The Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures have ended

What changed

For years there was a quiet, sensible route for someone who had filed their tax returns but missed the FBAR: the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures. You filed the late reports, attached a short explanation, and — provided you were not under examination and had reported the income — no penalty followed. Around 1 July 2026 the IRS withdrew it.

Nothing about the underlying obligation changed. What changed is the doorway. Late FBARs now arrive either inside a Streamlined submission or on their own with a reasonable-cause statement, and those two routes carry different requirements and different risks.

Where late FBARs go now

Inside a Streamlined submission. If tax returns are also missing or wrong, this is usually the answer: three years of returns, six years of FBARs, and Form 14653 certifying that the failure was non-willful. The failure-to-file, failure-to-pay and FBAR penalties are all waived, and if your income sat under the exclusion the tax due is frequently nothing.

On their own, with a reasonable-cause statement. If your returns are complete and correct and only the FBARs are missing, filing them with a statement setting out why is the narrower route. It is not a procedure with published protection — it is an argument, and how well it is written matters.

The distinction people miss is that the second route is weaker than what it replaced. The old procedure gave a stated outcome; a reasonable-cause statement invites a judgement. That is the practical cost of the change.

What did not change

What to do if you are behind

Work out first whether your returns are complete. If they are not, the question is Streamlined and not FBARs alone. If they are, the question is whether your reason for missing the reports is one you can state plainly — not knowing a provident fund counted as an account is a reason; deciding not to look is not.

Then check the day-count. The Foreign Offshore route needs one of the three years with no US abode and at least 330 full days outside the United States. Without it, the Domestic procedure applies instead, and that one carries a 5% penalty on the highest aggregate value of the undisclosed assets.

Filing voluntarily is what keeps either route open. Once the IRS writes to you about the years in question, the disclosure is no longer voluntary and the conversation changes.

IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures; Forms 14653 and 14654; 31 CFR 1010.350 and 1010.821; OMB Memorandum M-26-11; FinCEN BSA E-Filing System. Every figure above is stated for the year given. Checked 28 August 2026.