Missed FBARs and Missed US Tax Returns: Catching Up in One Package

Short answer

If you are a US citizen or green card holder living in the UK and you have fallen behind on both US tax returns and FBARs, you do not need to fix them one by one. For people whose failure was not willful, the IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures bundle everything together. You file the last three years of returns with their information forms and the last six years of FBARs, plus a signed certification explaining why you fell behind. Taxpayers who qualify and follow the instructions are not charged the usual failure-to-file, information return or FBAR penalties for those years. Whether you qualify depends on your facts, so we check that before anything is prepared.

Key points

• An FBAR is required when your non-US accounts together exceed $10,000 at any point in the year, even for one day.
• The Streamlined Foreign Offshore route covers 3 years of returns and 6 years of FBARs.
• You must have lived outside the US: in at least one of the last three years, no US home and at least 330 full days abroad.
• Your failure must be non-willful, meaning negligence, a mistake or a good-faith misunderstanding of the law.
• Form 14653 is the certification you sign. It needs a specific, honest account of what happened.
• Returns go to the IRS on paper. FBARs are filed electronically with FinCEN.
• Penalties already assessed for those years are not removed, and the procedure does not protect willful or fraudulent conduct.

Why one package is usually better

Many people discover the FBAR first, often from a UK bank's FATCA letter, and file only FBARs. Others catch up on returns but leave the FBARs. Doing half the job can make later relief harder. The Streamlined procedure is designed to bring the returns, the information forms and the FBARs back into line together, with one explanation that covers all of it.

For most Americans in the UK, the returns themselves are not where the money is. UK salaries are usually covered by the foreign earned income exclusion or by foreign tax credits for UK income tax. Where tax is due, the procedure requires you to pay it with interest. We never promise that a catch-up will cost nothing in tax. We prepare the figures accurately, and you pay what you lawfully owe.

What goes into the package

Three years of federal returns. These are the three most recent years whose due date has passed. Each one includes the forms that apply to you, such as Form 2555 for the exclusion, Form 1116 for foreign tax credits and Form 8938 for foreign assets above the reporting thresholds. Any forms for UK funds, trusts or companies are included too.

Six years of FBARs. One FinCEN Form 114 for each of the last six years, listing every non-US account you had signature authority over or a financial interest in. That includes UK current and savings accounts, ISAs, pensions where they are reportable, and joint accounts with a non-American spouse.

Form 14653. This certification is where many submissions go wrong. A vague sentence like "I didn't know" is weak. A good statement explains when you moved, what you understood about US filing, who you asked, why the accounts were opened, and when you found out about the requirement. It must be true and in your own words. We help you organise it, but we cannot write facts for you.

Who should not use this route

• People who knew about the requirement and chose not to comply. A different route exists for willful cases, and you need specialist legal advice before filing anything.
• People who do not meet the non-residency test. Those living in the US look at the Streamlined Domestic procedure, which carries a 5% miscellaneous offshore penalty.
• People with no unreported income who only missed FBARs. The Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures may be simpler.
• People who only missed information returns, such as Form 5471 or 8938, with all income already reported. The Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures may fit.

How TaxStone handles it

We start by confirming every source of income and every account for the years involved, in every country. That covers employment, self-employment, investments, rental property, pensions and benefits. Then we check eligibility, prepare the returns and FBARs, and help you assemble the certification. You review everything, sign it and submit it to the IRS yourself. FBARs are filed through FinCEN's system. TaxStone works on tax matters only and does not deal with the IRS on your behalf. If the IRS writes to you afterwards, responding is your responsibility, although we can prepare any corrections it asks for as separately quoted work.

All of this is done by email. That keeps a clear written record of what you told us and what we filed. Our fees are on the Fees page, and we quote only once we know the full picture.

Sources

• IRS, "U.S. Taxpayers Residing Outside the United States" (Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures)
• IRS, Form 14653 and instructions
• IRS, Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures
• IRS, Delinquent International Information Return Submission Procedures
• FinCEN, FBAR filing requirements and BSA E-Filing
• IRS, Form 8938 thresholds for taxpayers living abroad
• Bittner v. United States, 598 U.S. 85 (2023) (non-willful FBAR penalty applies per report)