American in Germany — a Trade Republic ETF Sparplan

Facts

• US citizen, living in Germany.
• US filings: I missed two years.
• Income: salary or wages.
• Non-US accounts at their peak: $10,000 – $50,000.
• Non-US funds or ETFs: yes, 1 to 3 — no sales or distributions this year.
• Foreign pension: a personal or self-directed plan.

What they hold

• ETF Sparplan (Trade Republic)
• Riester pension contract
• German bank account

Potential issues

• FBAR (FinCEN Form 114)Possible

  An FBAR is required when the aggregate value of your non-US financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any point during the calendar year. It is filed with FinCEN, separately from your tax return.

• FATCA (Form 8938)Not currently indicated

  Form 8938 reports specified foreign financial assets and is filed WITH your tax return. Its thresholds are much higher than the FBAR's, and higher again if you live abroad.

• Foreign investments / PFIC (Form 8621)Likely

  Almost every fund organised outside the US — a UCITS ETF, a local mutual fund, many insurance-wrapped investments — is a passive foreign investment company for a US owner, and generally needs its own Form 8621 each year.

• Foreign pensionsPossible

  A non-US pension is generally a specified foreign financial asset for Form 8938, is often a reportable account for the FBAR, can be a foreign trust for Form 3520 unless an exemption applies, and its contributions and growth may be taxable in the US each year unless a treaty article defers them.

• Foreign companies, branches and trustsNot currently indicated

  Nothing in your answers indicates a foreign company, branch, trust or large foreign gift.

Likely forms

• US federal tax return (Form 1040)Likely

  Your worldwide gross income is above the $15,750 2025 filing threshold for single (under 65).

• PFIC reporting (Form 8621)Likely

  You hold funds or ETFs organised outside the US. PFIC status turns on where the fund is organised, not on what it holds — an Ireland-domiciled ETF tracking the S&P 500 is still a PFIC.

• FBAR (FinCEN Form 114)Possible

  Your range ($10,000 – $50,000) spans the $10,000 threshold, so it depends on your actual peak.

• Foreign pension reportingPossible

  A personal or self-directed plan is the kind most often treated as a foreign trust for Form 3520, and the kind most often holding non-US funds that are PFICs in their own right.

• Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555)Possible

  You have foreign earned income and live abroad, so the exclusion is likely available to you.

• Foreign Tax Credit (Form 1116)Possible

  You paid income tax to another country, so the credit is likely the mechanism that stops the same income being taxed twice.

• Streamlined Foreign Offshore ProceduresPossible

  Your answers are consistent with the Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures: a non-willful failure to file, and a tax home outside the US.

Likely · Possible · Needs review — likelihoods on the stated facts, never determinations.

What depends on more information

• ○Your highest combined balance during the year, against $10,000.
• ○The plan's legal form under local law, whether the treaty defers taxation of it, whether you direct the investments inside it, and what those investments are.
• ○The non-residency test year by year, and a written non-willfulness statement on Form 14653 — which is signed under penalty of perjury.
• ○A valid SSN or ITIN in hand before submission — a published prerequisite.
• ○Which years and forms are actually missing, from IRS transcripts rather than memory.

Atamatax workflow

1. 01Order IRS account and wage transcripts for the years in question to confirm exactly which returns and FBARs are missing.
2. 02Gather the prior US returns you have and the local tax records for each year in scope.
3. 03Build the account list with each account's highest balance during the year — this feeds both the FBAR and Form 8938 and is the item most people underestimate.
4. 04Export brokerage statements for every year each fund was held and list each fund's ISIN; establish which holdings are PFICs before any return is prepared.
5. 05Collect the pension plan statements and rules, and establish the plan's legal form and whether the treaty defers it — this decides which forms the pension appears on.
6. 06Confirm the catch-up route — foreign Streamlined, domestic Streamlined, or a narrower procedure — from the transcripts and the residence dates, before preparing any year.
7. 07Decide between the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion and the Foreign Tax Credit before preparing the earliest year — the choice is hard to reverse and applies year on year.
8. 08Prepare the returns for each catch-up year with their information forms, then the FBARs, then the certification statement — and only then submit as one package.

Needs a professional's judgement: Foreign pension treatment: the treaty article and the plan's legal form decide which forms apply and whether growth is taxed now. FEIE versus Foreign Tax Credit: the election is hard to reverse and depends on figures this assessment did not ask for.