[fsb025]

The french agrement with fatca has a section on page 56 section III (see link below)

http://www.economie.gouv.fr/files/usa_accord_fatca_14nov13.pdf


It mentions: product excluded from the definition of financial accounts (hope i translated correctly)
Does this mean that 'la banque de france' should not report with fatca what someone has in their Livret A or LDD and should one include their livert A in their fbars with + 10k that is not reportable with fatca .

It does not apply for my case but someone that still has their US passport and also lives in France

 

[Bevdeforges]

OK, I've read the agreement and it's true, the banks in France do not have to report Livret A accounts to the IRS. (Actually, the banks here report to the Banque de France, which then reports whatever to the IRS.) Note the phrasing "do have have to" - it's not obligatory, but there's certainly no penalty if they do. That's up to the banks - though given that the banks here report to the Banque de France in general, I don't know if they bother to report the tax-free accounts (of which there are several).

OTOH, the way the FBAR reporting is set up, yes, you are "supposed" to report ALL foreign accounts if the grand total of all your accounts is $10,000 or more. Frankly, it does no harm to report them - and many of us have been reporting our Livret A, plus the other tax-free accounts on FBARs for years. I have yet to hear of anyone who has been contacted by the IRS for failure to report their Livret A interest - though that's one of those things you have to decide for yourself. As the saying goes, "whatever lets you sleep at night."
Cheers,
Bev