Get your BSA E-Filing acknowledgements through an API

What you can build on BSA E-Filing

• Get a batch acknowledgement

  Build this

  Reads the acknowledgement for one batch submission: the BSA ID given to each report in the batch and every error listed against it.

  Takes

  Submission (file name or date submitted)

  Returns

  File name, form type, status, and for each report its sequence number, BSA ID and errors (element, level, text, code)

• Check the status of recent submissions

  Build this

  Reads the status of the batch submissions your organization sent in a date range, including those sent by SDTM, which are tracked on the site.

  Takes

  Date from, date to, form type (optional)

  Returns

  File name, form type, date submitted, status

• List users and their privileges

  Build this

  Reads Manage Users as a Supervisory User: who in your organization can use BSA E-Filing and with which privileges.

  Takes

  Nothing

  Returns

  User name, user ID, privileges

• Submit a CTR batch file

  Build this

  Uploads a FinCEN CTR XML batch file you prepared for your organization and reads back the submission it creates.

  Takes

  XML batch file, form type

  Returns

  File name, form type, date submitted, status

Automate BSA E-Filing with a workflow

A workflow runs your methods as one process, with nobody at the screen. A schedule or a call from your own system starts it, the steps run in order, and the result arrives in your inbox or in the systems you already use.

• Yesterday's batches with warnings or a rejection

  Build this

  Starts

  Every weekday at 8:00

  Step 1

  Check the status of the submissions sent since yesterday.

  Step 2

  Keep the ones not accepted, or accepted with warnings.

  Step 3

  For each one kept, get the batch acknowledgement and its error lines.

  Step 4

  Email you the list, one section per submission.

• BSA IDs back into your case system

  Build this

  Starts

  When your system calls the workflow's webhook with a submission's file name

  Step 1

  Get the batch acknowledgement for that submission.

  Step 2

  Keep each report's sequence number, BSA ID and any error level and text.

  Step 3

  Post them to your case management system's webhook.

• Changes to your E-Filing users, every week

  Build this

  Starts

  Every Monday at 9:00

  Step 1

  List the users and their privileges in Manage Users.

  Step 2

  Keep the users added, removed or changed since the last run.

  Step 3

  Email you the changes, or stop when there are none.

You can run a workflow by hand on every plan, Free included. Schedules and webhook triggers come with the paid plans, from $29 a month.

Once built, one call from your code

Once you have built a method, it is one POST to /v1/runs from your backend, or a tool an AI agent calls over MCP. This is what “Get a batch acknowledgement” would look like.

curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "method": "bsaefiling.fincen.gov/get_batch_acknowledgement",
    "input": {
      "submission": "northwind-ctr-20261111.xml"
    }
  }'

{
  "status": "completed",
  "data": {
    "file_name": "northwind-ctr-20261111.xml",
    "form_type": "FinCEN CTR",
    "status": "Accepted with warnings",
    "reports": [
      {
        "seq_num": 1,
        "bsa_id": "31000004821907",
        "errors": []
      }
    ]
  }
}

An example with invented data, not a ready-made endpoint. The method exists in your organization once you build it, and its name, inputs and fields follow your request.

BSA E-Filing’s own options

FinCEN offers BSA E-Filing free of charge. You file one report at a time on the site's discrete forms, upload XML batch files built to FinCEN's schemas, or send batches system to system by Secure Data Transfer Mode. There is no web API: the site is where you track each submission's status and acknowledgement.

Read on November 12, 2026: FinCEN SAR XML Schema User Guide, FinCEN CTR XML Schema User Guide, FinCEN mandatory E-Filing FAQs.

Signing in to BSA E-Filing

Each filing organization enrolls a Supervisory User, who invites the other users and assigns their privileges in Manage Users. With Fous you sign in once through BSA E-Filing's own sign-in with your own account: the login is sealed with AES-256 and never seen by code or AI agents, and an expired session is signed back in.

Worth knowing

Primary warnings mean a corrected report

Schema errors reject the whole batch. SARs with primary warnings are accepted but must be filed again as corrected reports; SARs with only secondary warnings need no correction.

Keep the BSA ID from every acknowledgement

BSA IDs are given out in acknowledgement records. A correction or amendment must carry the prior report's 14-digit BSA ID, or 14 zeros when it is unknown.

Size limits for batches and attachments

A FinCEN CTR batch file must not exceed 60MB, which FinCEN puts at about 5,000 CTRs. A SAR can carry one CSV attachment of at most 1 megabyte.

SDTM still uses the website

With SDTM nothing is uploaded on the site, but the site is where you track your submissions. A Supervisory User finds the organization's SDTM user ID under Manage Users.

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