Broker · Europe
DEGIRO & PFICs for US persons
DEGIRO's universe is UCITS by construction — which makes nearly every fund on it a PFIC for a US taxpayer. What to check before you file.
By Danilson Ramos · Founder, Atamatax
Published July 2026 · Updated September 2026
Your situation, in five answers
- What happened
- You hold, or held, funds or ETFs in a DEGIRO account while being a US person — often an account opened before you became one.
- Why it matters
- DEGIRO's shelf is European by construction, so the ordinary thing to own there is exactly the thing US tax treats worst. Owning it is not a violation; not reporting it is the problem.
- What it could trigger
- Each UCITS ETF or European fund may be a PFIC with its own Form 8621 every year under the §1291 default; the account itself may need the FBAR and Form 8938. The cash sweep fund can be a PFIC too.
- What you need
- DEGIRO's positions export with an ISIN per holding, your purchase dates and cost per lot, any distributions, and the account's maximum and year-end value for every year you held it.
- What to do next
- Check a fund by ticker or ISIN
Check it for your own holding
Could this investment be a PFIC?
Two questions and, if you have it, the ticker or ISIN. The read is immediate, nothing you enter leaves this page, and it names what would settle the rest.
Free, no account, nothing you answer leaves this page. Open the full portfolio scanner
Screened against the fund registry on this page. It is never sent anywhere.
A screen. Whether a fund is a PFIC turns on its own annual income and asset facts under §1297; the read above says how far your answers go and what would settle the rest.
DEGIRO is one of Europe's largest retail brokers — and for a US person, one of the most reliable ways to accumulate PFICs, because its fund universe is European by construction.
Can a US person use DEGIRO?
DEGIRO's onboarding generally does not accept US persons (its account terms and W-8 process screen for US status — confirm current policy with DEGIRO). In practice the US persons who hold DEGIRO accounts are usually people who opened one before becoming a US person, accidental Americans, or green-card holders who didn't flag their status. The tax rules below apply to all of them.
Why almost everything at DEGIRO is a PFIC
EU PRIIPs rules effectively block European retail brokers from selling US-domiciled ETFs (no KID document), so the ETFs DEGIRO offers are UCITS funds domiciled in Ireland or Luxembourg. For a US taxpayer each one is generally a PFIC: one Form 8621 per fund per year, and the punitive §1291 default regime on gains and large distributions unless you elect otherwise.
| Holding at DEGIRO | PFIC? | Typical filing |
|---|---|---|
| UCITS ETF (ISIN IE, LU…) | Likely | Form 8621 each year |
| European mutual fund (ISIN NL, DE, FR…) | Likely | Form 8621 each year |
| Individual company shares | No | Report the account |
| Cash balance / money-market sweep fund | The sweep FUND is likely a PFIC | Check the fund's ISIN |
FBAR and Form 8938
A DEGIRO account is a foreign financial account: it counts toward the $10,000 FBAR aggregate and toward the Form 8938 thresholds. Export your annual statement (positions + cash, with maximum and year-end values) — that's the data both forms need.
- Export the annual report / positions overview (CSV) — ticker, ISIN, quantity, year-end value.
- Check each ISIN prefix: US… is not a PFIC; IE/LU/NL/DE/FR… likely is.
- Note each account's maximum balance during the year for the FBAR.
- If you hold UCITS funds, model the §1291 cost before selling anything.
What information matters
Whether a DEGIRO holding is a PFIC is settled by what the fund is, not by where you bought it. Before any tool or preparer can go further, four things have to be in hand for each fund: its ISIN (the issuer and, usually, the domicile), the purchase date and cost of each lot (the §1291 rules allocate a gain across every day you held it), any distributions it paid in the year, and the account's maximum and year-end value for every year the position existed — not only the year you are filing now. DEGIRO's positions and transactions exports carry all of it; the annual statement alone does not show lots.
Why the number of funds and years matters
Form 8621 is filed per PFIC, per year. Three UCITS ETFs held for four unreported years is not one form; it is twelve, and each one carries its own §1291 arithmetic when a fund was sold or paid a large distribution. That count is what decides the shape of the work. Atamatax's PFIC package prepares up to 25 Forms 8621 inside one return for a flat $499; a portfolio above that, or one where the earlier years were never filed at all, is a scoped case rather than a self-serve return.
When DIY software stops being enough
Mainstream consumer software does not prepare Form 8621 at all — TurboTax cannot file it. Purpose-built software can, when the holdings are identified, the lots and distributions are known and the return years are otherwise current. It stops being enough when several prior years are unfiled (that is a catch-up question before it is a form question), when cost basis is missing for lots bought years ago, or when an election decision — QEF, mark-to-market or neither — has to be made consistently across many funds and years. Those are the cases to scope before buying anything.
What Atamatax can evaluate
Free, on this site: screen each ISIN for PFIC indicators, run the whole export through the portfolio analyzer, and estimate how many Forms 8621 the holdings imply. Paid: prepare those forms inside the return, with the §1291 allocation shown. Not on offer from software: a legal determination that a specific fund is or is not a PFIC, any view on non-willfulness, or DEGIRO's own policy on US persons — those are the fund's annual facts, a legal question and the broker's terms respectively.
Check your DEGIRO holdings before you file
Paste your ISINs — the free checker screens each holding for PFIC indicators and names the next record to confirm. Run the whole positions export through the analyzer to see how many Forms 8621 the portfolio implies. This is general information, not individualised tax advice.
From one fund to the whole case
What does your PFIC situation actually require?
Four questions — how many funds, for how long, whether Forms 8621 were ever filed, whether the returns are current — and a route into the preparation that fits, with what it costs. Nothing you answer leaves this page.
Free, no account, nothing you answer leaves this page. Open the full portfolio scanner
A routing read, not a determination. Whether a fund is a PFIC, whether an exception applies and what a prior year needs are established when the holdings are screened; the route above says where that happens and what it costs.
Authorities cited
- IRC §1291 — IRC §1291 — Interest on tax deferral (excess-distribution regime)
- IRC §1297 — IRC §1297 — Definition of a passive foreign investment company
- IRS Form 8621 — About Form 8621 — Information Return by a Shareholder of a PFIC or QEF
- 31 CFR §1010.350 — 31 CFR §1010.350 — FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) filing requirement and $10,000 threshold
- FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR) — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
- IRS Form 8938 — About Form 8938 — Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
Primary sources (Cornell Legal Information Institute for the US Code and CFR; IRS.gov for forms, procedures, and treaty documents). This page is general information, not individualized tax or legal advice.
Atamatax provides tax preparation support and educational resources. This website does not constitute legal or tax advice.