5 Facts You Must Know About Streamlined Offshore (2024 Update)

Streamlined Disclosure Attorney for Late FBAR 2022

Streamlined Disclosure Attorney for Late FBAR

When it comes to US Persons who have foreign accounts, assets, and investments overseas — one of the most important forms they may be required to file is the annual FBAR (Foreign Bank and Financial Account Reporting form aka FinCEN Form 114). When a US Person has not properly or accurately filed the FBAR — they may become subject to fines and penalties — and unfortunately, the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Justice have made FBAR filing a key enforcement priority. Despite the fact that the US government routinely issues FBAR penalties — the IRS has also developed various FBAR amnesty programs available to assist taxpayers with safely getting into compliance. One of the most common programs is this streamlined filing compliance procedure aka “Streamlined Domestic” (US residents) and “Streamlined Foreign” (foreign residents). The programs can be a bit daunting and the information online is oftentimes misconstrued by inexperienced attorneys pretending to be experts. Here are five important facts about making an FBAR Streamlined Disclosure.

Original Publishing Date, 5/2021.

Not Just FBAR

One common misconception about the streamlined program is that it is only for filing late FBAR — but that is incorrect. There are many different international information reporting forms that can be submitted through the streamlined disclosure program, including:

• • • Form 3520-A

    • Form 8938

    • Form 5471

    • Form 8865

Missed some US Income

If a Taxpayer missed both foreign income along with US income as well, then they can resolve their domestic income noncompliance as well when they amend their tax returns. In fact, if the Taxpayer knows that they also missed some domestic income along with the foreign income then when the applications amends the return, they have to include all the unreported income.

Domestic vs Foreign Streamlined Disclosure Attorney

There are two versions of the program that our Streamlined Disclosure Attorney team handles: Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures (SDOP) and Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (SFOP). Both programs require the taxpayer to be non-willful and both versions of the program refer primarily to foreign accounts. The distinction between domestic and foreign in terms of the offshore streamlined program refers to the residence of the Taxpayer.

Impact on Immigration Status?

Making a streamlined disclosure for FBAR and other internal information related matters is not a criminal submission — and usually will not have any impact whatsoever on a person’s immigration status.

Flat-Fee vs Hourly Streamlined Disclosure Attorney

Be aware of hourly streamlined domestic and streamlined foreign offshore attorneys. Nearly all — if not all — Board-Certified Tax Law Specialists handle these matters flat-fee, full-service to include both tax and legal representation. Click here to learn the pitfalls of hiring an hourly streamlined lawyer for your offshore disclosure.

Late Filing Penalties May be Reduced or Avoided

For Taxpayers who did not timely file their FBAR and other international information-related reporting forms, the IRS has developed many different offshore amnesty programs to assist taxpayers with safely getting into compliance. These programs may reduce or even eliminate international reporting penalties.

Current Year vs Prior Year Non-Compliance

Once a taxpayer missed the tax and reporting (such as FBAR and FATCA) requirements for prior years, they will want to be careful before submitting their information to the IRS in the current year. That is because they may risk making a quiet disclosure if they just begin filing forward in the current year and/or mass filing previous year forms without doing so under one of the approved IRS offshore submission procedures. Before filing prior untimely foreign reporting forms, taxpayers should consider speaking with a Board-Certified Tax Law Specialist who specializes exclusively in these types of offshore disclosure matters.

Avoid False Offshore Disclosure Submissions (Willful vs Non-Willful)

In recent years, the IRS has increased the level of scrutiny for certain streamlined procedure submissions. When a person is non-willful, they have an excellent chance of making a successful submission to Streamlined Procedures. If they are willful, they would submit to the IRS Voluntary Disclosure Program instead. But, if a willful Taxpayer submits an intentionally false narrative under the Streamlined Procedures (and gets caught), they may become subject to significant fines and penalties. 

Need Help Finding an Experienced Offshore Tax Attorney?

When it comes to hiring an experienced international tax attorney to represent you for unreported foreign and offshore account reporting, it can become overwhelming for taxpayers trying to trek through all the false information and nonsense they will find in their online research. There are only a handful of attorneys worldwide who are Board-Certified Tax Specialists and who specialize exclusively in offshore disclosure and international tax amnesty reporting. 

Golding & Golding: About Our International Tax Law Firm

Golding & Golding specializes exclusively in international tax, specifically IRS offshore disclosure. 

Contact our firm today for assistance.