Updated 24 October 2026
Every account on a client's FBAR needs its maximum value for the calendar year in US dollars, converted at the year-end rate and "rounded up to the next whole dollar".1 For a client with a checking account in Lisbon, savings in London and a Wise balance or two, that can mean asking for a year of statements for every account. Borderless Budget is a multi-currency budgeting app that already tracks those accounts, so it works out those figures for them.
Available today: the free FBAR calculator
The FBAR calculator is free, needs no account, and runs in the browser: the numbers a client types stay there, and we don't send or store them. For each account the client enters a currency and the highest balance, and it shows:
- The Treasury Reporting Rate of Exchange for 31 December of the chosen year, with Treasury's own currency description and the record date.
- The value in US dollars, rounded up to the next whole dollar, and zero for a negative balance.
- A plain notice when Treasury publishes no rate for a currency. The client can type a verifiable rate and its source, as FinCEN's instructions allow; the calculator never borrows another year's rate.
- The total of the values shown, with no comparison to any threshold.
It covers the last three completed years, plus the current year as provisional on Treasury's latest quarterly rates until the 31 December rates are published. The maximum account value and exchange rates guides explain the method with FinCEN's wording, if you'd like to send clients something to read first.
For subscribers: the FBAR report
Subscribers have an FBAR report inside Borderless Budget, at /reports/fbar in the app. The client first says, for each account they've connected or entered, whether it's held outside the US, whether it goes in the report, how it's owned (alone, jointly with a number of other owners, or signature authority only), its Form 114 account type, and whether it holds only crypto. Their answers are private to them, not shared with other members of their budget. For each account in the report it then shows:
- The highest balance during the year in the account's own currency, and the date it was reached.
- How that figure was found, labelled on each row: Observed (the highest balance recorded from the bank), Reconstructed (estimated by working back from the balance through the transactions, to compare with statements), Your figure (a figure the client entered from a statement) or Unknown (not enough history).
- "Partial coverage" beside the label when the history starts after 1 January (for an account that didn't open that year) or has a gap of more than a week, with a note naming the months to check against statements, because the peak may be missing.
- The Treasury rate for 31 December, and the US dollar value rounded up to the next whole dollar. Where Treasury has no rate for a currency, the row uses another published rate for that date, says it isn't a Treasury rate and names its source to record on the FBAR; with no rate at all, it says so and asks for another verifiable rate and its source.
- The total of the values shown, with no comparison to any threshold and a note that it doesn't net out transfers between accounts.
A client who doesn't trust a figure can use one from their statement instead (amount, date and a note), or mark the amount as unknown (item 15a), and remove their figure later. Before Treasury publishes its 31 December rates in mid-January, the report is labelled provisional and uses the latest quarterly rates.
The client decides which accounts are foreign, how each is owned, and which go in the report; the report makes a first guess from the bank's country that they can change. The amounts, the total, the CSV and the print view are available to subscribers once their first payment has gone through, after the 30-day trial. The report downloads as a CSV whose columns follow Form 114's account items, and prints or saves as a PDF:
| Form 114 item | What FinCEN asks for | In the CSV |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | Maximum value of account, in US dollars | Filled: the yearly maximum, converted and rounded up |
| 15a | Amount unknown | Marked only when no maximum value could be determined. A missing exchange rate is flagged separately: the filer uses another verifiable rate and names its source |
| 16 | Type of account (Bank, Securities, Other) | Filled from the account type, or the client's answer where they changed it |
| 17 | Name of financial institution | Filled |
| 18 | Account number | Last four digits only, where the bank provides them, marked "add full number" |
| 19 to 23 | Institution mailing address | Left blank for the filer |
| 24 | Number of joint owners (Part III) | Filled from the client's answer |
| 25 to 33 | Principal joint owner (Part III) | Left blank for the filer |
| 34 to 43 | Owner of a signature-authority account, and the filer's title (Part IV) | Left blank for the filer |
Items as described in FinCEN's line item instructions. The client completes Part I (filer information) themselves.1
Each row also carries the account's currency, its highest balance in that currency and the date, its 31 December balance, the rate with its date and source, the method and any coverage note. Each row names its Form 114 part: owned alone, owned jointly (with the number of other owners), or signature authority only. The file opens with the same notice as the report: the figures cover only the accounts in Borderless Budget and don't say whether anyone has to file.
Two cases change what goes on the form. A filer with a financial interest in 25 or more accounts gives the number of accounts (item 14a) instead of listing them in Parts II and III, and keeps the details as records. An employee living abroad with signature authority over a foreign employer's accounts completes only Part I and items 34 to 43 of Part IV.1 The CSV doesn't decide either case for you.
What stays with you
- Whether the client has to file, and which accounts are foreign financial accounts.
- Full account numbers, institution addresses and joint owners' details. We never store them.
- Form 8938. Borderless Budget doesn't work out its thresholds or values.
- Accounts we can't see. Bank connections cover the US, Canada, the UK and the EU; anything else can be added as a manual account with the client's own figure.
How your clients get it
The calculator is free for anyone. The report is part of a Borderless Budget subscription: $10 a month or $99 a year, after a 30-day free trial. A card is needed to start the trial, and nothing is charged until it ends. The report's figures unlock once that first payment has gone through. Clients can get started and connect their accounts; the sooner they connect, the more of the year's balance history the report has to work from.
Referring clients
If you'd like to point clients to Borderless Budget, you can sign up as a partner. It's self-service: you get a referral link straight away. You earn 25% of what each client you refer pays, for as long as they stay subscribed, and we pay it manually once your accrued share reaches $50. Clients who sign up through your link get 20% off their first 12 months, applied automatically. We don't list, rank or endorse preparers.
Filing reminders, from FinCEN and the IRS
- FinCEN says an attorney, CPA or enrolled agent filing for a client "must register to Become a BSA E-Filer and file as an institution rather than an individual".2
- A client authorises someone else to file with FinCEN Form 114a, which is kept with the records, not submitted.3
- The FBAR is due April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 that needn't be requested.1
- Records to keep for each account: the name on it, its number, the institution's name and address, the type and the maximum value, generally for five years from the FBAR's due date.3
- IRS Publication 5569 is written for "professionals who prepare and electronically file FBAR reports on behalf of their clients" as well as for filers.4
For the wider picture to share with clients, see FBAR and FATCA explained, Wise, Revolut and the FBAR and foreign pensions and the FBAR.