Can I create an IRS online account from the UK?

Yes. The IRS Individual Online Account is open to anyone who can satisfy its requirements, which are a Social Security number or ITIN plus a valid government-issued photo identification. From a UK address you verify through the pathway ID.me publishes for people who live outside the United States, which ends in a live video call with a Video Chat Agent rather than an automated check. A UK residential address is not itself a barrier.

Do I need a US phone number to set up an IRS online account?

No. ID.me's guidance is explicit that people outside the United States who have no US phone number, US mailing address or Social Security number can still verify, and it offers a range of multifactor authentication methods. In practice an authenticator application on your own phone is the most reliable second factor from Britain, because it avoids international SMS delivery problems altogether. Check the current options when you register, as the available methods change.

What if I have never had a Social Security number?

You cannot open an IRS Individual Online Account without an SSN or ITIN, and a US citizen is not eligible for an ITIN. ID.me's own guidance warns that even a successful identity verification may not grant access where the organisation requires a Social Security number. From Britain the application runs through the Federal Benefits Unit at the US Embassy in London on Form SS-5-FS, with an in-person interview required for first-time adult applicants and a processing period measured in months. Start it early, because the wider filing programme depends on the number.

Does the IRS online account show whether I have ever filed a US return?

Effectively, yes. The account gives access to transcripts, including the Verification of Non-Filing Letter, which states that the IRS has no record of a processed Form 1040-series return for a given year. The Tax Account transcript is available for the current and nine prior tax years online, which is deeper coverage than the postal or telephone routes provide. Together these establish your filing history with documentary certainty rather than recollection.

Can my accountant get my IRS transcripts instead of me?

Yes, and it is often faster where identity verification is proving difficult. A Form 2848 Power of Attorney or a Form 8821 Tax Information Authorization allows your preparer to obtain transcripts through practitioner channels, and those authorisations appear on the authorisations screen of your own online account once processed. Transcripts can also be requested on Form 4506-T, which is the route for years beyond the online range. None of these is contingent on you personally completing an ID.me verification.

Accidental American: IRS Online Account From the UK

Q: Will ID.me accept a UK passport instead of a US one?

Yes, on the correct pathway. ID.me publishes specific guidance for verifying with a non-US passport, requiring a valid unexpired passport showing the passport identification number together with an approved address document matching your international address. Critically, that guidance says not to select Self-Service or Video Chat Agent from the main menu; you must select the option confirming you do not live in the United States, which routes you correctly.

An Accidental American living in Britain can open an IRS Individual Online Account, but the obstacle is almost never the IRS itself: it is the identity check that sits in front of it, run by the IRS credential partner ID.me, which is built around United States data that a lifelong UK resident simply does not have. The route that works from a UK address is the one ID.me publishes for people who live outside the United States. You select the option confirming you do not live in the US, you upload two primary identity documents, or one primary plus one secondary, and you finish the verification on a live video call with a Video Chat Agent. You still need a Social Security number or an ITIN, because that is the IRS requirement for the account and no amount of successful identity verification substitutes for it.

That is the short answer. The detail matters because the failure points are specific and expensive in time rather than money: a wrong menu choice at the start routes you into an automated process that cannot succeed, and an address document that does not match the address you typed will end a video call after a forty minute queue. What follows is the process as the IRS and ID.me currently publish it, the points where a UK resident dual national typically comes unstuck, and a candid assessment of what the account is actually worth inside a catch-up filing. Identity verification standards change, so treat every specific below as correct at the time of writing and confirm the current position on IRS.gov before you begin.

What is an IRS Individual Online Account and what does it show?

An IRS Individual Online Account is the authenticated self-service portal the IRS provides to an individual taxpayer for viewing the record the agency holds on them. The IRS page Online account for individuals sets out what it carries, and for a cross-border catch-up the value is concentrated in the records and transcripts area rather than the payment plumbing.

Tax records: adjusted gross income, transcripts, a tax compliance report, refund and amended return status, and the status of certain mail audits.
Information returns filed about you, such as Forms W-2 and 1099, which is the single most useful item for anyone reconstructing years they never filed.
Digital IRS notices, plus the option to switch correspondence to paperless and receive email alerts on account activity.
Balance owed, broken down by tax year, so that interest and penalty accruals are visible rather than inferred.
Payment history covering up to five years, including estimated tax payments and any pending or scheduled payments.
Authorisations, meaning requests from lenders and any Power of Attorney or Tax Information Authorization filed by a tax professional.
Identity Protection PIN management within the profile section.

It is equally important to know what the account is not. It is not a filing platform for delinquent prior-year returns. It does not show FBAR filings, because the FBAR is filed with FinCEN through the BSA E-Filing System and sits outside the IRS account entirely. It does not show HMRC data, and it will not tell you whether a UK bank has reported you under FATCA; it shows only what has landed on your IRS account.

Can an Accidental American in Britain actually register?

Yes, subject to one hard prerequisite. The IRS page Creating an account for IRS.gov states that identity verification requires a Social Security number or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, together with a valid government-issued photo identification such as a driver's licence, state ID, passport or passport card. You also need a personal email address, a password of at least eight characters, and a multifactor authentication method. The IRS describes ID.me as its technology partner providing the secure digital identity verification behind sign-in, and links out to dedicated help for people who live outside the United States and hold an SSN.

The practical consequence for a dual national is that the IRS is not the party assessing your documents. ID.me is. Your interaction with the IRS begins only once a verified credential exists, and every point of friction described below happens before the IRS has any visibility of you at all. That is reassuring for the reader who worries that a failed attempt somehow lodges a flag on their record. It does not.

What do you need ready before you start?

Your Social Security number, in the exact form held by the Social Security Administration, together with your name as SSA records it.
A valid, unexpired primary photo document: a UK passport, a US passport or passport card, a national identity card, or another government-issued photo ID. ID.me's outside-the-US guidance asks for two primary documents, or one primary plus at least one secondary.
Secondary documents if you are short of a second primary: a utility bill, pay stub, medical bill, bank statement or Form W-2, according to ID.me's published list.
Proof of your non-US address that matches, character for character, the address you enter during setup. A UK council tax bill, utility bill or bank statement in the same name and at the same address is the usual choice.
Evidence of any legal name change, such as a marriage certificate or deed poll, if your document name differs from your SSA name.
A device with a working camera and a stable connection, plus a real hour in the diary. The queue for a Video Chat Agent is unpredictable and the call itself is short.
The originals, not photocopies or scans. Agents on the video call expect to see the physical document held up to the camera.

One presentation point that costs people a second attempt: ID.me asks that where a document is not in English, the original and its translation appear side by side in the same photograph. Most UK documents will not raise this, but a birth certificate or a name-change instrument issued elsewhere in Europe often does.

Why does self-service verification fail from a UK address?

ID.me describes self-service as the fastest method, usually taking five to ten minutes. That estimate assumes an American life. Self-service leans on document capture tuned to US state-issued identification, on a US mobile number that can be matched to a carrier record, and on identity data that ultimately traces back to a US credit file. A forty-something Accidental American who left Massachusetts as a toddler has never held a US driving licence, has never had a US mobile contract, and has no US credit history whatsoever. There is nothing for the automated check to match against, so it fails, usually without explaining why.

The important instruction is in ID.me's own guidance on verifying with a non-US passport, and it is counter-intuitive enough that most people get it wrong on the first pass. That guidance says explicitly not to select either Self-Service or Video Chat Agent from the main menu. Instead you select the option confirming that you do not live in the United States, which routes you down a different path built for exactly this case. Choosing the obvious-looking menu item sends you into a flow that will consume twenty minutes and then stall.

How does the video-call route work from outside the United States?

ID.me's guidance for people living outside the United States sets out a consistent sequence. You create the ID.me account with an email address and password, complete multifactor authentication setup, enter your non-US address, confirm your Social Security number, then select and upload your documents and wait for them to be reviewed. Once the upload passes review you join a video call with a Video Chat Agent to finish. Where you are verifying on a non-US passport specifically, ID.me asks for the valid unexpired passport showing the passport identification number, plus an approved address document matching your international address.

On multifactor authentication, do not assume a US mobile number is compulsory. ID.me offers a range of second-factor options, and an authenticator application on your own phone avoids the international SMS problem entirely, including the delivery failures and delays that plague verification codes sent to UK numbers. Check which methods are offered at the time you register, because the menu changes.

If something goes wrong, ID.me publishes a fallback it calls an extended video call. Its guidance describes this as the route for people who attempted self-service or a short video call without success, or who have no smartphone. The documentary threshold is the same: at least two primary documents, or one primary and one secondary, with additional evidence potentially required to confirm your Social Security number, your current address or a name change. ID.me also states that video calls are supported in more than 240 languages with a third-party interpreter brought in on request, which is rarely relevant to a British reader but confirms the agent has latitude to work through unusual cases rather than simply rejecting them.

What if you have never had a Social Security number?

This is the situation competitors skip, and it is common among Accidental Americans born in the United States to British parents who returned home within months. ID.me's own non-US passport guidance carries a blunt warning: even after you verify successfully, you may still not gain access where the organisation requires a Social Security number. The IRS is such an organisation. An ITIN is not the answer either, because an ITIN is issued to people ineligible for an SSN, and a US citizen is eligible.

The number therefore has to be obtained first. From Britain that runs through the Federal Benefits Unit at the US Embassy in London using Form SS-5-FS, the application for a Social Security card. The Embassy's published guidance requires an in-person interview for first-time applicants aged twelve and over, asks for original identity documents rather than photocopies, and indicates a processing period measured in months rather than weeks. Build that lead time into any catch-up plan, because the entire filing programme, not just the online account, waits on it. Confirm the current requirements with the Federal Benefits Unit directly before posting anything, and never mail original documents without tracking.

A worked example: the Surrey partner with a Boston birth certificate

Marcus Ellery-Vance, a fictional composite, was born in Boston while his English parents were on a three-year academic posting and returned to Surrey before his fourth birthday. He is now an equity partner at a London merchant bank with a seven-figure income, a UK passport, a portfolio of listed holdings on a UK platform, and a shareholding in the property company he set up with his brother. He has never filed a US return. His bank flagged his US place of birth under FATCA and he wants to understand what the IRS already holds before committing to anything.

His first attempt failed. He chose Self-Service, uploaded his UK driving licence, and the automated check could not process it. His second attempt used the outside-the-United-States pathway, his UK passport as the primary document and a council tax bill as the secondary, and it succeeded on a video call taken at eight in the evening London time. Inside the account he found what a specialist would expect: a Wage and Income transcript with essentially nothing on it, and a Verification of Non-Filing Letter confirming no record of a processed Form 1040-series return. Both were useful. The empty transcript told him no US payer had reported income against his number, which shaped the evidence file his preparer would need to build from UK sources instead. The non-filing letter fixed the starting point of the catch-up with documentary certainty rather than recollection.

What goes wrong, and how do you fix it?

Wrong menu choice at the start. Selecting Self-Service or Video Chat Agent instead of the option confirming you live outside the United States. Abandon the attempt and restart on the correct path.
Name drift. Your IRS account is keyed to the name and number held by the Social Security Administration. A UK marriage, deed poll or hyphenated surname that appears on your passport but was never notified to SSA is a silent failure cause. Correct the SSA record first; the IRS account cannot be fixed downstream.
Address mismatch. The address document must match the address you typed, including flat numbers, abbreviations and postcode formatting. Retype rather than paste.
Expired or damaged documents. An unexpired passport is a primary document; an expired one is not, whatever the agent may sympathise with.
SMS codes that never arrive on a UK number. Switch the second factor to an authenticator application before you reach the document stage, not after.
Joining the video call on a device whose camera cannot resolve the passport data page. Use the best camera you own and hold the document still and flat.
Calling at the wrong hour. Agent availability follows US working patterns, so a late London evening is usually a shorter queue than a London mid-morning.
Assuming a failed attempt is permanent. It is not. The extended video call exists precisely as the route of last resort for people whose documents fall outside the standard pattern.

What is the account genuinely worth in a catch-up filing?

Its value is diagnostic. The IRS page Transcript types and ways to order them sets out the range, and the depth differs by type in ways that matter to a reconstruction. The Wage and Income transcript, which carries data from information returns such as Forms W-2, 1098, 1099 and 5498, covers the current and nine prior tax years. The Tax Account transcript, showing filing status, taxable income, payment types and any later adjustments, also runs to nine prior years online but only three by post or telephone, which is one of the strongest arguments for holding the account rather than relying on the alternatives. Tax Return transcripts and the Record of Account cover the current and three prior years. The Verification of Non-Filing Letter simply states that the IRS has no record of a processed Form 1040-series return.

There is an interpretive trap here that no competitor guide addresses. For a UK-resident Accidental American with no US-source income, a near-empty Wage and Income transcript is the expected result, not a clean bill of health. It records what US payers reported against your number. It records nothing about a UK salary, UK dividends, a UK company shareholding or a UK investment platform, and it is silent on FBAR obligations. Read it as a map of the IRS's visibility, not as a measure of your exposure. Those are different questions and the second one is answered from your UK records, not from an IRS screen.

The second practical use is the balance and payment history view. Where a taxpayer has had any prior US contact at all, perhaps a single return filed by a parent decades ago or a withholding credit sitting unclaimed, the account surfaces it immediately and quantifies interest and penalty accruals by year instead of leaving them to be estimated.

How does this fit with the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures?

The account informs the filing; it does not perform it. The live catch-up route for a UK-resident non-willful non-filer is the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures, set out on the IRS page for U.S. taxpayers residing outside the United States. That route requires delinquent or amended returns for each of the three most recent years for which the due date, or properly extended due date, has passed, delinquent FBARs for each of the six most recent years for which the FBAR due date has passed, and a signed Form 14653 certifying non-willful conduct. The non-residency test for a US citizen requires that in one or more of the three most recent years the individual had no US abode and was physically outside the United States for at least 330 full days. The returns and the certification must be annotated in red ink with the words Streamlined Foreign Offshore and submitted on paper to the designated Austin, Texas address; the package is not accepted electronically, although the delinquent FBARs themselves are filed through FinCEN's electronic system.

One historic route should be dismissed before anyone raises it. The IRS previously published Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures as a standalone option. That page is no longer published and the procedure should not be presented or relied upon as a live route. For a UK-resident Accidental American with missed returns and missed FBARs, the streamlined foreign route is the one to evaluate.

What if you cannot get verified at all?

Compliance does not depend on the account, and no filing deadline is defined by it. Transcripts can be requested on Form 4506-T, which is also the route for years beyond the online range and for Wage and Income data exceeding the roughly eighty-five document limit the IRS notes for the online transcript. The IRS lists an automated transcript telephone line and a postal transcript service, though both assume US-matched address data and neither is reliable from a British address. For account questions the IRS publishes an international line, 267-941-1000, open Monday to Friday between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time and expressly not toll-free, with individual international account correspondence directed to its Philadelphia address.

The cleanest fallback for a wealthy client is authorisation. A Form 2848 Power of Attorney or a Form 8821 Tax Information Authorization lets your preparer pull the same transcripts through practitioner channels, and the account's own authorisations screen is where those filings appear once processed. That is frequently the faster path where a client's document set is awkward, and it is the route to take when a filing programme cannot wait for an identity queue.

One narrower point matters specifically to this readership. The Identity Protection PIN, which the IRS says is fastest to obtain through the profile page of the online account, has a paper alternative on Form 15227 that is income-capped, at $84,000 for an individual and $168,000 for a married couple filing jointly. For the reader this article is written for, that alternative is closed. The remaining alternative is an in-person appointment at a Taxpayer Assistance Center, which is not a realistic option from Britain. If you want an IP PIN, the online account is effectively the only door, and that is a strong reason to push the verification through rather than work around it.

Sequence the work accordingly. Confirm your SSA record is correct, assemble two matching documents before you touch the registration flow, choose the outside-the-United-States pathway, verify in a late London evening, and pull the Wage and Income transcript and the Verification of Non-Filing Letter on the first visit. Then hand both to a preparer and let the evidence, rather than an assumption, drive the catch-up filing.