The streamlined procedures are open only to people whose failures were non-wilful, and the taxpayer certifies that in writing under penalty of perjury. Where the conduct may have been wilful, the IRS directs people to a different process: the IRS Criminal Investigation voluntary disclosure practice (opens the official IRS page in a new tab), which starts with a preclearance request on Form 14457 and ends in a civil examination with penalties. The two are built for different facts, and choosing between them is a judgement about what you knew and when.
This post is for Americans in the UK who are behind on US returns or FBARs and are not sure their history fits the non-wilful box. It goes further than the routes table in our guide for people behind on US taxes in the UK. It covers how the two procedures differ, what wilful means in IRS usage, why a doubtful certification is a risk in itself, how the voluntary disclosure practice runs, how its civil penalties are structured, and what applies where no income was left off at all.
What separates Streamlined from the voluntary disclosure practice?
The state of mind behind the failure. The streamlined procedures are for conduct due to negligence, inadvertence, mistake or a good faith misunderstanding of the law. The voluntary disclosure practice is for conduct that was intentional or deliberate, and the IRS says it is not designed for failures that were accidental or the result of a misunderstanding.
The outcomes differ as much as the entry tests. Under the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures (opens the official IRS page in a new tab), a person who qualifies files three years of returns and six years of FBARs, pays the tax and interest, and is not charged the listed penalties. On the Domestic route (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) a 5% miscellaneous offshore penalty applies instead. Neither route involves a negotiation, and neither ends in a closing agreement.
The voluntary disclosure practice is run by IRS Criminal Investigation and works the other way round. Nothing is filed until Criminal Investigation has cleared the request, and the case then moves to a civil examiner who determines tax, interest and penalties. The IRS presents it as a route for taxpayers with wilful conduct to resolve their position, and it says in terms that a disclosure does not automatically guarantee immunity from prosecution.
- Streamlined: non-wilful conduct, certified on Form 14653 or Form 14654
- Voluntary disclosure: wilful conduct, acknowledged in a statement to the examiner
- Streamlined: no preclearance, no acknowledgement of receipt, no closing agreement
- Voluntary disclosure: preclearance first, then a civil examination of the disclosure period
- Both: generally closed once the IRS has opened an examination or investigation
What does wilful mean in IRS usage?
The voluntary disclosure page describes wilfulness as an intentional, deliberate act to hide income or assets and so evade filing or payment, and adds that it is not simply making a mistake. The streamlined pages describe the opposite: negligence, inadvertence, mistake or a good faith misunderstanding.
Between those two descriptions there is ground that is harder to place. In the FBAR case law, courts have treated recklessness and wilful blindness, a conscious choice not to find out, as wilful for civil penalty purposes. That standard, and what the Supreme Court's decision in Bittner did and did not change, is set out in our post on wilful and non-wilful FBAR penalties after Bittner, so it is not repeated here.
The practical point is that wilfulness is judged from facts, not from how a person now describes their state of mind. A US passport renewed during the missing years, a question about foreign accounts answered no on Schedule B, a bank letter that was read and set aside, or a preparer who raised the subject and was ignored are the kinds of fact an examiner looks at. How to set such facts out honestly is covered in our post on writing the Form 14653 non-wilful certification.
Why is a doubtful non-wilful certification risky?
Because it is signed under penalty of perjury and nobody accepts or approves it. The IRS processes streamlined returns like any others, can select them for audit, and says they may be checked against information from banks, financial advisers and other sources. The certification has to hold up later, on its own.
The streamlined filing compliance procedures (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) page warns that returns submitted under them may be subject to examination, additional civil penalties and even criminal liability where appropriate. The voluntary disclosure guidance goes further in its own answers, stating that the streamlined procedures do not absolve taxpayers of criminal liability, and that people whose violations were wilful should use the voluntary disclosure practice.
Timing adds a second risk. A voluntary disclosure counts as timely only if it reaches the IRS before a civil examination or criminal investigation has begun, before the IRS has received information about the noncompliance from a third party, and before it has gained directly related information from a criminal enforcement action. A streamlined filing that is later questioned may leave a person outside those conditions. The streamlined page itself suggests that anyone concerned their conduct was wilful should consult a tax professional or lawyer before choosing.
How does the IRS voluntary disclosure practice work?
It runs in stages. Part I of Form 14457 is a preclearance request to Criminal Investigation, which checks eligibility. If cleared, the taxpayer files Part II, the full application, within a fixed period after the preclearance letter. Criminal Investigation then decides on preliminary acceptance and passes the case to a civil examiner.
The application has to describe the wilful noncompliance in full. The IRS says a request whose narrative describes only negligence or carelessness will be denied, which shows the two procedures are not interchangeable. Preclearance does not guarantee preliminary acceptance. The practice does not apply to income from illegal sources, a category that includes activity legal under state law but not under federal law.
Once a civil examiner is assigned, the taxpayer is expected to cooperate, produce the documents and information asked for, provide a statement acknowledging the wilful failure to comply, and pay the tax, interest and penalties in full or secure a full-pay instalment agreement. A separate Form 2848 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) is needed for each taxpayer and entity represented. The IRS says a taxpayer may withdraw before final acceptance. Our tax controversy and IRS representation pages explain how we work alongside the lawyer who leads such a case.
- Form 14457 Part I: preclearance request to Criminal Investigation
- Preclearance letter, then Form 14457 Part II with the full narrative
- Preliminary acceptance and referral to a civil examiner
- Returns, FBARs and supporting documents for the disclosure period
- Payment in full, or a full-pay instalment agreement
How are voluntary disclosure penalties structured?
Civil penalties apply, and they are generally heavier than anything on the streamlined routes. The current IRS page says penalties apply but that the practice offers predictable resolution terms. In December 2025 the IRS published a proposed revised framework for public comment, which sets out the structure in more detail.
Under the proposal, the disclosure period would generally be the most recent six years of delinquent and amended returns and reports. Late returns would carry the failure-to-file penalty for each year but not the failure-to-pay penalty. Amended returns would carry the accuracy-related penalty for each year. Late or amended FBARs would attract a penalty for each year, adjusted for inflation, and late international information returns would attract penalties per return, per year, with no departures from those terms.
The proposal would also require the returns to be filed and the amounts paid in full within a short period after conditional approval, together with a closing agreement that extends the time the IRS has to assess. When we checked in October 2026, the voluntary disclosure page still described these terms as proposed, with the comment period closed and no final version published. The IRS has said revised terms would take effect some months after they are finalised, so check the current page before relying on either version.
What if no income was left off your US returns?
Then neither Streamlined nor voluntary disclosure may be needed. Where returns were filed and every item of income was reported and taxed, and only FBARs or international information returns are missing, those reports can usually be filed late on their own, with an explanation. No route promises that no penalty will follow.
International information returns go through the delinquent international information return submission procedures (opens the official IRS page in a new tab). They are open to a taxpayer who is not under civil examination or criminal investigation and has not been contacted by the IRS about the missing forms. Most forms, such as Form 5471 or Form 8938, are attached to an amended return on Form 1040-X. Forms 3520 and 3520-A are filed under their own instructions.
A reasonable cause statement can go with each form, but the IRS says penalties may be assessed under its existing procedures, in some cases before the statement is considered. Late FBARs are filed electronically with FinCEN (opens the official FinCEN page in a new tab), with a reason for lateness, and our post on late FBARs after the IRS withdrew its procedure explains what changed in 2026. Conduct still matters on these routes, because the penalty defences depend on it.
- All income reported and taxed, only FBARs missing: late FBARs through FinCEN
- All income reported, only information returns missing: the delinquent information return procedures
- Income missed, conduct non-wilful: the streamlined procedures
- Income missed, conduct possibly wilful: advice from a US tax lawyer, then possibly voluntary disclosure
How might this play out for a US citizen in Edinburgh?
A US citizen employed in Edinburgh has not filed US returns for several years and holds UK savings and an inherited account. Years ago a US preparer mentioned foreign account reporting in passing, and he did nothing about it. He is unsure whether that makes his conduct wilful.
The first step is a dated account of what he knew, including the preparer's remark, what he understood by it and what he did afterwards, with any documents that bear on it. He takes that account to a US tax lawyer before anything is filed. If the lawyer considers that the facts support a non-wilful certification, the Foreign route may fit, given his residence, and our IRS streamlined filing service can prepare the returns, the FBARs on Form 114 and the certification.
If the lawyer considers the facts point the other way, the conversation turns to voluntary disclosure, and the lawyer leads it. Either way the decision is made on the facts before any certification is signed, because a choice made the other way round is hard to undo. The rest of the catch-up sequence is in our guide to IRS streamlined filing from the UK, and you can contact US UK Tax Returns to begin with a review of your history.
General information, not advice. The right answer depends on your circumstances and the tax year concerned.
