Filing Under Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures
The IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures may be available to you as an avenue to regularise your US tax position.
Specific eligibility criteria must be satisfied for the program's acceptance of tax returns.
Generally, three years of late tax returns and related forms are submitted to the IRS and six years of FBARs.
Individuals must certify, following specific instructions, that the failure to report all income, pay all taxes and submit all required information returns, including FBARs, was due to non-willful conduct. Non-willful conduct is conduct that is due to negligence, inadvertence, or mistake or conduct resulting from a good faith misunderstanding of the requirements of the law.
Any individual eligible to use these Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures and comply with all of the instructions will not be subject to failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties, accuracy-related penalties, information return penalties, or FBAR penalties.
To submit tax returns via the IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, the taxpayer must include Form 14653 Certification by US Person Residing Outside of the US with their tax returns. This form requires that a statement provides specific reasons for the failure to report all income, pay all taxes, and submit all required information returns, including FBARs, on time.
We regularly assist clients who either have not filed any tax returns or have been filing them, but they were incorrect. Contact us if you would like more information.