Downtonabbey1

Hi,all

Quick question - as seen on other posts, I was not aware of my USA tax returns to include foreign income. Long story short, I'm submitted a streamlined disclosure package with help of account. In my nonwilful statement, I mentioned a request at the end to waive all penalties (about 1300).is this permitted or am I going to get dinged for this.it was an host mistake, and there fore I did not hesitate to ask.

Thanks

Cook_County

As this is a Domestic streamlined filing; you'll have to reach a view on how to deal with UK pension plans, premium bonds, ISAs and PFICs in calculating both the tax & the 5% penalty as well as whether your conduct is wilful. If you do not wish to pay the 5% Miscellaneous penalty you will want to compare this against the level of statutory penalties, penalties under OVDP and possible outcomes from any other method of delivering returns to the IRS.

Downtonabbey1

Thanks cook county. I don't have a problem paying the 5%, it came down to under 1400 usd for me. I made the payment elecyronically already.I made a mistake so I suppose I should pay it.
The question that it's bother in me is that, at the bottom of my statement I put in just a request the penalties be waived, only because it was an error. Will the IRS penalize me for that one statement and have me pay more just becsuee of that?

Basically I said something like,'I truly apologize for my error.since my the amounts that I hold in the accounts are so small, I can only request that the penalties be waiver, since this was a true error.

I added this to my nonwilful statement, in good faith. Now I'm worried that I might be penalized for it.

Would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

Cook_County

I think you are describing something different from the Domestic Streamlined. If you are using the Domestic Streamlined the penalty is 5%. I make no comment if the 5% is calculated correctly. There are numerous other options under US statute, some of which may result in zero penalties; but could lead to outcomes of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars of penalties. Which other methods have you considered to correct your mistake?

Cook_County

Unlike the OVDP, the IRS do not offer the taxpayer an option of withdrawing from streamlined once filed; only amending the streamlined filing. Naturally, this is one-sided because the IRS can still choose not to accept a taxpayer into streamlined or to audit a streamlined filing later.

Downtonabbey1

I have filed for the domestic streamlined and submitted payment according to calculations made by an accountant, whose services I used once I became aware that my foreign income needs to be reported. They ate a big reputable company and have been doing streamlined filings for several years for expats.

This whole process has been quite the nightmare and many many sleepless nights. Like I said earlier, I added a sentence to my statement of explanation, requesting for penalties to be waived. I'm just wondering if I should have ever done that.

Thanks

Cook_County

What does your accountant advise?

MidAtlantic

Are you saying that you added the request without your accountant's knowledge?

The streamlined procedure is an amnesty scheme, so it already offers favorable treatment (though not necessarily the best solution for you). I think the chances of obtaining additional relief is about zero. However, I don't think it will do any damage. The IRS will likely just ignore it.

Downtonabbey1

No, I added it, and then was waiting for an opinion from my account. Accountant said it does not hurt. I agree, likely they will just ignore it. Thanks for the responsession all.