The Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures are a United States Internal Revenue Service compliance program for US persons living outside the United States who failed to report foreign income and file required information returns because of non-wilful conduct. They allow eligible taxpayers to become compliant by filing amended or delinquent returns for a defined number of years, along with the related foreign-account reports.
For taxpayers who meet the non-residency and non-wilfulness conditions, the foreign offshore stream generally waives the failure-to-file and accuracy penalties and the offshore information-return penalties that might otherwise apply. The taxpayer certifies that the prior non-compliance was non-wilful. The program is commonly used by Canadian residents who are United States citizens and were unaware of their ongoing United States filing obligations. A separate domestic stream applies to those living in the United States.