If you hold money outside the US, Treasury probably wants to hear about it twice: once on the FBAR and again on Form 8938. Neither creates a tax bill. The penalties for skipping them are out of all proportion to the forms, though, so we file both and make sure they agree with each other.
Due if your foreign accounts added together went over $10,000 at any point in the year. Peaks months apart still count. It goes online to FinCEN, not in with your tax return, and it's due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15.
Attached to your 1040. The thresholds are much higher for people living abroad: $200,000 at year-end if you're single, $400,000 filing jointly. It also picks up things the FBAR doesn't, like foreign shares you hold directly. Filing one never counts as filing the other.
Pensions are the ones people forget: a UK workplace pension, a Canadian RRSP, Australian super. After that it's ISAs and TFSAs (tax-free at home, reportable here), foreign brokerage accounts, insurance policies with a cash value, and accounts you can sign on but don't own, like a parent's. We go through every account with you, value each at its peak using Treasury's year-end rate, and file on time. The FBAR for up to five accounts and Form 8938 when you need it are included in our Expat return at $275. More accounts are $50 per extra five. Missed some years? We'll tell you whether the late-FBAR procedure or Streamlined fits.