Amending FBAR

Sorry if this has been covered already, but i couldn't seem to find anything in the search.

Has anyone ever had to amend an FBAR because they accidentally input the wrong maximum values? I have unfortunately found myself in this situation. I now wonder if there are complications of filing an amended FBAR, or whether it's just a case of your record being updated and nothing comes of it.

Some things i have read online make me a bit nervous, so thought i would try get some experienced opinions.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks 

I’ve never had to send in an amended FBAR but it looks pretty straightforward from what I recall. Simply check the amended return box. It must happen all the time.

I had to amend mine... minutes after submitting it (I forgot to convert to USD, so my values all appeared much too low).  Basically, you do it all again, but at some point you indicate you're amending a previous filing.

It was no big deal.  At least, I don't think it was.   That was months ago, and other than confirmation emails, I  haven't heard from them.

Speaking of FBARs, does anyone understand the fundamental logic behind reporting maximum values?  For example, for a given year, you might have the equivalent of $100,000 in one foreign account and then move that money to new foreign account, meaning you report a max value of $100,000 for both accounts.  What possible use are maximum account values to the Treasury (as opposed to some other metric such as year end balances)?

Speaking of FBARs, does anyone understand the fundamental logic behind reporting maximum values?  For example, for a given year, you might have the equivalent of $100,000 in one foreign account and then move that money to new foreign account, meaning you report a max value of $100,000 for both accounts.  What possible use are maximum account values to the Treasury (as opposed to some other metric such as year end balances)?

The FBAR "accounting" rules have always baffled me, plus the paltry $10,000 reporting limit which hasn't increased in decades.

Those same stupid double counting rules apply to the FATCA reporting with an IRS return. When we bought our house in 2017 I moved over the house buying money directly to our checking account and since we had a few weeks before needing it, I split it among several savings accounts to get it covered by the £85,000 FSC scheme.  Meant I had a lot of 8938 forms to complete and add to my return that year because by the double counting rule we had more than the limit of $600,000 in foreign financial assets.

And another quirky thing about FBARs is that if you have a financial interest in 25 or more accounts, you don't complete Part II that has all the account information but you just retain records of the information.  You'd think that if you have 25 or more foreign accounts, the Treasury would want more information from you, not less.  And one might infer that such individuals may be flagged for closer examination.

I always make a point of closing any account that I no longer need so that I don't come close to 25.

And another quirky thing about FBARs is that if you have a financial interest in 25 or more accounts, you don't complete Part II that has all the account information but you just retain records of the information.  You'd think that if you have 25 or more foreign accounts, the Treasury would want more information from you, not less.  And one might infer that such individuals may be flagged for closer examination.

I always make a point of closing any account that I no longer need so that I don't come close to 25.

A cynical person might suspect the government don't really care about catching the big tax evaders and money launderers, but only want to catch the easy targets who are earnestly trying to comply with the laws and do the right thing with their relatively-small-but-over-the-reporting-threshold monies.

And another quirky thing about FBARs is that if you have a financial interest in 25 or more accounts, you don't complete Part II that has all the account information but you just retain records of the information.  You'd think that if you have 25 or more foreign accounts, the Treasury would want more information from you, not less.  And one might infer that such individuals may be flagged for closer examination.

I always make a point of closing any account that I no longer need so that I don't come close to 25.

A cynical person might suspect the government don't really care about catching the big tax evaders and money launderers, but only want to catch the easy targets who are earnestly trying to comply with the laws and do the right thing with their relatively-small-but-over-the-reporting-threshold monies.

I think you may well be right!!