NRI Playbook

Catch up on FBARs you never filed

We connect you with a partner CPA firm that handles Streamlined cases. The penalty is capped at 5% of your highest balance instead of $10,000 per account.

Many NRIs find out years later that they should have been filing FBARs for their Indian accounts. If you simply start filing from this year on, the IRS can still ask about the earlier years, and the standard penalty for a non-willful failure to file is up to $10,000 per violation.

The IRS Streamlined Offshore Disclosure program is the way to catch up. If your missed filings were non-willful and you come forward before the IRS contacts you, the penalty for people living in the US is 5% of the highest total balance of your foreign accounts. People who live outside the US may pay no penalty.

What we do

We review your situation, help you work out which years and accounts are involved, and refer you to a partner CPA firm that prepares and files Streamlined cases. The firm quotes its own fee for the filing.

How it works

  1. Step 1Email us the yearsTell us which years you may have missed. Nothing is filed and nothing is sent to the IRS at this point.
  2. Step 2We review your situationWe work out which years and accounts are involved, and tell you our referral fee before you agree to anything.
  3. Step 3The partner firm filesA partner CPA firm confirms that you qualify, quotes its own fee, then prepares and files the Streamlined package.

Our recommendation

Don't file this year's FBAR on its own if you missed earlier years. Talk to us first, so the earlier years are handled together under Streamlined. See FBAR Filing if you only need the current year.

Common questions

People whose missed filings were non-willful, meaning not deliberate, and who come forward before the IRS contacts them. The partner firm confirms whether you qualify before you go ahead.

For people living in the US, the usual package is amended tax returns for the last 3 years, FBARs for the last 6 years, and a signed statement that the failure was non-willful. The partner firm prepares and files it.

Start with the free FBAR calculator for each past year. If your accounts went over $10,000 in a year you didn't file, email us.

Streamlined Offshore Disclosure cases are prepared and filed by a partnered CPA firm, not by NRI Playbook. NRI Playbook earns a referral fee, disclosed at the point of referral. Eligibility depends on your facts and is confirmed by the firm. This is not legal or tax advice.