(US citizens) FBAR and loans

[inaka_rob]

Just a reminder for US citizens you need to fill out an FBAR if "the aggregate value of those foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year reported."

Since the FBAR became mandatory I have kept my aggravate balance below 10k. That is until a few weeks ago. I bought a car. And I got a car loan to help pay for part of it. That loan goes into my account, very briefly, before being sent to the car company. It was unavoidable with with this bank and loan. It may avoidable in other situations. Just something to think about if you take a load for what ever reason and it needs to be in your name (in this case it could not be in my wife's name). It didn't dawn on me until I was sitting there staring at my balance for the few minutes its was in there and they furikomied to Mazda. The banks here are supposedly required to report back to the USA about US citizen's account and the FBAR fine is very hefty. Something I would rather avoid.

[captainspoke]

Just report it. They ask for max balance, so list it.

There’s no penalty for that.

You could even inflate a little if you’re worried that they might somehow get picky.

It’s online, and only takes ~15min so.

[manipurjin]

(US citizen, regularly file US/Japan taxes, FBAR, etc. Fully compliant as far as I know.)

In a similar situation except the loan is for purchasing a property.
As my account will briefly have a ~900k USD balance I am bit worried this might raise some eyebrows at the IRS, especially since I normally don’t have anywhere near that much in my non-US accounts (or any account for that matter)
Has anyone been in a similar situation and did it cause any issues?

[TJKansai]

I suspect the IRS does not spend a lot of time looking at the accounts of people who report they have money overseas, especially those filing regular US tax returns. I would think they'd be more interested in going after those who try to hide it.

[TokyoWart]

(US citizen, regularly file US/Japan taxes, FBAR, etc. Fully compliant as far as I know.)

In a similar situation except the loan is for purchasing a property.
As my account will briefly have a ~900k USD balance I am bit worried this might raise some eyebrows at the IRS, especially since I normally don’t have anywhere near that much in my non-US accounts (or any account for that matter)
Has anyone been in a similar situation and did it cause any issues?

So far this has never caused any issues for me. Because the FBAR reports each account maximum and funds may move between accounts in a way which makes them double counted, my FBAR each year reports a total far higher than my net balances at any time which means the taxable investment income I report seems quite small in comparison. That has never created any inquiries for me for my US taxes.

[akiaji]

(US citizen, regularly file US/Japan taxes, FBAR, etc. Fully compliant as far as I know.)

In a similar situation except the loan is for purchasing a property.
As my account will briefly have a ~900k USD balance I am bit worried this might raise some eyebrows at the IRS, especially since I normally don’t have anywhere near that much in my non-US accounts (or any account for that matter)
Has anyone been in a similar situation and did it cause any issues?

So far this has never caused any issues for me. Because the FBAR reports each account maximum and funds may move between accounts in a way which makes them double counted, my FBAR each year reports a total far higher than my net balances at any time which means the taxable investment income I report seems quite small in comparison. That has never created any inquiries for me for my US taxes.

Yes! I always feel very strange filing FBAR each year as I sometimes move money around between multiple accounts, so it all ends up looking like I have more cash. As mentioned, I think they are looking for outliers (mega millions), odd reporting trends, or people filing out of nowhere after many years. Such a pain and hassle though.

[manipurjin]

Everyone, thank you for your comments. Great to know that others have experienced the same thing without any issues.
I also spoke with the bank and they said it is shognai and there are no other ways to do this (ex: transfer smaller amounts multiple times, pay partially in cash, etc.).