Haven’t Filed US Taxes in Years? Here’s Exactly What to Do

Maybe you learned about citizenship-based taxation from a bank letter, a news article, or a nervous conversation with another expat. However you got here, take a breath: this situation is common, well-trodden, and almost always fixable without penalties. But the sequence matters.

Step 1: Don’t File Anything Yet

The instinct is to grab last year’s forms and start filing. Resist it. Filing individual late returns outside an official program (“quiet disclosure”) creates a paper trail without any penalty protection — and can disqualify you from the programs designed to help you.

Step 2: Establish the Facts

Before choosing a route, you need a clear picture:

• Which years you were required to file (income above thresholds, or $400+ of self-employment income).
• Whether your foreign accounts crossed the $10,000 FBAR threshold in any year.
• What you’d actually owe once the FEIE and Foreign Tax Credits are applied — for most expats in Europe, the answer is zero or close to it.

Step 3: Pick the Right Door

• Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures — the main route. Three years of returns, six years of FBARs, a non-willfulness certification, and all penalties waived. Most expats who “just didn’t know” qualify.
• Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures — if you filed returns correctly and only missed FBARs.
• Regular late filing — if you were only marginally late or owe nothing, sometimes simple filing with reasonable-cause statements is enough.

Step 4: Get the Narrative Right

The streamlined certification (Form 14653) asks you to explain your non-filing in your own words, signed under penalty of perjury. This narrative — not the tax math — is where these submissions succeed or fail. It’s the single best reason to have an experienced professional involved.

What It Feels Like on the Other Side

A typical streamlined case wraps up in a few months: documents gathered, returns prepared, certification drafted, everything submitted together. Then it’s done — you’re current, protected, and on an ordinary annual filing rhythm, usually owing little or nothing each year.

Disclaimer: This article is general information, not tax, legal, or financial advice. Confirm current program requirements with official sources or a qualified professional. eTaxNexus is a digital brand of Mega Commercial Enterprises Limited, registered in Ireland, Company Number 726999.