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FBAR: the form for anyone living in the US with an account in Brazil

2026-10-15T00:00:00.000Z

People who move to the United States rarely close their Brazilian accounts. The checking account stays open to pay what was left behind, along with the savings account, the CDB, the brokerage. To the US government, these have a name: foreign financial accounts. Above a certain amount, they must be reported every year on a form of their own: the FBAR.

It is not a tax. Filing it costs nothing and does not change what you owe. But forgetting to file is one of the most expensive mistakes a Brazilian living in the US can make.

What it is

FBAR stands for Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. Its official name is FinCEN Form 114. It does not go to the IRS: it goes to FinCEN, the Treasury bureau that fights financial crime, through its own online system. It is not filed with your income tax return.

The form only reports: which accounts you have outside the US, where they are, and the highest balance each one reached during the year. There is no tax to compute on it.

Who has to file

Two conditions, both at once:

You are a US person. For the FBAR, that includes US citizens, green card holders and residents under the substantial presence test (days spent in the US). US companies, trusts and estates are included too.
Your foreign accounts added up to more than $10,000 at some point during the year. Not the December 31 balance. It is the highest value of each account during the year, added together.

The detail that catches most people: you add up the peaks, even if they happened on different days. And once you cross the threshold, you report every account, small ones included.

It does not matter whether the account earned interest, sat idle, or only held money in transit. The question is whether the account existed and how high it went.

The math, with numbers

A green card holder kept these accounts in Brazil during the year:

Account	Highest balance in the year
Checking account	R$ 32,000 (in July)
CDB at the same bank	R$ 28,000 (in March)
Sum of the peaks	R$ 60,000

Converted at the US Treasury rate for December 31 (say R$ 5.50 per dollar, just for the example), that is $10,909. It is over $10,000: the FBAR is required, and both accounts go on it.

Note that on no single day did the two accounts hold R$ 60,000 together. It does not matter. What gets added is the peak of each one.

Getting the number right

The highest balance of each account, in the account's currency, from the year's statements. A reasonable approximation based on statements is accepted.
The conversion uses the US Treasury's official rate for the last day of the year — not the rate on the day of the peak, and not your bank's rate.
Keep the records for five years: account name and number, bank name and address, account type and the highest value of the year.

What counts and what doesn't

Counts:

checking and savings accounts;
CDBs and other investments held at a bank;
brokerage accounts — the account is reported, not each security in it;
Brazilian investment funds (foreign, from the US point of view);
life insurance or annuities with a cash value;
accounts you only have signature authority over.

Doesn't count:

real estate in your name, in Brazil or anywhere else;
cash kept at home;
stocks or bonds held outside a financial account;
US funds that invest abroad;
government social security benefits, such as Brazil's INSS;
an account at a foreign bank's branch inside the US.

Brazilian private pension plans (PGBL and VGBL) are the case that divides accountants the most. When in doubt, the safer rule is to report — and confirm with whoever signs your return.

Joint accounts

Each owner reports the full balance of a joint account, not their share. A R$ 60,000 account held with a spouse counts as R$ 60,000 on each spouse's FBAR.

A couple can file a single FBAR only when all of one spouse's accounts are held jointly with the other. Both spouses sign FinCEN Form 114a, which you keep and do not file. If either spouse has any account of their own, each files separately.

Deadline and where to file

Due April 15 of the following year, with an automatic extension to October 15. No request needed.
Where: FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System, online, with no registration and no fee.
It does not go with your income tax return. Even if a CPA prepares your return, confirm that they also filed the FBAR.

Why it matters so much

Because the penalty is out of proportion to the oversight.

Non-willful (you didn't know, you forgot): up to $10,000 per report, an amount the law adjusts for inflation every year. In 2023 the US Supreme Court ruled that this penalty applies per report not filed, not per account. Before that, the government had assessed it per account, which multiplied the total.
Willful: the greater of $100,000 or 50% of the account balance, also adjusted for inflation, plus possible criminal prosecution.

And it does not depend only on your memory. Brazil and the United States have an information-sharing agreement (FATCA): Brazilian banks identify account holders who are US persons and report their accounts.

I forgot to file. Now what?

There is a way back. FinCEN and the IRS have procedures for people who missed the FBAR — with better treatment for those who come forward before being contacted, and when there is no unreported income involved. The official guidance is on FinCEN's late filing page.

This is the case where it pays to see a CPA or tax attorney before filing anything: the procedure you choose changes the outcome.

The FBAR is not Form 8938

They are two different forms, and many people need both:

	FBAR	Form 8938
Filed with	FinCEN	IRS, with the return
Threshold	$10k	from $50k
Covers	financial accounts	accounts and other assets

The 8938 threshold depends on filing status and where you live: for a single filer living in the US, it is $50,000 at year end or $75,000 at any time. Filing one does not excuse the other. And the US return itself asks, on Schedule B, whether you have a foreign account.

Official sources

Checked in October 2026 against FinCEN and IRS pages. Thresholds, deadlines and penalties are reviewed every year — check the sources above before filing.

And in 12true

The tedious part of the FBAR is finding each account's peak for the year and converting it at the right rate. In 12true, every account already has a country, a currency and a holder, and each day's balance comes from the recorded entries. The Tax obligations panel will use that to tell you when an FBAR is likely, with the math done and the accounts that went into it, so you can check it with your CPA.

Price or SAC — how Brazilian mortgages really differ

2026-10-15T00:00:00.000Z

If you finance a property in Brazil, you choose — often without noticing — between two amortization systems: the Price table and SAC. Both charge the same interest rate on the same debt. What changes is when you pay back the principal, and that changes everything else.

A US fixed-rate mortgage works like Price: a constant payment that is mostly interest at the start. SAC has no common US equivalent.

The example

R$ 300,000 financed over 360 months at 1% per month. Same numbers for both systems.

	Price	SAC
First payment	R$ 3,085.84	R$ 3,833.33
Last payment	R$ 3,085.84	R$ 841.67
Total interest paid	R$ 810,901.60	R$ 541,500.00
Balance after 5 years	R$ 292,989.66	R$ 250,000.00

Price: fixed payment, slow principal

With Price the payment never changes. Early on, almost all of it is interest: in the first month, of R$ 3,085.84, R$ 3,000.00 is interest and only R$ 85.84 reduces the debt. After five years of payments you still owe 97.7% of what you borrowed.

That is why Price looks cheaper — the first payment is smaller — and ends up costing more: the principal stays with you longer, and interest is charged on whatever principal you still owe.

SAC: fixed amortization, falling payment

With SAC the fixed part is the amortization: R$ 833.33 every month. Interest is charged on a balance that falls every month, so the payment falls with it. The first payment is the heaviest (R$ 3,833.33); from month 91 it is already below the Price payment, and it ends at R$ 841.67.

Which one to choose

SAC if the first payment fits your budget comfortably. You pay less interest overall and the balance drops fast — which matters if you might sell, pay off or move halfway through.
Price if the first SAC payment is a squeeze. A smaller, predictable payment can be the difference between keeping your emergency fund and not.

The right question isn't "which one is cheaper", it's "which first payment can I make without net worth becoming the shock absorber".

Either way, extra payments change the math: every extra real paid early stops accruing interest for the rest of the contract. In 12true that is an extra amortization on the commitment — and the effect on the term or the payment shows up immediately.

Pay yourself before anything else

2026-10-15T00:00:00.000Z

"Pay yourself first" is old advice, and almost everyone agrees with it. What's missing isn't conviction, it's mechanics: an amount, a date and a destination, all set before the month begins. Without them, the intention turns into "if anything's left", and there rarely is.

1. Set an amount, not an intention

Start with a percentage of your take-home pay and turn it into dollars. With $6,000 take-home, 15% is $900 a month. The exact number matters less than its existing at all — going from 10% to 15% is easier than starting from zero.

If 15% feels impossible today, start with what fits and add a point with every raise. A raise that reaches your lifestyle before it reaches your savings never comes back.

2. Pay on the day the money arrives

The contribution leaves on payday, not at the end of the month. At the end of the month it competes with everything that happened in between; at the start, it's already gone.

Schedule a recurring transfer for the day after your paycheck lands.
If your employer offers it, contribute to a 401(k) through payroll — the money never touches your checking account.

The goal is for saving not to depend on remembering, or on deciding again every month.

3. Send it somewhere other than your everyday account

Money sitting in checking is spending waiting to happen. The contribution goes to a separate, named account:

Emergency fund first — six months of living costs, somewhere you can reach the same day, like a high-yield savings account.
Dated goals next — a down payment, a car replacement.
Long term last — retirement and net worth you don't touch.

With living costs of $4,500 a month, a six-month fund is $27,000. At $900 a month, that's 30 months to fill it. Knowing the timeline turns "I'm saving" into "eleven months to go".

4. Variable income: contribute for the bad month

If you're self-employed, on commission, or paid in another currency with a moving exchange rate, there's no fixed paycheck to deduct from. The rule changes shape, not principle:

The fixed contribution is based on your worst month of the last twelve, not the average.
In good months, whatever is above that floor is split by rule: half to the contribution, half to the month.

That way the commitment survives the weak month, and the strong month doesn't quietly become your new lifestyle.

5. When you need to withdraw

It will happen. What matters is how. Drawing on the emergency fund for a real emergency is exactly what it's for — but it should be a decision with a name and an amount, recorded, not a silent transfer back into checking.

Paying yourself first isn't about never touching what you saved. It's about only touching it knowing that you did.

In 12true, the contribution is a commitment with a date, like rent, and a withdrawal shows up as a withdrawal — it doesn't vanish into the balance.

A budget starts with net worth, not with what's left over

2026-10-10T00:00:00.000Z

The most common budget has three lines: the salary comes in, the bills go out, and whatever is left goes to savings. The trouble is the third line. It is the only one with no creditor on the other side — rent chases you, the card chases you, the future never does. So it is always the one that gives.

Flip the order

The fix is easy to state: the contribution is the first bill of the month, not the last.

Decide how much goes to net worth — a fixed amount, not a share of what's left.
Treat it as a commitment with a date, just like rent.
Build the rest of the month with what remains.

If the month gets tight, the adjustment happens in spending, where you can see it. If it still falls short, withdrawing is still possible — but then it's a named decision with a known amount, not a silent leak.

How much to contribute

There's no universal number. There is the question next to it: how long could your family keep its standard of living if the income stopped? Start with the amount that takes that answer to six months, and adjust from there.