Streamlined Foreign whatchamacallit - how long does it take?

Hiya...
Did any of you do the Streamlined Foreign whatsit-thingmy, and do they send you anything to let you know all is ok?  The forms asked for my email, and obviously my resi address is on it... do they contact you in any way to confirm that you're up to date?  I'm also expecting to receive that COVID-related payment... i set up a USD currency account with Wise, but there's not been any payment received so far.

I sent my documents on 1 September via DHL, so that's 7 weeks gone now... do any of you recall how long it took for you?
Just to manage my expectations! 

I can tell you my own experience - my Streamlined Offshore compliance was submitted in late September 2017 by an IRS appointed agent her in the UK (Damian Talbot @ Warrener Stewart). I received no acknowledgement of receipt or acknowledgement of clearance. What I did receive was a bill from the IRS on January 15th 2018 for $112.15 for tax due and interest for the 3 years of returns submitted.

So even back in 2017, pre-Covid it was taking 3+ months for approval. As an FYI , I submitted my 2019 tax return in 02/2021 (late I know! but no tax to pay) in paper and it still has not been processed. Paper filing takes a lot longer.

Bottom line is you could be waiting some time - probably another few months yet.

Thank you.... gives me a rough idea!

Almost 6 months now since I sent in all my papers to get compliant with the IRS.  Not heard a thing, and not received the stimulus payment. I'm starting to get a bit anxious about it.

Is there any sort of helpdesk or anything that i can contact to get an update on the situation? 

Almost 6 months now since I sent in all my papers to get compliant with the IRS.  Not heard a thing, and not received the stimulus payment. I'm starting to get a bit anxious about it.

Is there any sort of helpdesk or anything that i can contact to get an update on the situation? 

Sounds the ideal circumstance to check your IRS online account, there will be a wealth of information; going back years. Then the rub of an ID.me account set up, unless you wait until the IRS change to another validation method down the road. Who knows when that will happen though...

I agree with @Barcrest - get setup and connected to your IRS account with ID.Me  - it's like being brought in from the cold! ID.ME may not be long for the IRS world, but it still works at the moment and allows you to see what is happening.

Having access allowed me to see and confirm only last week that their examination into my 2017 was now complete and closed and a refund had been issued - along with a reversal of their interest charge on tax that they have now agreed is not owed.

Calling a helpdesk may work - they have always been pleasant with me - be prepared however for them to say they have nothing on file. The IRS, much like Social Security appear to be way behind on processing paper file returns and dealing with correspondence. My 2020 return was filed (albeit late) in December - still not processed or on my transcript.

I can tell you that I got mine sorted and sent off to the IRS whilst I was visiting home in August. I sent it priority mail, they received it like, mid August.
My parents just last week advised that I received my stimulus check, so nearly six months on the dot!

Thank you all very much!
I'd never heard of this IRS online account, so im going to try to get that set up now...

Search the forum for ID.Me - a little tricky form overseas - but entirely possible using a video referee.

Search the forum for ID.Me - a little tricky form overseas - but entirely possible using a video referee.

+1

See this thread

https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=99944.0

OMG... this is unbelievable.

I finally got through to an agent on ID-me after weeks of trying and giving up.  Last night i waited over 4 hours... but my perseverance paid off and i got my docs verified and got an IRS online account.

Logged on to try to see what's happening with my streamlined foreign thing (catching up on my missed years of US tax filing)... and there's nothing.  Everything is blank. View tax records: zero. Account status: zero.  Notices & letters: nothing.

I'm thinking this means my documents have never been received. (Paid £45 to send them by DHL! And i've been waiting almost 7 months for them to be processed!)

Do you guys have any advice other than re-sending the stuff?

OMG... this is unbelievable.

I finally got through to an agent on ID-me after weeks of trying and giving up.  Last night i waited over 4 hours... but my perseverance paid off and i got my docs verified and got an IRS online account.

Logged on to try to see what's happening with my streamlined foreign thing (catching up on my missed years of US tax filing)... and there's nothing.  Everything is blank. View tax records: zero. Account status: zero.  Notices & letters: nothing.

I'm thinking this means my documents have never been received. (Paid £45 to send them by DHL! And i've been waiting almost 7 months for them to be processed!)

Do you guys have any advice other than re-sending the stuff?

Providing you have evidence of delivery and tracking from DHL I’d wait a bit longer. During these times, I’d not think the wait period is unreasonable. A resubmission could really cause an extra headache.

Personally I'd wait.

The IRS are so far behind especially with paper returns, a 7 month delay doesn't surprise me one bit.

My 2019 return was a paper submission received by the IRS on 19/05/2021 and processed on October 4 2021 - late filing I know, but no tax due so no penalties 

My 2020 return (again, no tax due - refund due in fact) was received on 23/12/21 and has still not been processed.

As long as you have evidence of delivery, you won't have any issues - re-filing will have no impact - it will just go to the back of the queue.

You might find this useful:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-operations-during-covid-19-mission-critical-functions-continue

They have 7 million unprocessed returns and have only cleared error free returns to April 2021.

Chill out and enjoy the sunshine!

Thank you all very much for your input.

I contacted DHL and they sent me the proof of delivery, so i guess there's nothing to do but wait. 
I was feeling a bit desperate because i realllllly needed that money (the stimulus payment), but i've done a bit of financial jiggery-pokery so i'm not quite so stressed about it now.

Another month passes... another month with no confirmation from IRS and no stimulus payment into my Wise account.

I'm starting to feel anxious again because i know it will soon be time (is it June?) for me to file my 2021 taxes to IRS.  Just feels like it's going to be awkward for IRS to suddenly, randomly get a tax return from me when they haven't even processed my streamlined foreign stuff from the last 3 years.

What's my deadline for this, and how do i do it?  Paper forms sent via DHL again, as i did with the streamlined stuff to try to get compliant?