IRS headquarters in Washington. (Photo: Bloomberg)
The Internal Revenue Service is offering individuals who have given up their U.S. citizenship and who have not paid back taxes a chance to get back into compliance with U.S. tax laws.
To get relief from paying U.S. taxes, these expatriated individuals must file all their outstanding U.S. tax returns for the past five years and the year that they became a noncitizen, the IRS said in a statement Friday.
The program is called the Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens and applies to a certain group of expatriated individuals.
The majority of the affected persons have been living in other countries for most of their lives, according to the IRS, and don't know they owe tax returns to the federal government.
In general, those who give up their U.S. citizenship and don't pay their taxes are held to the "significant tax consequences of the U.S. expatriation tax regime," the IRS stated.
There are certain conditions to the offer. First, the offer is only extended to expatriated individuals, not estates, trusts or corporations and the like.
