.
- Americans in the UK holding UK investment accounts, certain pensions, or interests in foreign entities.
- Dual citizens and long-term residents with financial ties on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Taxpayers who already file an FBAR and need to determine whether Form 8938 also applies.
How it fits
How Form 8938 fits into the filing process
Identify specified foreign financial assets
Review your foreign accounts and financial interests to determine which qualify as specified foreign financial assets for reporting purposes.
Determine whether a reporting obligation applies
Assess whether your circumstances bring you within the scope of Form 8938 reporting, considering your filing status and where you live.
Report on the form
Summarise the qualifying assets on Form 8938, describing their nature and the entities involved.
File with your income tax return
Attach Form 8938 to your annual US income tax return so the two are submitted together, rather than filing it separately.
Key facts at a glance
- Form name
- Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
- Governing regime
- FATCA
- Filed with
- Your US income tax return (IRS)
- Relationship to FBAR
- Separate report; both may be required
- Purpose
- Informational reporting of foreign assets
How Form 8938 relates to other filings
Form 8938 is most often discussed alongside the FBAR because both concern foreign holdings, but they are distinct: the FBAR goes to FinCEN, while Form 8938 goes to the IRS with your return. Understanding the difference is central to staying compliant, which is why we cover it in detail on our comparison page. It also connects to the wider FATCA compliance work and to the US tax return process as a whole.
Related resources
Frequently asked questions
No. Form 8938 is filed with your income tax return and reports specified foreign financial assets to the IRS under FATCA. The FBAR is a separate report filed with FinCEN. Many people with UK accounts must file both, because they serve different agencies and have different scopes.
No. The two reports coexist. Filing one does not satisfy the other, and the assets they cover overlap only partially.
It concerns specified foreign financial assets, which broadly include foreign financial accounts and certain other foreign financial instruments and interests held for investment, such as interests in foreign entities.
It is attached to and filed together with your annual US income tax return, rather than submitted separately.
Not sure whether Form 8938 applies to you?
We help Americans in the UK understand their FATCA and foreign-asset reporting obligations and file accurately.