Is There an IRS Amnesty Program for Expats? The Real Options in 2026

There is no IRS amnesty program for expats by that name. What exists in 2026 is a set of four routes: the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, ordinary late filing, the Voluntary Disclosure Practice, and relief for certain former citizens. For most Americans abroad the Streamlined route works like an amnesty: three returns, six FBARs and no penalties. The word matters less than the terms. Each route has its own entry test, and choosing the wrong one can cost more than the original mistake.

Is there an IRS amnesty program for expats?

No program carries that name, but one does the job. The IRS lists its options for US taxpayers with undisclosed foreign financial assets on a single page, last reviewed on June 30, 2026. It names three: the Criminal Investigation Voluntary Disclosure Practice, the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, and the delinquent international information return submission procedures.

When an American in the UK searches for an amnesty, the answer they are looking for is nearly always the second of those, in its version for people living outside the United States. It is the only route that waives penalties in writing.

The table sets the real options side by side.

Route	For whom	What you file	Penalties
Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures	Americans abroad, non-willful	3 returns, 6 FBARs, Form 14653	None; tax and interest only
Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures	US residents, non-willful, who filed returns but left out foreign items	3 amended returns, 6 FBARs, Form 14654	5% of the highest aggregate year-end balance of the foreign assets
Ordinary late returns and late information returns	Anyone not under examination	Normally six years of returns; missing forms with a reasonable cause statement	Ordinary penalties may be assessed
Late FBARs on their own	People who reported the income but missed FinCEN Form 114	The missed FBARs with an explanation	Depends on facts and circumstances since July 2026
Voluntary Disclosure Practice	Willful non-compliance	Form 14457, then the returns and reports the IRS requires	Penalties apply; the benefit is protection from prosecution
Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens	People who have already given up citizenship	Year of expatriation plus the 5 years before	None, and no tax, if the limits are met

What happened to the original offshore amnesty?

It closed. The Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program was the program newspapers called an amnesty: fixed penalty terms in exchange for coming forward. The IRS ended it on September 28, 2018. In news release IR-2018-52 it said more than 56,000 taxpayers had used its offshore programs and paid $11.1 billion in back taxes, interest and penalties.

The same release said the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures would remain in place for eligible taxpayers, and added that the IRS could end them at some point too. Eight years on they are still open, with no end date announced. That history is the best reason not to treat any of these routes as permanent.

The Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures: the closest thing to an amnesty

The Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures are the route most Americans in the UK use. The IRS page setting out the terms was last reviewed on July 11, 2026, and the terms are these.

Who qualifies

• You live abroad. In at least one of the most recent three years you had no US abode and were physically outside the United States for at least 330 full days.
• Your failure was non-willful. The IRS defines that as conduct due to negligence, inadvertence or mistake, or a good faith misunderstanding of the law.
• You are not under examination. A civil examination of any year, or a criminal investigation, closes the route.
• You have a valid taxpayer identification number, which for a citizen means a Social Security number.

What you send

1. Delinquent or amended returns, with all required information returns, for the most recent 3 years whose due date has passed.
2. FBARs for the most recent 6 years whose due date has passed, filed electronically through FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System.
3. Form 14653, the certification that you meet the residence test and that the failure was non-willful, signed under penalty of perjury.
4. Payment of the tax and statutory interest shown on the three returns.

The returns go on paper to the IRS address in Austin given on its page, with "Streamlined Foreign Offshore" written in red at the top of the first page of each.

What you get

The IRS says a taxpayer who complies with the terms will not be subject to failure-to-file and failure-to-pay penalties, accuracy-related penalties, information return penalties or FBAR penalties. The protection falls away if a later examination finds the original non-compliance was fraudulent or the FBAR violation willful. For the mechanics, see our Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures guide, and for the statement itself, our guide to the non-willful certification.

What changed in 2026?

Two things, and neither was announced with a press release.

The Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures page was removed

Until the summer of 2026 the IRS published a short page for people who had reported all their income but missed the FBAR. It said the IRS would not impose a penalty in that situation. That page was taken down in July 2026 and its address now returns a not-found error.

The IRS FBAR page, last reviewed on July 30, 2026, now says that filing an FBAR late or not at all is a violation and may subject you to penalties, that the assertion of penalties depends on facts and circumstances, and that if the IRS has not contacted you and you are not under investigation you should file late FBARs as soon as possible to keep potential penalties to a minimum. You still explain the reason for filing late on the form.

The practical effect: a late FBAR on its own no longer comes with a published promise. The FBAR rules did not change, and prompt, explained filing is still the right step, but the written penalty waiver now sits only inside the Streamlined procedures. For anyone who also has unreported income, that tips the balance further toward Streamlined. Our article on the delinquent FBAR submission procedures describes how that route worked.

The Voluntary Disclosure Practice is being rewritten

On December 22, 2025 the IRS opened a 90-day comment period on a proposed new framework for its Voluntary Disclosure Practice, with comments due by March 22, 2026. The proposal would cover the most recent six years and standardize the penalties: failure-to-file penalties on delinquent returns, a 20% accuracy-related penalty for each year on amended returns, FBAR penalties per year, and penalties of up to $10,000 per return per year on international information returns, with no deviations allowed.

The IRS page, last updated on July 20, 2026, still describes those terms as proposed. Until they are finalized the existing practice applies, and the IRS says eligibility under a revised practice will be decided by the procedures in effect when the changes are final.

What if you do not qualify for Streamlined?

You missed returns but do not meet the terms

File ordinary late returns. The examiners' manual, Internal Revenue Manual 4.12.1, says the enforcement period for unfiled returns is not to be more than six years, with management approval needed to go longer or shorter. Late returns carry the ordinary failure to file penalty of 5% of the unpaid tax per month up to 25%, which is nothing where the foreign tax credit leaves no tax due. Our article on how many years of back taxes an expat needs to file covers the six-year practice, and what happens if you never filed US taxes abroad covers what the IRS can do in the meantime.

You filed returns but missed a form for a company, trust or foreign asset

The delinquent international information return submission procedures apply if you are not under examination or investigation and have not been contacted about the forms. Most late forms are attached to an amended return, and you may attach a reasonable cause statement. The IRS wording is blunt: penalties may be assessed in accordance with existing procedures, and for forms other than 3520 and 3520-A they may be assessed without considering the statement first. This is a filing method, not a waiver.

Your conduct was willful

If you knew about the filing duty and chose not to comply, the Streamlined certification is not open to you. The Voluntary Disclosure Practice is. It requires a disclosure that is truthful, timely and complete, made on Form 14457 before the IRS has started an examination or received information about you from a third party. Part I is a preclearance request; Part II follows within 45 days of the preclearance letter. You must cooperate and pay the tax, interest and penalties in full or under a full-pay installment agreement. The IRS says a disclosure does not automatically bring immunity from prosecution. This is a matter for a tax attorney before anything is filed.

You have already given up citizenship

The Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens are the nearest thing to a true amnesty the IRS offers, for a narrow group. You must have relinquished citizenship after March 18, 2010, have no filing history as a US citizen or resident, have net worth under $2 million, and have total tax of $25,000 or less across the year of expatriation and the five years before it. You file those six years, including Form 8854, and the IRS says no payment is required and no penalties will be asserted. The IRS says it will announce before ending these procedures. Our guide to Form 8854 and the exit tax explains the wider rules.

How do you choose the right route?

Work through four questions in this order.

1. Has the IRS contacted you? If an examination has started, the Streamlined and delinquent-return procedures are closed. Take representation first.
2. Was the failure willful? If there is real doubt, the question goes to an attorney, and the Voluntary Disclosure Practice is the route to discuss.
3. Where did you live? If you were outside the United States for 330 full days in one of the last three years, the foreign version of Streamlined is open. If not, the domestic version with its 5% penalty may be.
4. What exactly was missed? Returns and FBARs together point to Streamlined. A single form or a single year may be handled by an ordinary late filing.

An illustrative example

Illustrative example: Priya and Tom are both US citizens living in Bristol. Priya moved to the UK in 2016, has always been paid through PAYE and has never filed a US return; she learned of the rules from her pension provider in 2026. She meets the 330-day test and her failure was non-willful, so she files 2023 to 2025 returns, 2020 to 2025 FBARs and Form 14653 under the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, with no penalties. Tom has filed US returns every year through a US preparer and reported all his UK interest, but nobody told him about the FBAR. He has no unreported income, so Streamlined is not designed for him. He files the missing FBARs electronically with an explanation. Before July 2026 he could point to an IRS page saying no penalty would apply; today he relies on the facts of his case. This is a simplified illustration, not advice for any specific person.

What people get wrong about an IRS amnesty

• "Amnesty means the tax is forgiven." Under Streamlined the penalties are waived. The tax and interest for the three years are paid.
• "It covers every year I missed." It covers three returns and six FBARs. Older years are not filed, and are not formally closed.
• "I can file quietly and skip the certification." Late returns sent without Form 14653 are ordinary late returns, with no penalty waiver.
• "Non-willful just means I did not mean any harm." It is a sworn statement of specific facts. The IRS can examine it, and a false one is worse than the original failure.
• "The program will always be there." The offshore program closed in 2018 with about six months of notice, and a published FBAR relief page vanished in 2026 with none.
• "If I wait to be contacted, I can apply then." Contact is what disqualifies you.

How we help

US/UK Cross Border Tax is a firm of US CPAs and UK tax advisers working as one team, with offices in London, Manchester, New York and San Francisco. We help people who came looking for an IRS amnesty program for expats work out which route they actually qualify for, then prepare the returns, FBARs and certification as one consistent submission. Where the IRS has already been in touch, our IRS representation and tax controversy teams take over. Most of the people we help are Americans in the UK who found out late and want it dealt with once. To talk it through in confidence, contact us.