Foreign asset reporting continues to be one of the highest-risk compliance areas for U.S. taxpayers living in Canada and elsewhere outside the United States. While many practitioners understand the basic filing requirements for the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) and Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets), significantly fewer appreciate the complex ownership rules, valuation challenges, reporting overlaps, penalty exposure, and practical issues encountered in real client situations.

This intermediate-to-advanced course moves beyond the filing thresholds to examine complex reporting scenarios involving jointly owned assets, Canadian corporations and trusts, registered plans, signature authority, foreign pensions, and entity ownership. Participants will also learn how FBAR and Form 8938 interact with other international information returns and how to identify common compliance risks before they become costly penalty issues.

Various examples and mini-cases will be covered as part of the course.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Distinguish between the reporting requirements for FBAR and Form 8938.
• Determine when assets are reportable under one or both reporting regimes.
• Apply ownership, beneficial ownership and signature authority rules in complex situations.
• Evaluate reporting obligations involving Canadian financial accounts, corporations, partnerships, trusts and registered plans.
• Understand the interaction between FBAR, Form 8938 and other U.S. international information returns.
• Recognize common reporting errors, penalty exposure and practical compliance strategies.

Module 1 — FBAR and Form 8938 Beyond the Basics
This module provides a concise review of the two reporting regimes before focusing on the practical issues that frequently create uncertainty.

Topics

• Refresher on Individual Filers: U.S. citizens residing in Canada, Green Card holders, Full Year residents, Dual-Status residents, Treaty Non-Residents
• Purpose of FBAR versus Form 8938
• Key differences in legislative authority
  
• Filing thresholds and residency considerations
• Financial interest versus signature authority
• Direct, indirect and constructive ownership
• Maximum account value versus year-end value
• Currency conversion considerations
• Joint ownership reporting
• Duplicate reporting requirements
• When reporting is required on both forms

Module 2 — Complex Foreign Asset Reporting Issues
This module examines foreign assets that frequently create uncertainty for practitioners.

Topics

• Canadian investment accounts
• Corporate investment accounts
• Partnership interests
• Foreign trusts
• Registered plans
  • RRSPs
  • RRIFs
  • RESPs
  • FHSAs
  • TFSAs
• Foreign pensions
• Cash surrender value of life insurance
• Precious metals and digital assets
• Powers of attorney and signing authority
• Multi-owner accounts
• Valuation challenges for non-public investments

Module 3 — Practical Issues and Considerations
Foreign asset reporting rarely exists in isolation. This module explores how FBAR and Form 8938 fit within the broader U.S. international reporting framework.

Topics

• Information consistency across forms
• Willful versus non-willful violations
• Reasonable cause
• Correcting previously omitted filings
• Common practitioner mistakes
  
  • Incorrect ownership analysis
  • Failure to identify signature authority
  • Misunderstanding registered plans
  • Incorrect valuations
  • Missing jointly owned accounts
  • Assuming one form replaces another
• Documentation and file management
• Best practices for reducing compliance risk

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Navigate complex FBAR and Form 8938 reporting issues with greater confidence.
• Distinguish between ownership, beneficial ownership and signature authority reporting.
• Identify reporting obligations involving Canadian financial products and business entities.
• Coordinate FBAR and Form 8938 with other U.S. international information returns.
• Recognize situations that present heightened penalty exposure.
• Implement practical procedures to improve the accuracy and efficiency of foreign asset reporting.

Course Content Created: September 2026

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About This Product

CPABC On-Demand Courses offer self-paced learning through recorded sessions from previously delivered live seminars. Where available, accompanying materials such as handouts or course notes are included. On-demand courses are eligible for verifiable CPD hours upon successful completion, and a certificate will be made available for download for your records.

Please note that not all on-demand courses include downloadable materials such as handouts, course notes or presentation slides.

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