r/tax•
theycallmevee

US citizen - living in Canada. Streamlined Procedure question (Haven't filed taxes since 2008)

Hey everyone, I had a question regarding my US Tax situation

•The last time I filed my US taxes was in 2008. I have had no US income since then. All my income is Canadian based. I have been living in Canada since 2008 •I have a TFSA and a RRSP account. •I have never filed any FBARs. I reached out to a CPA regarding the Streamlined Procedure and he advised me that the streamlined procedure is used to avoid late filing penalties, accuracy related penalties, FBAR penalties, etc. According to him, since I won’t have any late filing penalties (Income is less than $100,000 for all years), I don’t need to use the Streamlined Procedure.
According to him, all I have to do is file this year’s tax return and FBAR and last 3 years of tax returns (2013,2014,2015) and last 6 years of FBAR (2010-2015) to get caught up on my taxes and don’t have to use the Streamlined Procedure. Also, he mentioned for the TFSA (Only interest income and no mutual funds), I don’t need to file the form 3520 and that is another way around this.

My question is the following: Is the CPA correct in saying that I don’t need to use the Streamlined Procedure to get caught up on my taxes?
Also, is there another legal way to report the TFSA account other than form 3520?

Thanks in advance!

Posted Jun 3, 2017, 5:48 PM UTC

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