US citizen with Indian accounts you never reported on FBAR?
There's a quiet, 0-penalty way out.
It's one of the most common compliance gaps for Indian-origin US persons — NRE / NRO balances, Indian mutual funds, FDs, EPF / PPF, a flat earning rent in Bengaluru — all sitting outside US tax reporting because no US preparer ever asked. The IRS has a program built exactly for this situation.
Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures.For US persons physically resident outside the US (a test most India-resident NRIs without extended recent US visits satisfy), the miscellaneous offshore penalty is 0%. You pay back-tax + interest on the catch-up returns — that's it. The FBAR stack, the Form 8938 stack, and the prosecution exposure are realistically off the table for genuine non-willful submissions properly filed under Streamlined. We coordinate the entire engagement end-to-end with our US-licensed Enrolled Agent / CPA partners, plus the parallel Indian-side disclosure if needed.
First call is fully anonymous — no PAN, no SSN, no account numbers. Just an honest read on Streamlined eligibility + the realistic exposure.
Privacy isn't a footnote — it's the foundation
Picking up the phone about something you think you got wrong takes courage. The conversation you have with us is privileged, confidential, and stays entirely within our team. Here's exactly what that means.
CA-client confidentiality is statutory
ICAI's Code of Ethics (Clause 1, Part-I, Second Schedule) and Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act make client communication privileged. Information you share with our CAs cannot be disclosed to anyone — including the IRS, HMRC, or India's tax authorities — without your explicit written consent. Our practice license depends on it.
Anonymous first call
Your initial diagnostic call requires no PAN, no SSN, no account numbers. Describe your situation in broad terms (“I'm a US citizen with an NRE account of about $X held since Y year, never on FBAR”) and we'll give you the realistic exposure + the safe path — anonymously, before you commit to anything.
No data resold, no marketing leakage
We never sell, share, or use your data for marketing outside the scope of your engagement. DPDP Act 2023 compliant. Your engagement notes stay within the assigned CA + supervising partner — and the US-licensed partner if you proceed. Full stop.
Encrypted-by-default communication
WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted; we use it for almost all client comms. Documents shared via secure links with expiry, never via plaintext email. If you prefer ProtonMail or Signal, we'll adapt. Your call.
Why acting under Streamlined matters
This isn't to scare you — it's context for why the Streamlined path is so much safer than waiting. The penalty stack below is what the adversarial path looks like if the IRS discovers the accounts before you act.
Up to ~$16,500-$17,000 per annual FBAR report (inflation-adjusted; check current Federal Register notice)
Statutory base is $10,000 per 31 USC § 5321(a)(5)(B)(i), indexed annually under 31 CFR § 1010.821. Per Bittner v. United States (2023, US Supreme Court), each missed year is one violation — regardless of how many accounts were unreported in that year.
Greater of ~$165,000 (inflation-adjusted) or 50% of account balance, per violation
Reserved for actual concealment — but the IRS's “willfulness” bar is lower than most people assume. Reckless disregard or wilful blindness can qualify (per case law). This is the penalty that justifies the conservative Streamlined path even where willfulness seems remote.
Up to $60,000 per year ($10,000 initial + $50,000 continuation cap)
$10,000 initial penalty for failure to file Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets), plus an additional $10,000 for each 30-day period of continued failure beyond 90 days after IRS notice — capped at $50,000 of continuation. Maximum $60,000 per year. Separate from FBAR; adds on top of the FBAR stack.
Up to 5 years / $250,000 (10 years / $500,000 for patterned violations)
31 USC § 5322(a): up to 5 years prison / $250,000 fine per willful FBAR violation. § 5322(b): up to 10 years / $500,000 where the violation is part of a pattern of illegal activity. 26 USC § 7201 (tax evasion): up to 5 years / $250,000. Almost never invoked for non-wilful cases — but the existence of the criminal track is precisely why voluntary disclosure under Streamlined is so much safer.
The FATCA clock is real, but Streamlined is still open. Indian banks report US-person accounts to the IRS automatically under FATCA. The Streamlined program has been available since 2014 and remains open — but the IRS has signalled it can be modified or closed with limited notice. The pattern of safer outcomes for early-disclosing taxpayers is consistent across most voluntary-disclosure programs the IRS has run.
What changes the moment you file under Streamlined
The penalty numbers above are what the law allows in adversarial cases. Here's what genuine Streamlined participation actually looks like in practice for the typical NRI profile.
Foreign Offshore: 0% miscellaneous penalty
If you've lived physically outside the US for at least 330 full days in any of the last 3 years (most India-resident NRIs without extended recent US visits will satisfy), Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures impose a 0% miscellaneous offshore penalty. You pay back-tax + interest only. The FBAR + Form 8938 stack collapses entirely.
“Non-willful” is the right legal box
An NRI who simply didn't know that Indian NRE / NRO / MF / FD accounts triggered FBAR + Form 8938 is the textbook definition of non-willful: negligence, inadvertence, mistake, or good-faith misunderstanding of the law. The Form 14653 narrative spells this out — and the IRS commonly accepts well-prepared submissions for this exact profile.
No automatic audit, no FBAR penalty stack
Streamlined submissions are not automatically examined and the IRS does not issue a formal acceptance letter — the IRS retains the right to select returns under its standard audit-selection processes. In our experience, well-prepared submissions for the typical NRI profile often close without further IRS action, though this is not guaranteed. The 0% miscellaneous offshore penalty (Foreign track) replaces the otherwise-applicable FBAR + Form 8938 penalty stack on the disclosed years.
Clean slate, both jurisdictions
Coordinating the US Streamlined disclosure with an Indian Schedule FA voluntary disclosure means both jurisdictions close at the same time. No more sleepless mailbox-checks. No risk that India's Black Money Act + a US FBAR audit hit you in parallel years from now.
Common patterns we see
If any of these sound familiar, you're in the most common Streamlined cohort. Almost none are wilful concealment — they're honest gaps from a US tax regime that taxes worldwide income regardless of where you live, and reporting rules that no US preparer ever asks about on the Indian side.
US citizen of Indian origin with Indian NRE / NRO accounts
You became a US citizen years ago. You still kept your NRE / NRO accounts in India for family transfers, parents' care, or future return. You filed US returns but never reported these Indian accounts on FBAR (FinCEN 114) or Form 8938. The most common pattern we see.
Green Card holder with Indian MFs / FDs / EPF / PPF
H-1B → Green Card transition. Indian mutual funds (PFIC), FDs, EPF or PPF balance kept earning interest in India. Your US tax preparer never asked about these — they aren't in any 1099 — so FBAR and Form 8938 were quietly missed for years.
US person with Indian rental property
You own a flat in Bengaluru / Hyderabad / Mumbai earning rent in NRO. Rent flows into an Indian account. The rental income was never on your US 1040, and the account was never on FBAR. Common with the 1995–2010 IT-services migration cohort.
Returning NRI who kept the US passport
Moved back to India 2–8 years ago. Indian Resident now, but still a US citizen — meaning US filing obligation continues globally. Indian PPF, mutual funds, FDs, and any Indian business holdings all sit unreported on the US side.
How the engagement actually runs
Five steps. Steps 1 and 2 are free — by the time you decide whether to engage, you already know your Streamlined eligibility and the realistic exposure.
- Step 1
Free 20-minute confidential diagnostic
A specialist walks through your situation — anonymously if you prefer. We map your foreign accounts, when held, what was reported / unreported on US returns, and whether the non-willful pattern (negligence, inadvertence, good-faith misunderstanding) clearly applies. You see the honest picture in plain language. No commitment, no PAN, no SSN.
- Step 2
Eligibility map + non-willful narrative draft
Written one-page summary — Foreign Offshore (0% penalty) vs Domestic Offshore (5% penalty) eligibility, the non-residency test (physically outside the US ≥ 330 full days in at least one of the last 3 years), and a first-draft of the non-willful certification narrative for your Form 14653. You decide whether to proceed.
- Step 3
Filings package preparation
Three years of amended Forms 1040X. Three years of Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets). Six years of FBAR (FinCEN 114). Form 14653 (Foreign) or Form 14654 (Domestic) certification. We coordinate with our US-licensed Enrolled Agent / CPA partners — we manage the project end-to-end so you have one point of contact, not five.
- Step 4
Submission + IRS coordination
FBARs filed electronically via the BSA E-Filing System. Amended returns mailed to the Streamlined-designated IRS address with the certification on top. If IRS comes back with follow-up questions, we coordinate the response with our US partner — you stay informed via WhatsApp, you don't have to manage anything yourself.
- Step 5
Indian-side cleanup + clean compliance going forward
If you also missed Schedule FA on Indian returns, we run the parallel Indian voluntary disclosure under the Black Money Act so both sides close cleanly. Then we set up annual processes — Indian Schedule FA, US FBAR/Form 8938 — so this never recurs. One coordinated team handling both jurisdictions.
What this costs
Scoped per case — number of years to file, number of accounts and asset categories, whether parallel Indian Schedule FA cleanup is needed, and the complexity of any PFIC (Indian mutual fund) computations. Quoted transparently on the call after we map the exposure. No fee for the diagnostic.
Compared with even one year of non-wilful FBAR penalty in the adversarial scenario, the engagement cost is typically far smaller than a single year of the adversarial penalty.
Common questions
Am I eligible for Streamlined Foreign Offshore (the 0% penalty version) if I'm back in India?
Almost certainly yes, as long as you've been physically outside the US for at least 330 full days in any one of the most recent three tax years for which the due date has passed. For someone who returned to India 2+ years ago and hasn't had extended US visits, this is easy to meet. We confirm eligibility precisely on the diagnostic call.
What if I'm still in the US — Streamlined Domestic Offshore (the 5% version)?
If you're US-resident and don't meet the non-residency test, the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures apply instead — 5% miscellaneous offshore penalty calculated on the highest year-end aggregate balance of all unreported foreign assets across the 6 FBAR + 3 tax-year disclosure period. Still vastly better than the adversarial alternative. We confirm which track on the diagnostic.
Is the first call truly anonymous? I don't want to share my SSN or PAN before I know if I even need help.
Yes — fully anonymous. Describe your situation in broad terms (“US citizen, NRE account ~$X, never on FBAR, held since Y year”) and our team will walk you through realistic exposure + Streamlined eligibility. No PAN, no SSN, no documents, no engagement letter. You decide whether to share specifics only after that first call.
What exactly do I have to file under Streamlined Foreign Offshore?
Two main submissions: (1) amended Forms 1040-X for the most recent 3 tax years for which the due date has passed, with Form 8938 (Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets) attached for any year a reporting threshold was met; (2) FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) for the most recent 6 years, filed electronically through the BSA E-Filing System. Plus Form 14653 (Certification by U.S. Person Residing Outside the United States) signed under penalty of perjury — the non-willful certification narrative, included with the amended-return package.
What if the IRS doesn't accept my non-willful certification?
The IRS doesn't pre-approve Streamlined submissions — they accept what you file and only later (rarely) open an examination if the non-willful narrative looks fabricated. In our experience, well-prepared submissions for the genuine-NRI profile (didn't know FBAR / Form 8938 applied to Indian accounts) are commonly accepted without further inquiry — though this is not guaranteed and the IRS retains the right to examine under its standard audit-selection processes. The Form 14653 narrative is where the engagement work goes — getting that narrative right matters more than any other single document.
Will I have to fly to the US to do this?
No. The entire process happens by mail / e-file. FBARs are filed electronically with FinCEN. The amended-return package plus Form 14653 are mailed (still required as physical mail under current Streamlined rules) to the IRS's Streamlined-designated Austin, TX address. We coordinate the mailing from our US partner's side.
I also missed Schedule FA on Indian returns. Do I do both disclosures at once?
Ideally yes — running the US Streamlined and the Indian Black Money Act voluntary disclosure in parallel means both jurisdictions close around the same time. We coordinate the two so the narratives are consistent. See our companion service: Black Money Act Voluntary Disclosure.
I'm worried this conversation will hurt me later. Can I trust you?
It's a fair worry, and we take it seriously. CA-client privilege under ICAI Code of Ethics (and Section 126 of the Indian Evidence Act for the Indian-side communications) makes confidentiality a statutory obligation — not a marketing promise. Beyond that: we're not the IRS, not the AO, not a regulator, and have no reporting obligation to either side. Your situation stays between you, your assigned CA + supervising partner, and the US-licensed partner only if you proceed.
Start with a free, fully anonymous call
No PAN, no SSN, no documents, no commitment. A specialist reviews your situation in plain language, tells you honestly whether Streamlined is the right path for you (vs the wider Voluntary Disclosure Program for higher-risk cases), and what the realistic exposure looks like.
Privileged & confidential under ICAI Code of Ethics + DPDP Act 2023. Coordinated end-to-end with US-licensed EA / CPA partners.
Adjacent situations we handle
Different problem? Here's the right page.
One NRI tax problem usually opens a door to the next. Here's the most likely next step from where you are right now.