Reporting Solium Shareworks on FBAR for employee stock purchase program?

Thanks for this info. I'm in a similar situation but with Computershare which has offices in different countries. How do I determine exactly WHERE my account is "physically held"? Is it just based on the address they use for correspondence or is there something more official I should be looking for?

The physical location of your account is typically determined by where the financial institution maintains your account, not just their correspondence address. Look at your account statements or online portal for location indicators. You can also contact Computershare directly and ask them to confirm where your specific account is maintained. For FBAR purposes, what matters is where the account is actually maintained, not the location of the parent company's headquarters. If Computershare maintains your account at a non-US location, it would be considered a foreign account regardless of who owns the company.

How does taxr.ai work with unusual accounts like these? My company uses a different ESPP program based in Singapore and I'm confused if I need to report it. Does it just analyze docs or provide actual advice?

That sounds useful but I'm skeptical about uploading financial docs to some random site. How secure is it and what's stopping them from stealing my info? I've been burned before...

The service analyzes your documents and identifies which accounts qualify as foreign accounts for FBAR purposes, including unusual ones like ESPPs or overseas investment platforms. It's not just doc analysis - it provides specific guidance based on your situation. Regarding security, I had the same concerns initially. They use bank-level encryption and don't store your financial documents after processing. You can also redact account numbers before uploading if you're concerned. I was hesitant at first but their privacy policy was reassuring, and they're compliant with financial data protection standards.

How exactly does this work? Does it just call the IRS for you or what? Seems weird that you could pay someone else to wait on hold when calling a government agency.

This sounds like complete BS. Nobody can get you through to the IRS faster - they have one phone system and everyone waits. Probably just took your money and you got lucky with a short wait time by coincidence.

It doesn't just call for you - they use a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold, then calls you once they've reached an agent who's ready to talk. You don't waste your time on hold, but you're the one who speaks directly with the IRS agent when connected. I was skeptical too, but the alternative was waiting on hold for hours or trying day after day to get through. The IRS actually uses a "queuing system" that can only hold so many callers at once, which is why you often get disconnected. This service basically waits in that queue for you and calls when you've reached the front of the line. I can't speak to anyone else's experience, but it worked exactly as advertised for me.

Does anyone know if there's a way to transfer Solium shares to a US-based account to avoid all this foreign reporting hassle? It seems ridiculous that we have to deal with this just because our employers chose a Canadian system.

Some companies allow transfers to personal brokerage accounts after a certain holding period, but it depends entirely on your employer's plan rules. Check your ESPP documentation or ask your benefits department. Even if you transfer the shares later, you'll still need to file FBAR for any year where the account value exceeded $10,000 before the transfer. There's no retroactive fix for FBAR requirements - if you met the threshold at any point during the year, the filing requirement is triggered for that tax year regardless of subsequent transfers.

The FBAR deadline is actually April 15, but there's an automatic extension to October 15 every year - you don't need to request it. But don't wait until the last minute because the filing system can get overloaded.

This is really helpful information about the penalties - I had no idea they were so severe! I'm new to dealing with foreign account reporting and honestly pretty overwhelmed by all of this. Quick question about tracking the maximum balance - do I need to check my Solium account daily or is monthly enough? My stock value fluctuates quite a bit with the market, and I'm worried I might miss the peak if I only check monthly. Also, if my account briefly goes over $10k but drops back down, do I still need to file the FBAR for that year? Thanks for mentioning the Streamlined Filing procedures too - that's reassuring to know there are options if people discover they missed filing in previous years.

You don't need to check daily - monthly is generally sufficient for FBAR purposes. The IRS understands that account values fluctuate, so they're not expecting you to track every single day. Just make sure you have a reasonable method to capture the approximate maximum value during the year. And yes, if your account goes over $10,000 even briefly during the year, you still need to file FBAR for that entire tax year. The threshold is based on whether you exceeded $10k at ANY point during the year, not whether you stayed above it consistently. One tip: many people set calendar reminders to check their account balance quarterly or monthly, especially during periods when stock prices are volatile. You can also usually download historical statements from your Solium portal that show month-end balances, which makes it easier to determine your peak value when it's time to file. The key is having a reasonable basis for the maximum value you report - the IRS isn't going to penalize you for minor estimation differences as long as you're making a good faith effort to be accurate.

This is such valuable insight, especially about keeping documentation of the Canadian address on the 1099s! I never thought about needing to prove the foreign location later if audited. The point about combining spouse accounts is really important too - I almost made that mistake. My husband has an old account from his previous job that's been dormant but still has about $3,000 in it from a foreign bank. Combined with my Solium account at around $8,500, we'd definitely be over the $10k threshold. Quick question about the RSU vs ESPP distinction - are they typically held in separate accounts within Solium, or is it all just one big account balance that I should be tracking? I participate in both programs but honestly haven't paid close attention to how they're structured on the backend.

In my experience with Solium, RSUs and ESPP shares are typically held within the same overall account system, but they may show up as separate "holdings" or "lots" in your account dashboard. For FBAR purposes, what matters is the total aggregate value across all holdings within that Canadian-based account. When I log into my Solium portal, I can see both my ESPP purchases and vested RSUs listed separately, but they're all part of the same account maintained in Canada. So I add up the total value of everything - ESPP shares, RSUs, any dividend reinvestments, etc. - to get my maximum account balance for the year. One thing to watch out for: if your company uses different administrators for different equity programs (like Solium for ESPP but something else for RSUs), those would be separate accounts for FBAR purposes. But if it's all through Solium Shareworks, it's generally considered one foreign account even if the holdings are categorized differently within the platform. The good news about your situation with your husband's dormant account is that you're being proactive about this. Many people don't realize they need to aggregate ALL foreign accounts across both spouses when filing jointly.