I am a U.S. citizen and reside in Canada. I have filed U.S. returns annually, however I may have omitted some income or computed income incorrectly and omitted one or more international information returns. Can I rectify the issues with the streamlined program?

Answer

The Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedure (“SFOP”) is extended to amended returns for the 3 year period. The amended return feature is important as filing omissions such as the failure to include items in income or file various international information returns can come now under SFOP without having to demonstrate a reasonable cause defense. The 2012 program did not have the amended return(s) feature. It is also extended to those who previously filed as a “quiet disclosure” outside of any program.

Only FBARs/international information returns

There is a specific procedure for the need for solely filing delinquent FBARS or other international information returns without the SFOP. For FBARs, there must be no change in tax payable previously reported. For the international information returns, it appears one is not precluded from using this filing procedure if there may be additional tax payable, however this procedure requires a reasonable cause defense for the international information return. If the latter is not accepted, penalties will apply.