Updated 23 October 2026
Every account on an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) carries one number: its maximum value during the calendar year, in US dollars. Getting it right takes three steps, and the order matters. If you'd rather skip the arithmetic, the FBAR calculator does steps 2 and 3 for you.
Step 1: find the highest balance, in the account's currency
FinCEN defines the maximum value as "a reasonable approximation of the greatest value of currency or nonmonetary assets in the account during the calendar year". Each account is valued separately, and for a US dollar account it's simply the largest dollar value during the year.1
You don't need daily balances. Periodic statements may be relied on if they fairly reflect the maximum value,1 and IRS Publication 5569 describes those as statements issued at least quarterly.2 If a large deposit sat in the account between two statements, the statements don't reflect the peak, so use the higher figure.
Work in the account's own currency first. A euro account's maximum is found in euros, not by converting each month's balance to dollars and picking the highest.2
Step 2: convert at the Treasury rate for 31 December
Convert the maximum at the Treasury's Financial Management Service rate "for the last day of the calendar year".1 Today those rates are published as the Treasury Reporting Rates of Exchange.3 Note the date: it's 31 December even when the account peaked in March.
Treasury quotes each currency as units per one US dollar. On 31 December 2025 the euro was 0.851, so you divide: €12,345.67 ÷ 0.851 = $14,507.25.3 If Treasury publishes no rate for your currency, FinCEN says to "use another verifiable exchange rate and provide the source of that rate".1 Our FBAR exchange rates guide has the year-end tables.
Step 3: round up to the next whole dollar
FinCEN asks for US dollar amounts "rounded up to the next whole dollar", with the example of $15,265.25 recorded as $15,266.1 So $14,507.25 goes on the form as $14,508. Rounding is always up, never to the nearest dollar.
One edge case: if the value works out negative, for example an account that was overdrawn all year, FinCEN says to enter zero.1
A worked example
Three accounts, all for calendar year 2025, using Treasury's 31 December 2025 rates:
| Account | Highest balance | Treasury rate | In US dollars | On the FBAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checking account in Spain | €12,345.67 | 0.851 EUR per $1 | $14,507.25 | $14,508 |
| Savings account in the UK | £4,200.00 | 0.743 GBP per $1 | $5,652.76 | $5,653 |
| Brokerage account in Japan | ¥1,500,000 | 156.61 JPY per $1 | $9,577.93 | $9,578 |
The accounts and balances are invented for illustration; the rates are Treasury's.3 Each account is reported with its own rounded-up value. The three maximums add up to $29,739.
How the maximums add up
FinCEN's threshold is about the sum of the per-account maximums: "If the maximum account value of a single account or aggregate of the maximum account values of multiple accounts exceeds $10,000, an FBAR must be filed."4 The maximums don't need to fall on the same day. IRS Publication 5569 gives the example of three accounts at $3,000, $1,000 and $8,000 that together pass $10,000 even though none does alone.2
IRS examiner guidance adds one wrinkle: money moved from one foreign account to another during the year "must only be counted once".5 The calculator doesn't net out transfers, so its total can be higher than an examiner's. Ask a tax professional if that matters for you.
That rule applies to US persons, and only to accounts that count as foreign financial accounts. Neither this guide nor the calculator decides those questions for you. FinCEN's FBAR page sets out who has to file, and a tax professional can confirm how it applies to you.
Joint accounts
For a jointly held account, each owner reports the entire value of the account, not their share.2 Publication 5569 describes a limited exception for spouses: one spouse needn't file separately if all their reportable accounts are jointly owned with the filing spouse, the filing spouse reports them on a timely filed FBAR, and both sign Form 114a.2
Accounts you closed during the year
The FBAR regulation requires reporting "for each year in which such relationship exists".6 An account you had for part of the year is still part of that year's report, valued at its highest balance while it was open. FinCEN's conversion instruction names only the last day of the calendar year, so a closed account uses the same 31 December rate as the rest.1 For example, a French account closed in June 2025 that peaked at €9,000 goes on the 2025 FBAR as €9,000 ÷ 0.851 = $10,575.79, so $10,576.
If a US bank is closing your account in Europe
In October 2026 Chase began writing to Americans in France to say their accounts would close in December, citing the EU's Capital Requirements Directive VI (CRD VI).7 For the FBAR, what decides whether an account is foreign is its location: "It is the location of the account, not the nationality of the financial institution".2 An account held at a bank in the United States isn't a foreign account, so its closure doesn't put it on your FBAR. The account you open in Europe instead is foreign, and its highest balance from the day you open it counts for that year.
When you can't pin down a value
If you have fewer than 25 accounts and can't determine whether their combined maximums exceeded $10,000, FinCEN's instructions say to report each account and tick "amount unknown" (item 15a).1
Records to keep
The IRS asks you to keep, for each account, the name on the account, its number, the bank's name and address, the type of account and its maximum value, generally for five years from the FBAR's due date.8
Related guides
Fintech and pension accounts have their own questions: Wise, Revolut and the FBAR and foreign pensions and the FBAR. For the FBAR next to Form 8938, read FBAR and FATCA explained.