Filing back taxes

Long and complicated situation, but the short story is that I haven't filed taxes in US since 2005. I thought (wrongly obviously) that if we didn't earn enough, we didn't have to file. Upon doing some reading, I've realised this is not the case.

Anyway, I need to do my taxes from then until now, which I can't imagine basically would even be that horribly complicated as I've been a SAHM since 2008, and from 2005 to 2008, I wasn't earning a lot (certainly not anywhere near the level where I had to worry about going over the $80K limit - or whatever it is now).

The problem is this. My DH is British, so is NRA on the forms, which is fine. But we haven't registered our 2 sons as US citizens, they are still quite young, and I can't foresee us being able to do this any time soon. I can easily fill out the forms for me filing married/filing separately, and just not put them on as dependents. Is that an issue? I just want the stupid forms turned in and taken care of. I can't imagine I'll owe any taxes, as when I was earning, I was paying taxes here, and then I wasn't earning at all.

I've looked through the FBAR stuff a bit, but I don't recall that our bank account has ever had more then $10K in it. Possibly at one brief point in 2005 or 2006, for maybe a microsecond, and then it was gone to pay DD's uni fees. Wouldn't even begin to know how to check on that either.

I know they have this thing going on where you can turn in the old FBAR stuff, but does that include regular tax returns as well? Or is that different? I'd rather not pay a fine, obviously, if I can avoid it, but I just want to get this sorted with minimal fees and aggravation.

So, can I file these as married, filing separately and not list my dependents (as they are not registered US citizens) and still be okay? I'm not overwhelmingly worried about getting refunds as I am simply about getting these tax returns filed.

And how do we know if we have to do this FBAR thing anyway?

sigh... I hate this... US taxes just seem to be much more complicated when living here....

According to the IRS, anyone who has not filed for several years or got US returns wrong (eg by forgetting to report the sale of a UK house, a UK pension plan or other non-US income or financial assets) can consider whether to disclose under the OVDI that closes on 31 August 2011. (This program was launched by the IRS on 8 February 2011 and is open to anyone even if filings took place before that date.)

The IRS is on record in saying that it is looking for returns filed by any other method. 
 
The IRS announcements are numerous and can all be found via the various hyperlinks here:
 
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=234900,00.html

The OVDI is not the only method of delivering returns to the IRS, you may want to obtain an opinion from a dual US-UK qualified tax professional if you are unsure.
 

If you are filing as married filing separately, you need to have been earning more than $3200 in 2005. If you weren't, you don't need to file.

Thank you to both of your for your responses. I'll look through it all.

I'll go back and look through my paperwork and go from there. I didn't work at all throughout 2009 and 2010, so made zero income.

Not working does not always equal zero income. You may have had health in pregnancy grants, maternity benefits or child benefits, you may have a child trust fund, you may have had interest income or a great big fun lottery win!