Does IRS Deny or Reject Streamlined Submissions
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Does IRS Reject Streamlined FBAR Submissions
The Streamlined FBAR Procedures were developed by the Internal Revenue Service to help facilitate US Taxpayers with safely getting into compliance for unreported foreign accounts, assets, investments, and income. At Golding & Golding, our Board-Certified Tax Law Specialist team has successfully submitted and completed thousands of streamlined submissions in the 8+years the stand-alone procedures have been active. While there is a possibility of a Streamlined Procedure submission being denied, there is a very low probability that it will happen. Most Streamlined Offshore Procedures handled by experienced counsel will go through without much issue – and even if the Taxpayer is audited, it still resolves favorably. Of course, less-experienced fear-mongers will have you believe you are at risk for prison — which has only happened in a handful of cases out of the hundreds of thousands of submissions — and only specifically when the person outright lied on their streamlined application about being non-willful. Here are three important tips for the best chance of a successful streamlined submission:
The Streamlined FBAR Certification
The most important aspect of making a submission under the streamlined procedures to the IRS is that your certification statement is honest and clear. If your tax representative recommends you submit a 20+ page diatribe about all the wonderful aspects of being a US citizen — then you have now veered off the beaten track and have presumably lost clarity in your submission. The IRS likes submissions in a tight and neatly wrapped package that clearly shows you are non-willful.
All FBAR & FATCA Accounts/Assets
In order to make a submission under the streamline procedures, taxpayers must make a full submission. For example, if one of the Foreign Financial Institutions that you have undisclosed overseas accounts with has absolutely guaranteed you that they will not comply with any request to provide your information to IRS, that fact should have no impact on your submission. In other words, you must still disclose all the unreported accounts — despite whether or not there is a high likelihood that the foreign bank or other financial institution will report you.
Willfulness Gets you Disqualified
If you are willful, then you do not qualify for the streamlined procedures — it is that simple. The difficult part about it is determining whether a person qualifies under reckless disregard or willful blindness lower threshold of willfulness. There have been a few cases (that we have written about previously) in which people who submitted to the streamline procedures were criminally indicted, but these are people who absolutely lied, and knowingly submitted to the Streamline Procedures despite knowing they were willful.
Golding & Golding: About Our International Tax Law Firm
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