Last Chance for Americans Abroad to Get Caught Up with the IRS and Claim a Stimulus Payment

Updated: July 14, 2025 – Stimulus payment window has closed. See update below.

If you’re an American living overseas and you haven’t been filing US taxes, now’s the time to get caught up. The IRS has an amnesty program designed for expats who’ve fallen behind called the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, and it lets you get back on track without facing penalties. This year, though, there was an additional incentive and a possible payout.

If you qualified and you filed your 2021 tax return by June 15th, 2025, you may have received the 2021 stimulus payment and possibly thousands of dollars in refundable tax credits.

Update (July 2025): As of June 15th, the deadline to claim the final 2021 stimulus payment has passed. While you can no longer receive that refund, you may still qualify for other refundable tax credits, so it’s still worth catching up.

Here’s what you need to know, and why waiting any longer could cost you.

What are the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures?

The IRS knows that many Americans abroad don’t realize they must file US taxes, so they created an amnesty program called the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures. If you’re behind, you can catch up by filing:

• The last three years of tax returns
• The last six years of FBARs (if you had foreign bank accounts)
• A statement explaining that your non-compliance was unintentional, due to ignorance of the rules.

That’s it. No penalties, just a clean slate.

At the time, there was a bonus: 2021 was still within reach, and it was the final year of Covid-19 stimulus payments.

Why 2021 Mattered: Stimulus and Refunds

In 2021, the US government issued a third round of Economic Impact Payments (also known as stimulus checks). Most Americans received $1,400 per person, plus $1,400 for each qualifying dependent.

You could have claimed this payment if you had never received it, but only by filing a 2021 tax return. And because the Streamlined program required you to file your last three missed returns, 2021 was part of the package.

But here was the catch: refunds are only honored up to three years after the original due date of a return. For US expats, the 2021 return was due on June 15th, 2022. That made June 15th, 2025 the final date to postmark a 2021 return and still claim the payment.

Unfortunately, that means many people may have left thousands on the table.

To qualify, your adjusted gross income (AGI) had to be below $75,000. Fortunately, expats could use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to exclude up to $108,700 of earned income in 2021, often reducing their AGI to zero.

Will I Owe US Taxes?

Most expats don’t. That’s because of two IRS tax breaks for expats:

1. Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) – lets you exclude up to around $126,500 (for 2024) of foreign earned income from US tax
2. Foreign Tax Credit – gives you US tax credits based on the value of foreign taxes you’ve paid

If you live and work in another country, claiming one of these provisions when you file normally means you won’t owe any US taxes. In fact, you could end up with a refund depending on your situation, but you still have to file.

What About the Child Tax Credit?

If you have US citizen kids living with you abroad, there’s even more money available to you.

The Child Tax Credit was expanded to up to $3,600 per child in 2021, depending on where you lived for the majority of the year, and it is refundable. That means you don’t need to owe tax to benefit from the credit; you just need to file the return, and you will receive it as a payment.

Here’s what’s required:

• Your child must be a US citizen
• They must have a Social Security number
• They must have lived with you for more than half the year
• Your income must fall below certain limits (which most expats meet)

That’s potentially thousands more dollars back in your pocket for every year you file for, even if you don’t owe anything to the IRS.

The deadline to claim the 2021 expanded Child Tax Credit passed on June 15, 2025.

However, you may still qualify for the refundable Additional Child Tax Credit for the last three years, 2022, 2023, and 2024, by using the Streamlined Filing Procedures.

Why You Needed to Act Before June 15th

To claim the 2021 stimulus payment, the IRS required your Streamlined submission to include a 2021 tax return filed before the statute of limitations expired on June 15th, 2025.

Since the IRS gives expats an automatic extension until June 15th each year, that date marked the final cutoff to postmark a 2021 return and still request the payment. Taxpayers using the Streamlined Procedure had to prepare, review, and mail their paper returns in time to meet the deadline.

Although that opportunity has now passed, you can still use the Streamlined Procedures to catch up on US taxes, and depending on your situation, claim other refundable credits.

How To Get Started

Even though the deadline to claim 2021 refunds has passed, you can still catch up through the Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures and potentially claim other refundable tax credits. The program requires you to file the last three years of tax returns, which in 2025 include 2022, 2023, and 2024.

1. Gather your financial info from 2022, 2023, and 2024
2. Work with a trusted Tax Professional like MyExpatTaxes who specializes in expat returns and understands the Streamlined Procedure.
3. Get ahead of the IRS; your eligibility for Streamlined relief depends on filing before they contact you.

Don’t Put it Off Any Longer

If you’re behind, now is the time to act, before the IRS contacts you.

The Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures remain the best way to become compliant safely, stress-free, and in many cases, with a payout too. While the deadline to claim the 2021 stimulus payment passed on June 15th, 2025, catching up still matters. You may still be eligible for other valuable refundable tax credits, like the Child Tax Credit. For many expats, that can still mean thousands of dollars back. Start today and see what credits you may still be eligible for.

If you haven’t filed your 2024 return yet, you can still submit an extension (Form 4868) to get more time up to October 15th, 2025. Remember that if you owe taxes, interest will still apply from the original deadline of April 15th.

Filing extensions for 2024 tax returns is free and easy with MyExpatTaxes. Get started here.