IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedure: Moving Back to US

The IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedure stays open after you move back to the US for as long as at least one of your three "covered" tax years still meets the non-residency test. For someone who moves home in summer 2027 after years in London, that usually means roughly until spring 2030. Waiting is still rarely the better choice.

Most writing on the foreign procedure assumes the reader is settled abroad and staying there. The harder case is the American executive or investor who has spent years in London without filing properly and now has a fixed relocation date. One question decides the cost of the catch-up: does the package go in before the move or after it, and how long after the move is the zero-penalty route still available? This guide gives a dated answer. It sets out how the covered years roll forward, includes a decision table for a summer 2027 move and a pre-move checklist for the UK side, and explains why IRS contact before you submit matters more once you are back on US soil. At Jungle Tax we prepare and file these submissions. We do not cover eligibility basics here, because our guides library already does.

Why does the move date not close the door on the same day?

The non-residency requirement is not a test of where you live on the day you post the package. The IRS applies it to a fixed set of years. Under the IRS page for U.S. taxpayers residing outside the United States, a US citizen or green card holder meets the requirement if, in any one or more of the most recent three years for which the US return due date (or properly applied-for extended due date) has passed, they had no US abode and were physically outside the United States for at least 330 full days.

Three consequences follow, and generalist pages rarely spell them out:

• The three tested years and the three covered years are the same years. They are the three returns you file in the package. Your current address does not form part of the test.
• Only one qualifying year is needed. A single full year in London among the three is enough, even if the other two were spent in New York.
• The window moves forward every time a return falls due. Each time another year's due date passes, the newest year enters the set and the oldest drops out. After you move home, each year that enters is a US-resident year. In time the last London year drops out, and the foreign route closes on that date. The day you land at JFK does not close it.

The IRS's own worked examples on that page include a taxpayer who acquired a US abode partway through the lookback period and still qualified, because an earlier covered year met the test. So moving back does not disqualify you. The covered years decide.

What exactly are the covered years, and when do they roll?

For the foreign procedure the package contains:

• Delinquent or amended federal income tax returns for the three most recent tax years whose due date, or properly applied-for extended due date, has passed, with all required information returns (for example Forms 8938, 5471 and 8621).
• Delinquent FBARs for the six most recent years whose FBAR due date has passed.
• A signed Form 14653 certification of non-willful conduct, including the non-residency statement.
• Payment of the tax and interest shown as due.

The rolling point is the due date, so you need to know which due date applies to each year:

• Individual return, taxpayer in the US on 15 April: generally 15 April of the following year, extendable to 15 October with Form 4868.
• Individual return, taxpayer abroad on 15 April: an automatic two-month extension to 15 June generally applies. Form 4868 can extend it further to 15 October.
• FBAR (FinCEN Form 114): due 15 April with an automatic extension to 15 October. In practice the six-year FBAR window rolls each October.

Verification flag: the IRS wording refers to the "properly applied for extended due date". Two points need checking before any submission date is fixed. First, whether the automatic June date or a Form 4868 October date governs a particular year. Second, whether an extension was in fact properly applied for. Both move the covered years by months. We confirm them year by year before anyone signs anything.

The worked example: a London executive moving home in July 2027

Consider a US citizen who moved to London in 2018 for a senior role. She has no US home and has spent well over 330 full days a year outside the US in every calendar year from 2018 to 2026. She has never filed a US return or FBAR while abroad. Her UK holdings include current and deposit accounts, a stocks and shares ISA, a workplace pension and a share plan. Her employer will relocate her to New York on 1 July 2027, and she will buy a home there.

On those facts:

• 2018 to 2026: each year meets the non-residency test (no US abode, 330+ full days outside the US).
• 2027: fails. She acquires a US abode mid-year and spends about half the year in the US.
• 2028 onward: fails. She is a US resident.

Decision table: filing date vs covered years vs result

Submission date	Covered tax returns	Covered FBAR years	Covered years meeting non-residency	Streamlined result
February 2027 (pre-move)	2023, 2024, 2025	2020 to 2025	All three	Foreign procedure available, no penalty. The 2026 return is then filed on time in the normal way.
November 2027 (four months after the move)	2024, 2025, 2026	2021 to 2026	All three	Foreign procedure available, no penalty. The package now includes the final full London year.
July 2028	2025, 2026, 2027 (or 2024 to 2026 if 2027 was properly extended to October)	2021 to 2026	2025 and 2026	Foreign procedure available. 2027 fails but is not needed.
November 2028	2025, 2026, 2027	2022 to 2027	2025 and 2026	Foreign procedure available.
July 2029	2026, 2027, 2028	2022 to 2027 (2028 FBAR not yet past its October due date)	2026 only	Foreign procedure available, but resting on one year. Last realistic window.
May 2030 onward	2027, 2028, 2029	2023 to 2028	None	Foreign procedure closed. The domestic procedure (5% penalty) is the only streamlined route, and only if its own conditions are met.

The table assumes the 2029 return falls due on 15 April 2030 without an extension. If an extension to 15 October 2030 were properly in place, the 2026 year would stay in the set for about six more months. That reading follows the wording of the IRS page, but it is a narrow technical point, and we would treat it as needing verification on the facts rather than as a filing strategy.

Reading the table

Two things matter more than the end date.

First, the window shrinks to a single year before it closes. From mid-2029 the whole foreign route depends on 2026, the year she moved. An HMRC-era travel log or an incomplete record of 2026 days suddenly carries a six-figure consequence. If 2026 is challenged, there is no other covered year to fall back on.

Second, the domestic procedure may not be the safety net people assume. The IRS page for taxpayers residing in the United States requires that the taxpayer previously filed a US return (if required) for each of the three covered years. Our executive will presumably file 2027, 2028 and 2029 once she is back, so by 2030 she could amend those years under the domestic procedure. That does nothing for her nine unfiled London years, which sit outside the covered period of a 2030 domestic submission. Missing the foreign window does not just cost 5%. It can leave the London years with no streamlined treatment at all. We cover the domestic gate in detail in our guide to the SDOP filing requirement for never-filers.

Should the package go in before or after the move?

Legally, both work for this executive until mid-2029. In practice the choice is between two narrower windows.

The case for filing before the move

• Records are at their most accessible. UK bank statements, P60s, P11Ds, share plan statements, ISA and pension annual statements, and the HMRC online account are all in reach while you still live in London and the accounts are open.
• The narrative is simple. A Form 14653 signed from a London address, describing a London-based life, fits the facts on the face of it.
• You avoid the visibility spike. A returning executive soon generates new US data: a US payroll record, new US bank and brokerage accounts, a home purchase and a US address on file. None of these is an examination in itself, but each increases the chance of IRS contact before a package has been submitted.
• The covered set is at its strongest. Three qualifying years, with no reliance on a single year.

The case for filing shortly after the move

• The final London year can be included. Filing in late 2027 covers 2024 to 2026. If 2026 carried the largest UK income (a final bonus, share plan vesting or a disposal), bringing it into the streamlined package rather than filing it separately keeps the whole London period under one non-willfulness certification.
• Relocation noise is out of the way. Some clients cannot gather records properly during the last months of a London posting.

Our view

For most clients in this position the best result is a submission prepared in the run-up to the move and filed either before departure or within a few months after it, while every covered year still qualifies. Aiming for the outer edge of the window in 2029 means relying on a single year, records that are years old and closed accounts, and it gives a longer period in which IRS contact can remove the option entirely.

Why IRS contact before submission is the real deadline

The general streamlined eligibility rules state that if the IRS has initiated a civil examination of your returns for any taxable year, whether or not it relates to foreign assets, you cannot use the streamlined procedures. The same applies if you are under criminal investigation. That condition is tested when the IRS receives the package, not when you started gathering papers.

For a returning American, contact can come through ordinary channels:

• A question about the first US-resident return, for example on equity compensation that vested partly during the London years.
• Information exchanged under the US-UK FATCA arrangement. UK institutions report accounts held by US persons to HMRC, which passes the information to the IRS.
• Matching problems once a US employer starts filing Forms W-2 under your SSN after years of silence.

Not every letter is an examination. Routine notices are treated differently. The difference is technical, though, and should be reviewed before any submission if anything has arrived. The safe working assumption is that the window closes at the earlier of the covered-year date in the table and the first examination contact.

US vs UK: what each side needs from a departing American

Point	US / IRS side	UK / HMRC side
Tax year	Calendar year (1 January to 31 December)	6 April to 5 April. A July 2027 move falls in 2027/28.
Residence test that matters	Streamlined non-residency: no US abode and 330+ full days outside the US in any one covered year	Statutory Residence Test, with possible split-year treatment in the year of departure
Departure formalities	None as such. The covered years roll on their own.	Final Self Assessment return for the departure year, or form P85 if you are not in Self Assessment
Account reporting	FBAR for every year a foreign account existed, including the year it closed. Form 8938 thresholds fall once you are US-resident.	No equivalent personal reporting. UK institutions report US-person accounts under FATCA.
Main records	UK tax paid (for foreign tax credits), account maximum balances, fund-level detail for ISA and pension holdings	P60s, P11Ds, Self Assessment calculations, HMRC online account history

Pre-move checklist for the streamlined package

UK records to secure before you leave

• P60s and P11Ds for every covered year, plus the final P45.
• Self Assessment returns and the HMRC tax calculations (SA302 or the equivalent online summary) showing UK tax actually charged. These support the foreign tax credit claims on the US returns.
• Share plan statements showing grant, vesting and sale dates and values, with the UK payroll tax treatment.
• ISA annual statements and a holdings list showing each fund. The US gives an ISA no tax shelter, and UK-domiciled funds held inside one can bring Form 8621 obligations.
• Workplace and personal pension annual statements. The US-UK treaty treatment of UK pensions is a specialist area in its own right, and the statements are needed whatever the treatment.
• A day-count record for every covered year and the year of the move: passport stamps, travel bookings and diary entries. The 330-day count uses full days, and partial travel days usually do not count as days abroad. Verify the exact day-count mechanics on your own travel pattern.

Bank statements before UK accounts close

The FBAR asks for the maximum value of each account during the year. Once a UK account closes, getting historical statements can take weeks, and older periods may be archived. Download statements for every account for at least the six FBAR years before you close anything, including accounts you plan to close the week before you fly.

FBAR for accounts closed on departure

An account counts for any year in which it existed at any point. A UK current account closed in August 2027 still belongs on the 2027 FBAR if your aggregate foreign balances went above $10,000 at any time that year. That FBAR is a normal filing, due in 2028. It is not part of any streamlined package filed in 2027. Accounts that stay open after the move, typically a UK pension and often an ISA or a UK current account kept for convenience, stay reportable every year. Form 8938 thresholds are also lower for US residents than for taxpayers living abroad, so the first US-resident return often triggers Form 8938 for the first time. If you want a sense of the exposure the procedure removes, our FBAR penalty calculator models the non-willful position.

UK final Self Assessment and P85, at a high level

On the UK side, leaving mid-year usually means a final Self Assessment return for 2027/28. That return is due online by 31 January 2029. Whether split-year treatment applies depends on which of the statutory cases fits your departure. HMRC's RDR3 guidance on the Statutory Residence Test sets out the cases. Taxpayers outside Self Assessment would usually notify HMRC on form P85 instead. Where this touches the US package:

• The UK tax shown on the final return feeds the foreign tax credit on your 2027 US return, which falls outside the streamlined package in our example but must agree with it.
• A UK refund in the departure year reduces the foreign tax credit available, and the US return has to reflect it.
• UK records stop being easy to reach once you lose UK payroll access and your UK address. Gather the US package and the UK final-year papers together.

Our UK tax services team prepares the final-year UK return alongside the US filings, so the two sets of figures agree.

The year of the move on the US side

The 2027 return in our example is not a streamlined year if you submit in 2027, so it has to be correct on its own when filed in 2028. Two points come up often. First, the foreign earned income exclusion for the part-year abroad may still be available under a 12-month physical presence period that straddles the move, even though 2027 fails the streamlined non-residency test for the calendar year. The two tests are not the same, so verify the exclusion period on the actual dates. Second, Form 8938 and FBAR obligations for the year of the move cover every UK account held at any point in the year.

What about a spouse moving back too?

Where a married couple file jointly under the foreign procedure, both spouses must meet the non-residency requirement. If one spouse returned to the US earlier, for children's schooling or an earlier job move, that spouse's covered years may already be weaker than yours. Check both day counts before choosing a joint package or a submission date.

Common errors in the run-up to a move

• Waiting for "a quiet moment after we settle in". The quiet moment tends to arrive after the first US-resident return has been filed, a W-2 has been matched and the records are harder to reach.
• Filing the most recent year early and on its own. A standalone 2026 return filed in 2027 without the earlier years can draw attention to the gap before the streamlined package arrives. Sequence the filings deliberately.
• Treating the closing date of a UK account as the end of the obligation. The closing year is still a reporting year.
• Relying on one marginal year. If the qualifying year in your covered set had 331 days abroad on a generous count, file while stronger years are still in the set.
• Assuming the domestic route is a fallback. Clients often believe the domestic procedure is a simple fallback. For never-filers it often is not, because of the requirement to have filed returns for the covered years.

How we run a pre-move submission

Our US-UK tax accountants work to a fixed sequence on a pre-move engagement:

1. Fix the target submission date and set out the covered tax and FBAR years for that date, with the applicable due-date mechanics confirmed.
2. Run the non-residency test year by year on documentary day counts and settle the abode position.
3. Collect UK records while the accounts are open and UK access is intact.
4. Prepare three years of returns with all information forms, six years of FBARs, and a Form 14653 narrative specific to the facts.
5. File the package, then prepare the year-of-move US return and the UK final-year return so all three agree.

For founders and executives with share plans, multiple UK accounts or several properties, our high-net-worth practice handles the larger information-return load these packages carry.

Speak to us before the removal van is booked

If you have a confirmed date to move back to the US and years of US filings outstanding from London, the most useful thing you can do now is fix your submission date against your covered years, before the window narrows and before any IRS letter arrives. Our team will map your covered years, confirm whether the foreign procedure is open to you and prepare the full package for filing. Contact our cross-border team for a confidential consultation.