US Citizens living and working abroad may be unaware of their filing obligations or find that they required additional forms with their original filed tax returns of which they were unaware when the return was initially filed.
For delinquent US taxpayers, there are several voluntary programs that are administered by the IRS to assist with becoming compliant generally without the fear of failure to file or accuracy related penalties or, if penalties apply, reduced penalties under one of the below IRS programs. The below programs are only available to US tax filers who are not currently under examination and who did not willfully fail to file these forms.
We have summarized the common programs on which we consult and assist and have identified common uses of each.
Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures – OVERSEAS Taxpayers – typically apply to US taxpayers who have not resided in the US recently and who are delinquent on some or all of their US tax and reporting obligations such as tax returns including foreign income and asset reporting, foreign bank account reporting or foreign corporation or foreign trust account reporting.
Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures – DOMESTIC Taxpayers – typically apply to US Residents who reside in the US recently and who are delinquent on some of their US tax and reporting obligations such as including foreign income and asset reporting in the tax return, foreign bank account reporting or foreign corporation or foreign trust account reporting.
Delinquent Foreign Bank Reporting – US Citizens or Residents who do not require the use of one of the above programs as they have properly reported income and paid tax on all income from foreign assets BUT have failed to file a timely FinCen Form 114 – Foreign Bank Account reporting form annually.
Delinquent International Information Returns – US Citizens or Residents who do not require the use of one of the above Streamlined programs to report income and pay tax BUT have failed to timely file an information form disclosing foreign interests including but not limited to:
NOTE: This program was discontinued in November, 2020 and replaced by normal “Reasonable Cause” procedures.
- Form 5471, Information Return of US Persons with Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations (for Americans with an ownership interest in private non-US corporations).
- Form 3520-A and Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Foreign Gifts (for US owners or beneficiaries of Foreign Trusts).
- Form 8938, Specified Foreign Financial Assets.
We can help you identify and rectify any delinquent US tax reporting you may have, contact us to find out how.