Silly error and FBAR questions.

My husband was paid a bonus the other day and without thinking moved it through our shared account as that was the easiest way to get it to his savings. This put our account over the $10k threshold for FBAR for between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

Am I correct in assuming that even though it was only in the account for such a short period of time, I will still need to file the FBAR next year?

I do not work so have not done any taxes in a few years. Will I need to file taxes as well as FBAR next year, or can I just file the FBAR?

Thanks!

The prudent answer is to file an FBAR.

Whether income tax returns are required to be filed is dependent on both filing status and age. For example, a single person under 65 must file if gross income potentially subject to US tax exceeds $9,750. Someone married but filing a separate tax return (of any age) is required to file if gross income exceeds $3,800. These filing requirements remain even if there is no tax due.

I understand that income tax has to do with gross earnings. My question was if I, with $0 earnings, would be able to just file a FBAR? Or does needing to file an FBAR mean that I will also need to file taxes?

I was in a similar situation to yours a couple of years ago, and posted a question to the IRS help site.  The answer that came back was to just file the FBAR, if below the tax threshold.  I did this, and sent it along with a note explaining that I was not filing a tax form due to low income.  This was two or three years ago, I suppose things may have changed.

The FBAR is an information form sent to the Department of the Treasury, not the IRS. You could have quite a bit of money in bank account(s) or other financial account(s) but still not need to file a tax return.

File the FBAR next year and stop worrying!