FBAR and Form 8938 for companies holding bitcoin

Sources checked 11 November 2026. This page is about US information reporting, not income tax on gains. It is education, not advice, and it does not say whether any particular company has to file. If anything here conflicts with a linked source, the source wins. Check FinCEN and the IRS before you file, because these rules can change.

Short answer

Two different reports can apply when a US person, including a US company, has a connection to foreign accounts or foreign financial assets: the FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938. They have different tests, different thresholds and different filing routes. FinCEN Notice 2020-2 says that, at present, a foreign account holding only virtual currency is not a reportable FBAR account, but FinCEN also said it intended to propose an amendment. As at 11 November 2026 we have opened no later FinCEN notice or final rule that makes that amendment. Form 8938 is separate. Its instructions, which we opened the same day, do not mention bitcoin, virtual currency or digital assets by name, so whether a given foreign bitcoin arrangement is a specified foreign financial asset is a question of applying those general definitions, which a company should take to its adviser.

UK companies

The FBAR rule in 31 CFR 1010.350 applies to a "United States person". That term includes a citizen or resident of the United States, and an entity created, organised or formed under the laws of the United States, a State, the District of Columbia, US territories or the Indian Tribes. A UK limited company formed under UK law is not, on that wording, a United States person. That does not settle every case: a US subsidiary, or a United States person who has a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign account, may still have their own filing questions. UK reporting to HMRC under the Cryptoasset Reporting Framework is a different regime and is covered in company banking and the CARF glossary entry.

Source: eCFR: 31 CFR 1010.350: Reports of foreign financial accounts, FinCEN: Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.

US: two reports, not one

The IRS comparison page says the Form 8938 filing requirement does not replace or otherwise affect a taxpayer's obligation to file the FBAR, and that the FBAR is filed with FinCEN, not with the IRS. Individuals and domestic entities must check each form's own tests and thresholds. Filing one does not, on that page, remove the other.

Source: IRS: Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements, IRS: Instructions for Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets.

The FBAR

31 CFR 1010.350(a) requires a United States person who has a financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, a bank, securities or other financial account in a foreign country to report that relationship on the FBAR. FinCEN's FBAR page says a United States person must file if the aggregate value of the foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.

Source: eCFR: 31 CFR 1010.350: Reports of foreign financial accounts, FinCEN: Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.

Paragraph (c) of that regulation lists the types of reportable account: a bank account, a securities account, and certain other financial accounts (including some deposit, insurance, futures and mutual fund accounts). Virtual currency is not named in that list.

Source: eCFR: 31 CFR 1010.350: Reports of foreign financial accounts.

What Notice 2020-2 says, and what it does not

FinCEN Notice 2020-2, dated 31 December 2020, states that the FBAR regulations do not define a foreign account holding virtual currency as a type of reportable account, citing 31 CFR 1010.350(c). For that reason, "at this time, a foreign account holding virtual currency is not reportable on the FBAR (unless it is a reportable account under 31 C.F.R. 1010.350 because it holds reportable assets besides virtual currency)." The same notice says FinCEN "intends to propose to amend" those regulations to include virtual currency as a type of reportable account.

Source: FinCEN: Notice 2020-2: FBAR filing requirement for virtual currency (PDF, 31 December 2020).

What is not settled. The notice is a statement of then current rules and of an intention to propose a change. As at 11 November 2026, we searched FinCEN's own site and have opened no later FinCEN notice, proposed rule or final rule that actually amends 31 CFR 1010.350 on this point. That is not a finding that no such document exists anywhere, only that we have not opened one. If FinCEN later publishes a proposal or a final rule, that later text will set its own start date. Check FinCEN before you file.

Two further limits follow from the wording we have opened, and we do not go beyond them:

A foreign account that also holds reportable assets besides virtual currency, such as a fiat balance, can still be a reportable account under the existing regulation, according to the notice itself.
The notice is about a foreign account holding virtual currency. We have not found a FinCEN statement in the sources above that answers whether a wallet whose keys the company holds itself, for example a company 2 of 3 multisig, is an "account" at a financial institution for FBAR purposes. We do not invent an answer.

Source: FinCEN: Notice 2020-2: FBAR filing requirement for virtual currency (PDF, 31 December 2020), eCFR: 31 CFR 1010.350: Reports of foreign financial accounts.

Form 8938

Form 8938 is used to report specified foreign financial assets if their total value is more than the reporting threshold that applies to the filer. It is attached to a US income tax return. The IRS instructions say that filing Form 8938 does not relieve you of the requirement to file the FBAR if you are otherwise required to file the FBAR.

Source: IRS: Instructions for Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, IRS: About Form 8938, IRS: Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements.

Who, among companies, may have to file

The instructions say a specified domestic entity must file if it is one of the listed types and it meets the entity reporting threshold. You are a specified domestic entity if you are, among other things:

A closely held domestic corporation that has at least 50% of its gross income from passive income, or at least 50% of its assets producing or held for the production of passive income.
A closely held domestic partnership under the same 50% income or assets tests.

A domestic corporation is closely held if, on the last day of its tax year, a specified individual directly, indirectly or constructively owns at least 80% of the voting power or at least 80% of the value of the stock. The instructions also describe partnership, trust and exception rules, which this page does not repeat in full.

The reporting threshold for a specified domestic entity is more than $50,000 on the last day of the tax year, or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year. Individual thresholds are different and, for people living abroad, higher. Read the instructions for the test that applies.

Source: IRS: Instructions for Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets.

Not decided on this page: whether a particular company's bitcoin holding means it meets the 50% passive income or passive assets tests. The instructions define those tests. We do not apply them to a hypothetical treasury.

What counts as a specified foreign financial asset

The instructions and the IRS comparison chart describe specified foreign financial assets in general terms. Financial (deposit and custodial) accounts held at foreign financial institutions are listed as reportable on Form 8938. Foreign stock or securities not held in a financial account, and certain other foreign interests, are also listed. The comparison chart, which we opened on 11 November 2026, does not mention bitcoin, virtual currency or digital assets. The Form 8938 instructions we opened the same day also do not use those words.

Source: IRS: Instructions for Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, IRS: Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR requirements.

What is not settled in those texts. We have not found, in the Form 8938 instructions or the comparison chart, a sentence that says a foreign bitcoin exchange account is, or is not, a specified foreign financial asset, or that a company-controlled multisig is, or is not, one. Whether a given arrangement is a "financial account" at a "foreign financial institution", or another listed asset, is a question of applying those general definitions. Ask your adviser, and read the current instructions, before treating this page as an answer.

Practical records, without deciding the filing

Whether or not a form is due, the records that help an adviser decide are the same kind of records the company should already keep: which legal entity holds the bitcoin, whether any provider is in a foreign country, whether the same account also holds fiat or other assets, who has signature authority, and the highest value in the year. See company banking and source of funds and withdrawing to the company wallet. Income tax on a sale, swap or spend is a separate question: see company tax on bitcoin.

The IRS treats virtual currency as property for federal tax purposes, which is why a disposal can be a gain or loss even if no FBAR or Form 8938 is due.

Source: IRS: Notice 2014-21: virtual currency is treated as property for federal tax purposes (PDF), IRS: Digital assets.

Sources

Primary sources only. Each link was checked on 11 November 2026. Rules change, so confirm the current version with your adviser.

Education, not advice.

This is general information and education only. It is not financial, investment, tax, accounting, legal or regulatory advice, and it is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold bitcoin or any other asset. It does not take account of your circumstances or those of your company. You must obtain your own official professional advice to confirm this information is correct before acting on it.

Rules change. This information is correct to our understanding at the last-reviewed date, but it may be incomplete or out of date, and official sources take precedence. Bitcoin is volatile. A company that buys it could lose some or all of the money it puts in.

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