This article will help to report specified foreign financial assets in Lacerte. Per the IRS, use Form 8938 if the total value of all the specified foreign financial assets in which you have an interest is more than the appropriate reporting threshold. For additional information, also refer to About Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets.
Follow the steps for the applicable module:
Individual Module
- Go to Screen 82, Foreign Reporting (114, 8938).
- Select Statement of Foreign Assets (8938) from the left panel.
- Enter the Description of asset.
For Parts I and V - Foreign Deposit and Custodial Accounts, complete the following:
- Complete these fields:
- Type of Account : 1 = Deposit, 2 = Custodial
- Use financial institution information from Form 114 (Ctrl+T).
- Complete the fields in the subsection Financial Institution Information (if not filing Form 114).
- Select the box that applies to the asset for Line 3:
- Account opened during year
- Account closed during year
- Account jointly owned with spouse
- No tax item in Part III with respect to this asset
- To mark Line 5 Yes, select the box Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following information for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5:
- Foreign currency in which asset is denominated
- Foreign currency exchange rate
- Source of exchange rate
For Part II, Other Foreign Assets, complete the following:
- Enter the Identifying number of other designation (Mandatory for part II).
- For Line 3 enter the applicable:
- Date asset acquired during year
- Date asset disposed of during year
- To select the box for Line 3c, select Jointly owned with spouse.
- To select the box for Line 3d, select No tax item in Part III with respect to this asset.
- To select the box for Line 5, select Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following information for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5.
- To complete Line 7, enter the information under the subsection Foreign Entity Information (Complete if stock or interest).
- To complete Line 8, enter the following information in Issuer or counterparty (Ctrl+E).
- Name
- 1=Issuer or 2=Counterparty
- Select the Type of Issuer or Counterparty from the dropdown box.
- 1=US person or 2=Foreign person
- Mailing address, city, state/province, ZIP code, and country
- To add additional assets, select Add from the left panel and repeat the above steps.
For Part III, Summary of Tax items Attributable to Specified Foreign Financial Assets:
- Select 8938 Information from the left panel under Account/Asset.
- Scroll down to the Part III - Summary of Tax Items section.
- Complete all necessary input fields.
- Only one Part III will generate regardless of the number of Form 8938's that are entered. The instructions on Page 7 only indicate to attach multiples for Parts I and II. Part III should be the summary of all items.
- Lacerte will generate additional Form 8938's for each asset or account added.
Partnership Module:
- Go to Screen 60, Foreign Reporting (114, 8938).
- Select Statement of Foreign Assets (8938) under Foreign Bank Account (114) from the left panel.
- Enter the Description of asset.
For Part 1, Foreign Deposit and Custodial Accounts, complete the following:
- Enter the following information
- Type of Account : 1=Deposit, 2=Custodial
- Use financial institution information from Form 114 (Ctrl+T).
- Complete the fields in the subsection Financial Institution Information (if not filing Form 114).
- Select the boxes that apply to the asset:
- Account opened during year
- Account closed during year
- To select Line 5 Yes, select the box Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5:
- Foreign currency in which account is maintained
- Foreign currency exchange rate
- Source of exchange rate
For Part II, Other Foreign Assets, complete the following:
- Enter the Identifying number of other designation (Mandatory for part II)
- For Line 3 enter the applicable:
- Date asset acquired during year
- Date asset disposed of during year
- To select the box for Part VI, Line 3d, select No tax item in Part III with respect to this asset.
- Enter Maximum value of asset during year for Line 4.
- To select the box for Line 5, select Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following information for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5.
- To complete Line 7, enter the information in the subsection Foreign Entity Information (Complete if stock or interest).
- To complete Line 8, enter the following information in Issuer or counterparty (Ctrl+E).
- Name
- 1=Issuer or 2=Counterparty
- Select the Type of Issuer or Counterparty from the dropdown.
- 1=US person or 2=Foreign person
- Mailing address, city, state/province, ZIP code, and country
- To add additional assets, select Add from the left panel and repeat the above steps.
For Part III, Summary of Tax items Attributable to Specified Foreign Financial Assets
- Select General Information from the left panel under Account/Asset.
- Scroll down to the Part III - Summary of Tax Items section.
- Complete all necessary input fields.
- Only one Part III will generate regardless of the number of Form 8938's that are entered. The instructions on Page 7 only indicate to attach multiples for Parts I and II. Part III should be the summary of all items.
- Lacerte will generate additional Form 8938's for each asset or account added.
S-Corporate Module:
- Go to Screen 67, Foreign Reporting (114, 8938).
- Select Statement of Foreign Assets (8938) under Foreign Bank Account (114) from the left panel.
- Enter the Description of asset.
For Part 1, Foreign Deposit and Custodial Accounts, complete the following:
- Enter the following information:
- Type of Account: 1=Deposit, 2=Custodial
- Use financial institution information from Form 114 (Ctrl+T)
- Complete the information for the subsection Financial Institution Information (if not filing Form 114):
- Maximum value of account during tax year
- Name of institution
- Account number (MANDATORY for part I)
- Mailing address of institution, city, state/province, ZIP code, and country
- Select the boxes that apply to the asset:
- Account opened during year
- Account closed during year
- To select Line 5 Yes,select the box Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following information for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5:
- Foreign currency in which account is maintained
- Foreign currency exchange rate
- Source of exchange rate
For Part II, Other Foreign Assets, complete the following:
- Enter the Identifying number of other designation (Mandatory for part II)
- For Line 3 enter the applicable:
- Date asset acquired during year
- Date asset disposed of during year
- To select the box for Part VI, Line 3d, select No tax item in Part III with respect to this asset.
- Enter Maximum value of asset during year for Line 4.
- To select the box for Line 5, select Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following information for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5.
- To complete Line 7, enter the following information in the subsection Foreign Entity Information (Complete if stock or interest):
- Name of entity
- Type of entity (select from dropdown box)
- Mailing address of entity, city, state/province, ZIP code, country
- To complete Line 8, enter the following information in Issuer or counterparty (Ctrl+E):
- Name
- 1=Issuer or 2=Counterparty
- Select the Type of Issuer or Counterparty from the dropdown.
- 1=US person or 2=Foreign person
- Mailing address, city, state/province, ZIP code, and country
- To add additional assets, select Add from the left panel and repeat the steps above.
For Part III, Summary of Tax items Attributable to Specified Foreign Financial Assets
- Select General Information from the left panel under Account/Asset.
- Scroll down to the Part III - Summary of Tax Items section.
- Complete all necessary input fields
- Only one Part III will generate regardless of the number of Form 8938's are entered. The instructions on Page 7 only indicate to attach multiples for Parts I and II. Part III should be the summary of all items.
- Lacerte will generate additional Form 8938's for each asset or account added
Corporate Module:
- Go to Screen 73, Foreign Reporting (114, 8938).
- Select Statement of Foreign Assets (8938) under Foreign Bank Account (114) from the left panel.
- Enter the Description of asset.
For Part 1, Foreign Deposit and Custodial Accounts, complete the following:
- Enter the following information:
- Type of Account: 1=Deposit, 2=Custodial
- Use financial institution information from Form 114 (Ctrl+T).
- Complete the information in the subsection Financial Institution Information (if not filing Form 114).
- Select the boxes that apply to the asset:
- Account opened during year
- Account closed during year
- To check Line 5 Yes, select the box Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following information for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5:
- Foreign currency in which account is maintained
- Foreign currency exchange rate
- Source of exchange rate
For Part II, Other Foreign Assets, complete the following:
- Enter the Identifying number of other designation (Mandatory for part II).
- For Line 3 enter the applicable:
- Date asset acquired during year
- Date asset disposed of during year
- To select the box for Part VI, Line 3d, select No tax item in Part III with respect to this asset.
- Enter the Maximum value of asset during year for Line 4.
- To select the box for Line 5, select Used foreign currency exchange rate to convert value to US dollars. Otherwise, the answer will be No.
- Enter the following information for Line 6 if Yes is answered on Line 5.
- To complete Line 7, enter the following information under Foreign Entity Information (Complete if stock or interest):
- Name of entity
- Type of entity (select from dropdown box)
- Mailing address of entity, city, state/province, ZIP code, country
- To complete Line 8, enter the following information in Issuer or counterparty (Ctrl+E):
- Name
- 1=Issuer or 2=Counterparty
- Select the Type of Issuer or Counterparty from the dropdown.
- 1=US person or 2=Foreign person
- Mailing address, city, state/province, ZIP code, and country
- To add additional assets, select Add from the left panel and repeat the steps above.
For Part III, Summary of Tax items Attributable to Specified Foreign Financial Assets
- Select General Information from the left panel under the Account/Asset section.
- Scroll down to the Part III - Summary of Tax Items section.
- Complete all necessary input fields
- Only one Part III will generate regardless of the number of Form 8938's are entered. The instructions on Page 7 only indicate to attach multiples for Parts I and II. Part III should be the summary of all items.
- Lacerte will generate additional Form 8938's for each asset or account added.
