Error in previous year FBAR - did not disclose accounts under $10k

My husband is American and we live in the UK. He has been filing FBARs each year on the understanding that he only had to disclose bank accounts with balances over $10k at any point in the year.

We've just realised that he should have disclosed ALL bank accounts. We intend to refile the FBARs (2011-2014) with the accounts we did not previously mention (those with balances under $10k) and their balances.

I understand there can be penalties for errors/non disclosure. Is this something we should be concerned about in this circumstance, given it was an honest mistake that we are rectifying?

FBARs report far more than bank accounts and the statute of limitations is longer than just 3 years.

Were the income tax returns correct or did your husband omit ISA income or employer pension contributions or any other income? If so, the streamlined procedures may be helpful.

Thank you for coming back to me. I'm comfortable that his reported income is correct (I included income from ISAs and he doesn't have a pension).

We have realised that the first FBAR he filed was in 2012 and he may have been liable to file one from a few years before that. I understand the statute of limitations is six years from the FBAR due date? So we would need to check from 2009 onwards to see whether he should've filed and file if necessary?

Maybe consider using the streamlined procedures (http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/U-S-Taxpayers-Residing-Outside-the-United-States) to clear up both problems? 

If you file the six years of FBARs (filing as "amendments" for those years you've already filed, and stating "Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures" on all six years as the reason for filing late), you can include all the accounts for each year and also bring the filing up-to-date. 

 

The streamlined procedures can only be used where taxpayers "have failed to report the income from a foreign financial asset and pay tax as required by U.S. law, and may have failed to file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114, previously Form TD F 90-22.1) with respect to a foreign financial account, and such failures resulted from non-willful conduct."

So you're not supposed to use them for amended FBARs?

If the income has been correctly reported, the streamlined procedure is irrelevant.

All that needs to be done is correct the incorrect FBAR returns and complete new one's where they have been missed. The amendments sound so minor that the likelihood of any repercussion is negligible.