Foreign Account Reporting and Information Exchange

Foreign-account reporting terms for AEOI, CRS, FATCA, and FBAR, including who reports, where information goes, and why regimes can overlap.

Foreign account reporting and information exchange includes institution-level due diligence, government-to-government data exchange, and taxpayer filing obligations. Automatic Exchange of Information is the broad process; the Common Reporting Standard is an OECD standard used by participating jurisdictions.

FATCA is a U.S. framework with institution and taxpayer-reporting components. FBAR is a separate U.S. Bank Secrecy Act report filed with FinCEN by certain U.S. persons with foreign financial accounts.

ConceptMain actorMain function
AEOITax authorities and reporting institutionsBroad category of automatic cross-border information exchange
CRSParticipating jurisdictions and reporting financial institutionsStandardized tax-residence due diligence and financial-account reporting
FATCAU.S. taxpayers, foreign financial institutions, and partner jurisdictionsU.S.-connected foreign-asset and account reporting
FBARCertain U.S. personsDirect reporting of specified foreign financial accounts to FinCEN

Always confirm the current rules in each relevant jurisdiction. Similar information may appear in several systems, but the filer, form, threshold, due date, account scope, and receiving authority can differ. These pages are educational and are not tax, legal, or compliance advice.

In this section

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AEOI

Automatic exchange of information is the recurring cross-border transfer of specified financial or tax data between participating tax authorities.

CRS

The Common Reporting Standard sets due-diligence and reporting rules for exchanging financial-account information among participating tax jurisdictions.

FBAR

FBAR is a separate FinCEN filing for certain U.S. persons whose aggregate foreign financial accounts exceed the reporting threshold.

FATCA

FATCA is a U.S. framework for reporting specified foreign financial assets and accounts connected to U.S. taxpayers.

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