Reading and tools
Free · no account
Every page here, plus the tools that apply published rules to figures you enter. Enough to settle a simple question on your own.
See the free toolsStart here
What is going on for you?
Most tax sites — including most of this one — are organised by form number. That works if you already know which form is your problem. Start from the question you actually have instead.
Every link below goes to an explanation, not a payment. Reading costs nothing and needs no account.
Common situations
- I have never filed U.S. taxes.Which years actually needed a return — before anyone calls it a catch-up.
- I bought non-U.S. funds or ETFs.What that means for reporting and for the fee — not an instruction to sell.
- My bank asked for U.S. tax details.What the letter is, what it is not, and which of the three separate problems you actually have.
- I started my first job abroad.Whether this year is a filing year for you, and what a small salary does and does not settle.
- My spouse is not American.Whose income and whose accounts are actually in scope — and whose are not.
- I am not sure which accounts I have to report.Why the accounts where you live are the 'foreign' ones, and how the totals actually work.
- I have always lived outside the U.S.Why a country you left as a baby still has rules for you — and what they are.
Something is changing
Retiring, moving, going freelance, leaving
These are five different regimes with five different answers, so they are five different pages rather than one. Where we have not written something, the entry says so.
- I am retiring abroad
How U.S. retirement accounts behave once you live elsewhere, and which pension questions turn on the treaty.
- I am becoming self-employed
Self-employment tax does not follow the income-tax reliefs. The totalization agreement, not the FEIE, is what usually settles it.
- I am moving to another country
The U.S. tax year does not restart when you move, and the reliefs you relied on are tested on a timetable that ignores the move.
- I am moving back to the U.S.
What to do with foreign accounts and funds before you land, while the choices are still open.
- I am considering giving up U.S. citizenship
The exit-tax tests and Form 8854. Atamatax does not prepare Form 8854 and does not advise on renunciation — this explains what is at stake so you can brief a professional.
I am selling my home abroad — not written yet
We have not written this one yet. It turns on currency gain on the mortgage as much as on the house, and we would rather say nothing than say it partly.
What costs what
Three levels, and you may only need the first
A personal assessment
$100 · one payment
Which years appear to have needed a return, which forms follow, and your deadlines — your figures, tested year by year. It is an assessment, not a return, and it files nothing. Creditable in full against an eligible Atamatax preparation service within 14 days.
What the assessment coversPreparation
Priced by scope
The returns and worksheets themselves, prepared for you to review, sign and file. If you already know what you need, you can start here — the assessment is not a prerequisite.
See preparation pricingThe questions people ask before they trust any of this
- What can I find out for free?
- The general answer to every question on this page, with no account and no email — that is what these pages are. The tools that apply published rules to figures you enter are free too: the FBAR and Form 8938 threshold checks, the PFIC screen, the Streamlined eligibility walkthrough and the filing-threshold check. You are asked for money only when the work needs your own figures worked through.
- Why would I pay for a diagnostic rather than read a guide?
- A guide tells you what the rules are. It cannot tell you which years of yours crossed which threshold, which forms your particular facts point to, or what your deadlines are — because it does not have your numbers. If reading the free page settles it, you do not need the paid one, and we would rather you read it and leave.
- Do I have to buy the diagnostic before you will prepare my return?
- No. If you already know what has to be filed, go straight to preparation; the diagnostic is not a gate in front of it. It exists for people who do not yet know what they are dealing with, and where it does point you to preparation work the fee comes off the price.
- What if the answer is that I do not need to do anything?
- Then that is the answer and it is a legitimate one. Never having filed is not evidence anything was ever due, and a year below its threshold generally required no return. Nothing here is designed to turn a clean result into a purchase.
- Is the result generated automatically or checked by a person?
- The free tools are automatic and say so. The paid diagnostic is generated by the rules engine, and cases that reach anything that should not be issued automatically are held for a check before release — the report tells you which happened. Atamatax does not currently have a credentialed EA or CPA reviewing work, and no page here claims otherwise.
- What happens if my situation is outside what you can handle?
- You are told, and you are not sold something anyway. An open IRS examination, a real question about whether non-reporting was deliberate, or a renunciation decision all need a qualified professional we do not employ. The honest answer in those cases is a description of who to look for, not a checkout.
- Do I need an account to read any of this?
- No. Nothing on these pages is behind an account or an email form. An account exists only for work you have bought and for documents you have chosen to upload.
Atamatax is tax-preparation software. It does not provide legal advice, does not determine whether conduct was wilful, and does not file on your behalf. Where a question needs a qualified professional, these pages say so instead of selling you something.