FATCA

I kind of/sort of finished my taxes (kind of). Even though I don't remember seeing anything specific about putting in % from our UK bank account......I figured I would need to go back and put something in for income even though it will be minimal.....and will probably have to go to the bank to see if they can help us with that. With filing jointly.......the $28k in gains that show up on the Vanguard download didn't take us over the limit....so it looks like we get almost $800 back. But......FATCA.......if I read it correctly on TurboTax we easily went over the $10K limit for FBAR (always knew I would have to do that).....but for FATCA it said $400K or above at the end of the year, or $600K or above at anytime during the year. Since I believe we stayed under the equivalent of $500K that would mean I don't have to fill out FATCA, Yes?

You/TurboTax are correct that you do not have to file 8938 with your tax return because, as non-residents, you don't meet the limit of $600k at any time during the year or $400k on Dec 31st, 2015 (assuming MFJ)

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8938.pdf

I went back and double checked online. I had assumed it was much less from what I had read earlier.....and it is if you aren't living in a foreign country. That last little bit really raised the threshold. I shouldn't have to worry at all about it now.....they don't seem to count our house as part of that total.

The value of your house is not part of the calculation.

ETA
See page 4 on the above link to see the definitions of "Specified Foreign Financial Assets")

But for many people the present value of a UK pension plan will place assets above the 8938 filing threshold.

But for many people the present value of a UK pension plan will place assets above the 8938 filing threshold.

True, but I don't believe that the OP or his wife have UK pension plans.

Even with UK pension.....not sure how WE would set it off.

Even with UK pension.....not sure how WE would set it off.

The instructions say that foreign Social Security (e.g. UK Old Age Pension) is not counted, and if you are receiving a UK DB private pension then it is the total amount received in the year.

I guess I'm really lost on this one. If I need over $600,000 in my accounts (or $400K at the end of the year).....how the heck am I going to trigger FATCA with my pension (or eventually my wife's) going to get us to $600K in financial type funds? Guess I must be missing something......

I guess I'm really lost on this one. If I need over $600,000 in my accounts (or $400K at the end of the year).....how the heck am I going to trigger FATCA with my pension (or eventually my wife's) going to get us to $600K in financial type funds? Guess I must be missing something......

Unless you have large UK private pensions I don't see that you ever will trigger FATCA for your tax return.  We are talking only about UK Defined Contribution pensions here I think.  The instructions say that if you have a deferred Defined Benefit pension and have no idea what the value is to you then it counts as zero, if you are being paid a DB pension then it is the sum of what you received that year (e.g. I receive a UK private pension of 220 GBP/month so that is only 12*220 in this calculation as I don't have any option to convert it to some lump sum)

from page 6 of the link above

 

If you do not know or
have reason to know based on readily
accessible information the fair market
value as of the last day of the tax year,
the maximum value is the fair market
value, determined as of the last day of
the tax year, of the cash and other
property distributed during the tax
year to you as a beneficiary or
participant. If you received no
distributions during the tax year and
do not know or have reason to know
based on readily accessible
information the fair market value of
your interest as of the last day of the
tax year, use a value of zero as the
maximum value of the asset.