Declaring a foreign brokerage account in the EU: country rules

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This guide is not tax advice. It collects what tax authorities and central banks in six EU countries publish about accounts their residents hold abroad, for example with a broker based in another country. Each section says only what the official page says; the pages and the dates we read them are under “Sources and references”. Rules change, so check the current page or ask a tax adviser before you file. We give no tax rates.

Each rule applies to residents of the country concerned. Declaring that an account exists is not the same as declaring its income: Portugal’s tax authority, for one, says that identifying the accounts has no effect on the tax assessed, while residents must declare all their income, including income from abroad.

France

According to impots.gouv.fr, individuals domiciled in France — account holders, joint holders and beneficial owners — must declare every bank account, life-insurance or capitalisation contract and digital-asset account opened, held, used or closed abroad during the year. The page names accounts with investment service providers and with other institutions that usually hold securities or cash on deposit.

• How: at the same time as the annual income tax return, on the single form 3916 / 3916-bis.
• Penalties named on the page: a fine of 1,500 euros per undeclared account, raised to 10,000 euros when the account is in a state or territory that has no agreement with France to fight tax fraud. The page lists other sanctions as well.

Belgium

The National Bank of Belgium says that all Belgian residents must declare their foreign accounts directly to its Central Point of Contact for accounts and financial contracts (CPC).

• When: before, or at the latest when, you file the personal income tax return for that year. Later changes must be reported too.
• Once, and every year: the declaration to the CPC is made only once, but the existence of a foreign account must be mentioned in the tax return every year.
• What: your identification and, for each account, the account number (IBAN if there is one), the name of the institution, its BIC or full address, the country and the year the account was opened.
• Securities accounts too: the bank’s own example is a securities account opened at the Paris branch of a German broker; you give the address of the broker’s head office. A person who is only an attorney (proxy) on an account does not declare it.

Ireland

Revenue’s Tax and Duty Manual on foreign accounts (updated February 2026) says that an Irish resident who opens an account outside the State — an account in which a deposit is held outside Ireland — and is beneficially entitled to the money in it is a “chargeable person” for that year. They must file a tax return and give Revenue the name and address of the financial institution, the date the account was opened and the amount of the deposit made to open it.

• Exception: this does not apply to an individual whose new account will be reported to Revenue automatically under FATCA or the EU and OECD exchange of information (DAC2/CRS), as long as that year they are not already a chargeable person and are not accountable for stamp duty or for gift or inheritance tax. It still applies to an account opened in a country on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions.
• Check the definition: the manual speaks of an account in which a deposit is held; if you are unsure whether your brokerage account counts, ask Revenue.

Portugal

The tax portal (Portal das Finanças) says that residents of Portugal must declare all their income, earned in Portugal or abroad, in the IRS return (Modelo 3), using Annex J for income from abroad. Table 11 of Annex J identifies every deposit or securities account — even one that produced no income — that you hold, benefit from or are authorised to operate at a financial institution not resident in Portugal, or at a foreign branch of a Portuguese one.

• Filing period: from 1 April to 30 June of the year after the income.
• Identification only: a circular of the tax authority dated 18 April 2019 says that this is a mere identification of the accounts, with no effect on the tax assessed, and that accounts of another kind, such as payment accounts, are not covered.

Netherlands

The Belastingdienst says that if you have assets in the Netherlands and/or abroad, you declare their value as assets in box 3 (savings and investments) of your income tax return; bank balances and shares are on its list. For bank balances and shares outside the Netherlands you give the total value on 1 January of the tax year, converted into euros if they are in another currency. It adds that, under the Common Reporting Standard, financial institutions such as banks give it financial data about their clients. On the pages we read we found no separate declaration of the account itself.

Germany: payments, not accounts

On the official pages we read, we found no German rule asking residents to declare a foreign account as such. The Deutsche Bundesbank describes a different duty: since 1 January 2025, people who live in Germany must report payments of more than 50,000 euros (or the equivalent in another currency) between a resident and a non-resident, incoming or outgoing.

• Own accounts: transfers between your own accounts are not reportable.
• When and how: the report is due in the month in which the payment was made or received. Private individuals without a reporting number who make such payments only rarely can report by e-mail or by phone.
• Securities: for securities reports the Bundesbank asks for further details from your contract note.

Whether a particular payment must be reported is a question for the Bundesbank.

Spain, Italy and other countries

• Spain: the Agencia Tributaria’s page on declaring assets held abroad did not load when we tried it twice on 28 October 2026, so this guide says nothing about Spanish rules.
• Italy: the Agenzia delle Entrate’s website refused our automated access, so Italian rules are not covered either.
• Elsewhere: other countries are not covered yet. Look for “foreign accounts” or “assets abroad” on your own tax authority’s website.

What to keep for each foreign account

The details these authorities ask for overlap. For each account, note the account number (IBAN if there is one), the institution’s name, head-office address and BIC, the country, the dates you opened and closed it, the first deposit and the value on 1 January. Keep your broker’s yearly statements too: the income is declared separately from the account. If you are not sure what applies to you, ask your tax authority or a tax adviser before the deadline.