The Tax Times: Streamlined OVDP's "Nonwillful Narrative" Requirement.

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Streamlined OVDP's "Nonwillful Narrative" Requirement.

Taxpayers using either the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures or the Streamlined Domestic Offshore Procedures, will be required to certify, that the failure to report all income, pay all tax and submit all required information returns, including FBARs (FinCEN Form 114, previously Form TD F 90-22,1) was due to Non-Willful Conduct.

The IRS's OVDP Strealined Procedures Forms require taxpayers to provide a narrative statement of facts, explaining their failure to disclose their offshore assets, or the IRS will consider the applications incomplete and the taxpayer won't get Streamline Relief. The IRS Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures website provides:

"Failure to submit this statement, or submission of an incomplete or

otherwise deficient statement, will result in returns being processed

in the normal course without the benefit of the favorable terms of these procedures."

The forms Form 14653 (used by non-residents) and Form 14654 (used by US residents) are for taxpayers to certify that their conduct was not willful and the 2015 versions have been expanded on Page 2 and Page 4 respectively, to provide 1/2 of a page for taxpayers to provide a complete statement as to why their previous tax reporting and paying failures was due to Non-Willful Conduct.

This is consistent with numerous statements by the IRS, that taxpayers are well advised to provide detailed statement, to support their non-willfulness, in their previous failures to meet their US tax filing or tax paying requirements.

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