8938 - Double Counting

Those that file this form know that certain limits apply. Married/single in the U.S. or overseas, all having differing thresholds to meet. I wanted to ask if people double count these account balances? If for example you're single and live in the U.S, you have a $50k threshold before reporting is required. Let say you have $25,001 to you name in one account. You decide to open another account and then transfer $25,000 into that account, leaving just the $1 in the original. In total, you still have $25,001, but on paper so to speak you have $50,001 and consequently breached the limit for filing requirements.
Would you take the cautious view and file, or not file at all as in reality you only have the original amount of $25,001?

Yes, the double counting rules for this are the same as for FBAR.

We only had to do the 8938 forms once and that was because of double counting. We had transferred a load of money to England in readiness for buying a house and I split it into multiple accounts for maximum insurance cover. The double counting took us over the threshold

No, you do not double-count balances for purposes of determining whether the thresholds are met.  The $50k threshold is as of the last day of the year.  The $75k threshold is at any time during the year.

In your example, the aggregate value of the specified foreign financial assets did not exceed $25,001 at any point during the year.

If you had met the thresholds, for example, where the balance in the first account was $250,001 and you transferred that amount to a second account, then the total to be reported would be $500,002, but you only double-count in this way if you already exceeded the thresholds.

Personally, I've never even come close to being able to escape 8938 reporting - my pension plan takes care of that - given the relatively low reporting threshold (which doesn't seem to have changed for years) , I would find it surprising that most USC's living intthe UK aren't caught by this - am I missing something?

Apart from Part III of the form (reconciling back to income schedules) I've just viewed this as an informational form and don't find it too onerous - again am I missing something?

Personally, I've never even come close to being able to escape 8938 reporting - my pension plan takes care of that - given the relatively low reporting threshold (which doesn't seem to have changed for years) , I would find it surprising that most USC's living intthe UK aren't caught by this - am I missing something?

Apart from Part III of the form (reconciling back to income schedules) I've just viewed this as an informational form and don't find it too onerous - again am I missing something?

I’m married, living in England, and the married reporting threshold is way above any foreign financial accounts we have signature authority over. I have 2 small regular UK private pensions plus OAP.  $400k at year end or $600k at any point during the year is quite high in my opinion. The vast majority of my pension money is in the US in a Roth, plus 2 US private monthly pension checks and SS to come in 3 years time.

@durhamlad, like I say, it's the pensions that have done me in. All my private pensions are in the UK and when I first completed 8938 back in 2014, the exchange rate was £1=$1.55, so not difficult to hit the $400k threshold at that time - still I have to say, I don't find the forms too onerous, and as I said I consider them largely informational anyway and similar to the FBAR information I file.

@durhamlad, like I say, it's the pensions that have done me in. All my private pensions are in the UK and when I first completed 8938 back in 2014, the exchange rate was £1=$1.55, so not difficult to hit the $400k threshold at that time - still I have to say, I don't find the forms too onerous, and as I said I consider them largely informational anyway and similar to the FBAR information I file.

Good to hear that you don’t find the forms much of an issue, I expect that each year is very much a cut and paste process for bank account addresses and account numbers. I was the same with FBAR, first year took the longest to complete, after that it becomes pretty routine.

after that it becomes pretty routine.

Routine but still a PITA! 

I do include double counting, (to be on the safe side) This year I’ll be closing accounts, transferring and consolidation, just to make life easier. Also a pension transfer, so I’ll have a maximum distributed value to report. Like the FBAR, once all the information is in place it’s a case of filling in those values each year.

Routine but still a PITA! 

So true, a routine PITA is still a PITA.