Eligibility criteria for the streamlined Foreign Offshore procedures
The streamlined filing compliance procedures are designed only for individual taxpayers, including estates of individual taxpayers. While the streamlined procedures are available to both U.S. individual taxpayers residing outside the United States and U.S. individual taxpayers residing in the United State, we will focus on the specific eligibility requirements for the streamlined procedures for non-U.S. residents (the "Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures").
1. Taxpayers must certify that conduct was not willful
Taxpayers will be required to certify that the failure to report all income, pay all tax, and submit all required information returns, including FBARs, was due to non-willful conduct. Non-willful conduct is conduct that is due to negligence, inadvertence, or mistake or conduct that is the result of a good faith misunderstanding of the requirements of the law.
2. IRS has not initiated a civil examination of taxpayer's returns for any taxable year.
All returns submitted under the streamlined procedures must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN). If you are eligible for an SSN but do not have one, you should apply for SSN by filing Form SS-5 to the Social Security Administration (not the IRS!).
Taxpayers that make submissions to the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures without valid SSNs are not eligible for the favorable penalty provisions of the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures. The IRS will process such returns subject to penalties applicable outside of the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures.
3. Taxpayers need a valid Taxpayer Identification Number.
All returns submitted under the streamlined procedures must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN). If you are eligible for an SSN but do not have one, you should apply for SSN by filing Form SS-5 to the Social Security Administration (not the IRS!).
Taxpayers that make submissions to the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures without valid SSNs are not eligible for the favorable penalty provisions of the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures. The IRS will process such returns subject to penalties applicable outside of the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures.
4. Meet the applicable non-residency requirement
Individual U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents (i.e., “green card holders”) meet the applicable non-residency requirement if, in any one or more of the most recent three years for which the U.S. tax return due date (or properly applied for extended due date) has passed, the individual did not have a U.S. abode and the individual was physically outside the United States for at least 330 full days. Neither temporary presence of the individual in the United States nor maintenance of a dwelling in the United States by an individual necessarily means that the individual’s abode is in the United States.
For joint return filers, both spouses must meet the applicable non-residency requirement described above.