Foreign Retirement Account and IRS Form 8938

What country? Tax treaties make a difference.

I would compare it to something similar to a 401(k) in the

OK, that helps a little.

What is the value of the account?

Don't know, but I think anyone will need answers to at least the two questions above.

Here's my understanding of FATCA. Foreign pension accounts that reflect a balance greater than $50K must be reported on the 8938 and filed with your return. Some types of pensions, e.g., a defined benefit plan, do not reflect any employee balance because there are no direct contributions by the employee or employer. As such, there would not be a reporting requirement under FATCA. Other types that have employer and/or employee or self-employed contributions, where an account balance is known, have to be reported if the $50K threshold is passed.

Lastly, foreign pensions are not US qualified plans. As such, without a treaty clause or an IRS procedure allowing for an election to defer taxes, any income generated by the plan in a tax year would be taxable to a US citizen or US resident alien in that year. E.g., Canada has a plan that is very similar to our IRAs. A US citizen or US resident alien can file an election to defer reporting the annual income until such time that the plan makes distributions.

Hello, Mark. The country is Switzerland and the current value of the account is approx. $20,000.00.

On second thought, I think I would compare the account to something similar to an IRA in the United States.

Hope this is enough information.

Thanks.