The streamlined filing procedures for people who never filed or stopped filing: who qualifies, the foreign and domestic tracks, the non-willfulness statement, Canadian accounts, and how streamlined compares with voluntary disclosure.
30 guides, each written by a CPA licensed in the US and Canada.
Filing US returns quietly going forward skips Streamlined's penalty protection. The trade-off between a quiet disclosure and the formal program.
Cross-BorderIf you are a US person with Canadian filing obligations (or a Canadian resident with US filing obligations) and you are behind on both sides.
Cross-BorderThe CRA Voluntary Disclosure Program (VDP) allows taxpayers who have unreported income, unfiled returns, or incorrect information on prior returns to come.
Cross-BorderThe IRS no longer lists its Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures. If your income was reported, you still file late FBARs with a reasonable-cause reason; if not, it's Streamlined.
Cross-BorderIf your income tax returns were filed on time and the only thing missing is a form, one for your Canadian corporation, your TFSA.
Cross-BorderUS brokerage accounts, US bank accounts and US shares all count toward that line under ITA 233.3. US retirement accounts are the unsettled cell.
Cross-BorderFBAR penalties run up to $16,536 per report non-willful and the greater of $165,353 or 50% per account willful. How the IRS sets the amount, and which route fits your facts.
Cross-BorderForm 14653 is the signed certification for Streamlined Foreign Offshore. Every section of the March 2025 form: the tax table, statements, residency, narrative and signatures.
Cross-BorderA streamlined catch-up is already a reconstruction project: three years of returns, six years of FBARs, one non-willfulness statement.
Cross-BorderThe non-willfulness certification, Form 14653 if you live outside the United States, Form 14654 if you live inside it. Covers key rules, filing.
Cross-BorderRetirees collecting CPP, OAS, RRIF, or private pensions in Canada can catch up through SFOP with zero penalty. Covers treaty provisions, foreign tax.
Cross-BorderUsually yes, but the green card raises a second question streamlined alone doesn't answer: are you still a US tax resident, and do you want.
Cross-BorderThe IRS does not want fifteen years of back returns. It wants three years of income tax returns and six years of FBARs, filed through the right program.
Cross-BorderThe Streamlined Domestic Offshore penalty is 5% of the highest December 31 total of your unreported foreign assets across the covered years, charged only once.
Cross-BorderYes, you're required to file. And no, finding out late doesn't put you in the category the forum threads are describing.
Cross-BorderYour bank asked for a US place of birth or a US parent on a form you filled out without thinking twice, and now it wants a Social Security number you.
Cross-BorderProbably yes. Unreported employment income fails the delinquent FBAR gate, and the IRS pulled that route in mid-2026. Recent movers may use foreign Streamlined.
Cross-BorderSDOP and SFOP are one streamlined program with two tracks. Miss the non-residency call and a $500,000 balance costs $25,000 instead of zero.
Cross-BorderYou filed the streamlined package. Three years of federal returns, six years of FBARs, the certification, maybe the 5% penalty check.
Cross-BorderThe IRS streamlined procedures let non-willful filers catch up with 3 years of returns and 6 years of FBARs: no penalty if you live abroad, 5% if you live in the US.
Cross-BorderIf your bank in London, Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Singapore, or Sydney sent you a letter asking for a US tax identification number you don't.
Cross-BorderA snowbird who crossed the substantial presence threshold may owe no US tax but face steep FBAR and Form 8938 penalties. Streamlined filing closes the gap.
Cross-BorderMost IRS streamlined guidance reads as if you're a single filer. You have unreported accounts, you file the package, and you're done.
Cross-BorderSelf-employment makes streamlined filing harder and costlier: Schedule C, SE tax in arrears, estimated tax penalties that survive, Form 5471, QBI.
Cross-BorderCanadian mutual funds are PFICs, RRSP and TFSA holdings included, and each needs its own Form 8621 every covered year. Covers treaty provisions, foreign.
Cross-BorderThe IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures are the most commonly recommended path for US persons who are behind on their offshore reporting.
Cross-BorderAfter you submit streamlined returns and FBARs, here's what the IRS actually does with them, the real audit risk, and what you owe going forward.
Cross-BorderAn RRSP gets treaty deferral and no Form 3520. A TFSA gets neither, and the IRS hasn't ruled on whether it's a foreign trust. How each account goes into a streamlined filing.
Cross-BorderThe Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (SFOP) is the IRS's catch-up program for US citizens and green card holders who actually live outside.
Cross-BorderStreamlined filing isn't a rubber stamp. The IRS rejects incomplete packages, wrong track selections, and weak non-willfulness certifications.