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Service · Fully managed

PFIC tax preparation, fully managed: one quote, the professional's fee included

For PFIC corrections, amended returns and multi-year Forms 8621. Atamatax scopes your case, engages a qualified CPA or enrolled agent and pays them; you receive one written fixed quote and never contract or pay a professional separately.

By Danilson Ramos · Founder, Atamatax

Updated October 2026

Direct answer

Who prepares, signs and files a fully managed PFIC return?

A qualified CPA or enrolled agent that Atamatax engages and pays prepares it, under one written quote from Atamatax that includes their fee. You sign your own return and any e-file authorisation (Form 8879); the professional signs as paid preparer.

The return is e-filed through the professional's authorised e-file provider where the year and forms allow; otherwise it is a paper filing Atamatax coordinates. No professional is named, and nothing is described as prepared, filed or accepted, before it has happened.

Next step: Get a fixed professional quote

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

What is it?

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.

Some PFIC work is not a software job: several years of Forms 8621, redemptions and switches to unwind under §1291, a return that has to be amended, statements in another country's format and financial year. For that work there is a fully managed option.

Atamatax scopes your case, engages a qualified CPA or enrolled agent and pays them; you receive one written quote from Atamatax that includes their fee — you never contract or pay a professional separately. The full quote is issued only after a professional has accepted the case; it names the tax years, the forms (with caps), who prepares, who reviews, who signs as paid preparer and how the return is filed: e-filed through the professional's authorised e-file provider where the year and forms allow, otherwise a paper filing Atamatax coordinates. You sign your own return and any e-file authorisation (Form 8879). No professional is named, and nothing is described as prepared, filed or accepted, before it has happened.

How it works

  1. Assess — answer the free check: your residency, your funds and what happened to them. Indian mutual funds start at the Indian mutual fund check; funds from any other country start at the PFIC assessment.
  2. Confirm requirements — a person reads the facts and confirms which years and which funds actually need Form 8621. If none do, you are told so, and no correction is sold.
  3. Receive your quote — a professional accepts the case and states their fee to Atamatax; you receive one written fixed quote from Atamatax that includes it, naming the years, the forms with caps, who prepares, who reviews, who signs and how the return is filed.
  4. Upload documents — statements, transaction histories and prior returns go to your private case.
  5. Professional preparation — the engaged professional prepares the returns and forms your quote lists. Any work outside the quote needs your written approval first.
  6. Sign and file — you sign your return and any e-file authorisation (Form 8879); the professional signs as paid preparer. The return is e-filed through the professional's authorised e-file provider where the year and forms allow, otherwise it is a paper filing Atamatax coordinates.
  7. Track — your case shows each state as it happens: prepared, signed, filed, and accepted where an acknowledgement exists. Nothing is shown as filed or accepted before it is.

What it covers

  • PFIC corrections — a return filed without Form 8621, amended on Form 1040-X with the forms attached. See filed your return without Form 8621?
  • Multi-year Forms 8621 — several years and several funds, including the §1291 computations for redemptions, switches and large distributions.
  • Indian mutual funds held from the U.S. — schemes, SIP lots, SWP and STP, and April–March statements re-cut to calendar years. See Indian mutual funds and U.S. tax.
  • A current-year return with PFICs in it, when you would rather not prepare it yourself.
  • An open IRS examination or a question about willfulness is read by a person before anything is quoted.

How the price is set

Every engagement is a custom fixed quote, set by the funds that are actually reportable, the tax years, the transactions, the condition of your documents and the professional's workload. There is no universal price and no per-fund rate, because the same number of funds can be an afternoon or a reconstruction project depending on the years, the transactions and the records. The quote is issued before you pay for the engagement, and the professional's fee is inside it. An initial scoping stage may be offered; where it is, it is priced on its own and credited in full against the full engagement.

Self-service · PFIC PortfolioFully managed
Price$499 per supported tax year, up to 25 Forms 8621; tax year 2026 uses the $199 CPA ExportA custom fixed quote — no universal price, no per-fund rate
Who preparesYou, from the software's computations and workpapersA qualified CPA or enrolled agent Atamatax engages and pays
Who signsYou — and your own preparer, if you hand it to oneYou sign your return and any Form 8879; the professional signs as paid preparer
How it is filedYou file the package, or hand it to your own preparerE-filed through the professional's authorised e-file provider where the year and forms allow, otherwise a paper filing Atamatax coordinates
Tax yearsOne supported tax year per packageThe years your quote names
An amended return (Form 1040-X)Workpapers for the Form 1040-X you or your preparer preparePrepared by the engaged professional when your quote includes it
Best forA current year, a handful of funds, records in handCorrections, several years, redemptions to unwind — or no time

The self-service figures come from the published price list on Atamatax pricing; what a PFIC accountant costs explains how firms price the same work.

Get a fixed professional quote

Start with the free check — your residency, your funds and what happened to them. A quote follows only if a filing or correction is needed. Non-Indian funds start at the PFIC assessment instead.

Get a fixed professional quote

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

How many non-US funds or ETFs do you hold?

Count each fund, not each account. Funds inside a wrapper (ISA, TFSA, Pillar 3a, super) count.

For how many tax years have you held them?

Including the current year. A fund bought in 2023 and still held is three years.

Has a Form 8621 been filed for them before?
Are your US tax returns themselves up to date?

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

  • IRS Form 8621 — About Form 8621 — Information Return by a Shareholder of a PFIC or QEF
  • Instructions for Form 8621 — IRS — Instructions for Form 8621, Information Return by a Shareholder of a PFIC or QEF
  • Form 1040-X — Form 1040-X — Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return (instructions)
  • IRS · File an amended return — IRS — File an amended return: Form 1040-X can be filed electronically with tax software; returns for tax year 2021 or before are amended on paper (page reviewed 30 Sep 2026)
  • IRC §1291 — IRC §1291 — Interest on tax deferral (excess-distribution regime)
  • 26 CFR §1.1298-1 — 26 CFR §1.1298-1 — Section 1298(f) annual reporting; §1.1298-1(c)(4) exception for PFIC stock held through a treaty-qualified foreign pension fund

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.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to find my own CPA?#
No. Atamatax scopes your case, engages a qualified CPA or enrolled agent and pays them; you receive one written quote from Atamatax that includes their fee — you never contract or pay a professional separately.
Who signs the return?#
You sign your own return and, where it is e-filed, the e-file authorisation (Form 8879). The engaged professional signs as paid preparer on any return they prepare. Your quote names who prepares, who reviews and who signs before you pay for the engagement.
Will you e-file it?#
Where the tax year and the forms allow, the return is e-filed through the engaged professional's authorised e-file provider. Where they do not — an amended return for tax year 2021 or before, for example, which the IRS requires on paper — it is a paper filing Atamatax coordinates for you to sign. Atamatax's own software transmits nothing, and a filing is shown on your case only once it has happened.
Is the professional's fee extra?#
No. The professional's fee is included in the accepted quote. Any additional work outside the quote needs your written approval first.
What if my case turns out not to need Form 8621?#
You are told so, and no correction is sold. Some holdings turn out not to be PFICs at all, and for some years the small-holdings exception may excuse the annual report.
How much does it cost?#
It is a custom fixed quote, set by the funds that are actually reportable, the tax years, the transactions, the condition of your documents and the professional's workload. There is no universal price and no per-fund rate, and no example figure is published, because none would be honest before the scope is known. An initial scoping stage may be offered; where it is, it is priced on its own and credited in full against the full engagement.
Can I talk to someone first?#
Yes. A scoping call can be booked instead of starting with the check; it covers the same questions, and the quote still follows only once a professional has accepted the case.

Related guides

Preparation · price before you start

If you want the Forms 8621 prepared

Which route fits depends on a few facts, not on the balances. These are the common situations and the route the same rules give each one. Nothing is charged until you generate a package or accept a written quote.

  1. Your returns are up to date and the non-US funds are the complication

    PFIC Portfolio · $499 · Self-serve preparation

    PFIC Portfolio covers portfolios of four to twenty-five likely PFICs, with a Form 8621 drafted per fund.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    Everything in Simple plus up to 25 supported Forms 8621 — line-mapped worksheets until independent validation of the official PDFs completes — with QEF / mark-to-market / §1291 inputs per holding, fund-domicile classification with confidence shown, and the assumption log — for one tax year.

    The Atamatax engine prepares a draft package from the figures you enter and confirm. No person prepares it.

    Nobody at Atamatax reviews it before you download it. A package generated with an open gap is stamped DRAFT — INCOMPLETE and lists what must be resolved, and every assumption is listed for you, or a professional you choose, to check.

    You file — the return with the IRS using the package's instructions, the FBAR on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System — or a professional you engage files for you. Atamatax transmits nothing to the IRS or FinCEN.

    Prepare my PFIC portfolio

  2. You already work with an accountant who files for you

    CPA Export · $199 · Accountant handoff

    You already have an accountant. CPA Export gives them the per-fund PFIC screen with its reasons and the threshold arithmetic, so the fund question is settled before the return is drafted.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    A PDF hand-off for an accountant: the holdings and PFIC classification table, the potential Form 8621 workload, FBAR/Form 8938 threshold logic, worksheets mapped to form lines, and the assumption log — for one tax year.

    The engine builds the PFIC analysis and the worksheets from the entries you confirm. Your accountant prepares the return from them.

    Nobody at Atamatax reviews the export before you download it. Your accountant checks it — every classification and figure carries the assumption behind it.

    Your accountant files the return, or you do; the FBAR is filed on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System. Atamatax transmits nothing to the IRS or FinCEN.

    Build my CPA Export

  3. Returns, FBARs or Forms 8621 are missing for earlier years

    Streamlined Investor · $2,200 · Scoped by hand

    The catch-up years include non-US funds or a personal foreign plan, so each back year needs PFIC work as well as the return and the FBAR.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    A Streamlined Foreign Offshore preparation package: up to three delinquent returns and six FBAR years as worksheets mapped to each year's official forms (official pre-filled PDFs only for tax year 2025), a document completeness check, the Form 14653 organiser, and filing instructions — one scoped quote, one payment.

    A person at Atamatax prepares the three returns, the six FBAR years and the Form 14653 organiser from your documents, against the written scope, with the engine computing the figures. You write your own statement of facts.

    A person at Atamatax checks the package for completeness before release — an operational check, not a review by a credentialed tax professional. No EA or CPA review is included unless your written scope names one.

    You mail the returns to the IRS as the Streamlined instructions direct, and file the FBARs on FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System. Atamatax transmits nothing to the IRS or FinCEN.

    Get a scoped quote

  4. More than twenty-five funds, or the fund facts are incomplete

    Confirm the scope before choosing a package · Free to ask

    More than twenty-five likely PFICs is past the included limit of every package; the scope is confirmed by hand before a price is named.

    What arrives, who prepares and checks it, and who files

    Free to ask. A person reads the facts and says whether Atamatax can take the case, and which route it would be.

    A person at Atamatax reads the facts before any route is offered.

    See whether Atamatax can take the case

When a professional's judgment is needed. Checkout stops and sends you to a person when there are more than twenty-five likely PFICs. Whether a late QEF or mark-to-market election can still be made turns on the facts and is a professional's call — if that is your question, ask before you buy.

In every route the signatures and the filing stay with you or the accountant you choose; nothing is filed on your behalf. Written questions to hello@atamatax.com reach a person — we aim to reply within one business day. Who does what in each route.

Free preliminary result · a few questions

Build your PFIC filing map

Know what PFIC reporting means for your own holdings: how many Forms 8621 are likely, whether the year produced tax or only reporting, and what else your situation pulls in.

Build my PFIC filing mapNo signup. Answers stay yours.

Fully managed

One quote, the professional's fee included

Start with the free check. A fixed quote follows only when a filing or correction is needed — and nothing is paid for the engagement before you accept it.

Get a fixed professional quoteCheck if I need Form 8621