What is a financial account?
So, as we all know by now, the FBAR (Report of Foreign Bank Accounts) requires US citizens to report their interest in any non-US financial account, if the combined maximum value of their non-US financial accounts exceeds $10,000 per year.
But, the term ‘financial account’ can sometimes leave people scratching their heads. It certainly is an all-encompassing term, and of course, it’s completely reasonable to be thorough and make sure no account is missed.
Well, we can define a financial account as:
Any account, which is designed for the purpose of holding funds or debt on behalf of another. The account can be used to withdraw and/or deposit against.
So with the above, we can create a rough list of account types we should be including.
DO INCLUDE:
- Current accounts
- Savings accounts
- Term deposits
- Investment accounts (i.e. managed funds)
- Retirement accounts i.e. KiwiSaver
- Brokerage accounts
- Securities accounts
- Travel Money Cards
- Some insurance accounts
- Business bank accounts (if you are a signatory on the account)
- Trust bank accounts (if you are an owner/signatory on the account)
With the above two, it’s important to note that any account owned by a business/trust that you own, will be considered to be owned by you, and must be reported.
We must also include loan accounts such as:
- Mortgages
- Credit Cards
- Loans
Whilst you cannot necessarily put savings into these types of accounts, they are nonetheless considered a form of financial account.
WHAT WE DON’T NEED TO INCLUDE:
- Public Transport Cards
- Phone Account Credit
- Any other form of business tokens/credits, regardless of whether they have a cash value