Tool · updated 28 August 2026

Streamlined decision tree: which route back into compliance is yours.

Four questions decide it: whether the failure was non-willful, whether the IRS has contacted you, whether you meet the non-residency test, and whether any tax is owed. Answer them in order and stop at the first route that fits.

Did you know you had to file, and choose not to?

This is the question the whole procedure turns on. Most people abroad simply did not know, or believed a foreign employer handled it — that is non-willful, and it is the ordinary case.

This tool narrows the route; it does not decide your case. Nothing you select here is sent anywhere. Sources: IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures; Forms 14653 and 14654; 31 CFR 1010.821. The IRS terminated the separate Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures around 1 July 2026. Checked 28 August 2026.

Where each answer lands

Scroll the table sideways

Route and penalty outcome for each situation
Your situation	Route	Penalty
Non-willful, abroad, meets the 330-day test	Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures	Waived
Non-willful, but resident in the United States	Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures	5% miscellaneous offshore penalty
Returns filed, FBARs missing only	Reasonable-cause statement with the late FBARs	Waived where cause is accepted
Willful, or already contacted by the IRS	Counsel — not this practice	Determined case by case

The IRS terminated the Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures around 1 July 2026, which is why late FBARs alone now travel with a reasonable-cause statement. Sources: IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures; Form 14653 instructions; 31 CFR 1010.821. Checked 28 August 2026.

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About the author

Jorge I. Rivas, EA

An IRS Enrolled Agent working only on US tax for Americans living abroad. I prepare and sign every return myself — 17 years in practice, 12 of them as an Enrolled Agent.

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