Does this calculate my PFIC tax?

No. This is a filing cost calculator: it prices preparation from the number of potential holding-year reviews your portfolio implies. The tax on a §1291 disposition or excess distribution is a different question with different inputs, and it is computed by the PFIC calculator for Form 8621.

How is Form 8621 preparation usually priced?

Professional providers commonly price PFIC work per form, hourly, or inside a case quote, so the same portfolio can be quoted very differently depending on what is included. Atamatax uses a configured flat package with a stated number of included Forms 8621 and a stated per-form amount beyond it, which is what this estimate reads from.

Why does the estimate go up with tax years rather than funds alone?

Form 8621 is filed per holding, per year. Five funds held across three catch-up years is up to fifteen holding-year reviews, not five, which is why a Streamlined catch-up is scoped as a multi-year package rather than a single return.

Is the estimate the price I will be charged?

No. It is a planning figure produced from the counts you entered. The tier is confirmed from the actual return before anything is charged, and a prior election, missing records or a portfolio outside the self-serve scope can move the work to review instead.

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PFIC filing cost calculator

Estimate what preparing your Forms 8621 is likely to cost: how many holding-year reviews your funds and years imply, which package covers them, and the price that follows from the published pricing. This is a scope-and-price estimate; the PFIC tax itself, the classification and the election live in the other tools. For the tax on a sale or distribution, use the Form 8621 calculator.

Enter your portfolio scope to see the package that covers it, the price that follows from the configured pricing, and what drives it. No signup, nothing saved.

What drives the cost

Four facts move the number.

Holdings × years

Form 8621 is per holding, per year. The count of holding-year reviews — not the portfolio value — is what preparation scope is measured in.

Sales and distributions

A disposition adds lot, holding-period and allocation work that a fund merely held all year does not.

A prior election

An existing QEF or mark-to-market election has to be verified before it can be relied on; the election itself stays yours.

A catch-up filing

PFIC work inside a Streamlined submission is scoped across the whole three-year package rather than priced as a single return.

Every figure comes from the published Atamatax pricing. What the package includes, form by form, is set out in supported forms and accuracy and review.

What this tool answers

One question, answered properly.

It answers

What preparing the forms is likely to cost: how many holding-year reviews your portfolio implies, which Atamatax package covers them, and the price that follows from the configured pricing.

Answered elsewhere

Your tax — the §1291 charge lives in the calculator; the estimate is a planning figure, and the tier is confirmed from the return itself before anything is charged.

The rest of the PFIC cluster

Each of these answers a different question.

FAQ

PFIC filing cost questions

Does this calculate my PFIC tax?: No. This is a filing cost calculator: it prices preparation from the number of potential holding-year reviews your portfolio implies. The tax on a §1291 disposition or excess distribution is a different question with different inputs, and it is computed by the PFIC calculator for Form 8621.
How is Form 8621 preparation usually priced?: Professional providers commonly price PFIC work per form, hourly, or inside a case quote, so the same portfolio can be quoted very differently depending on what is included. Atamatax uses a configured flat package with a stated number of included Forms 8621 and a stated per-form amount beyond it, which is what this estimate reads from.
Why does the estimate go up with tax years rather than funds alone?: Form 8621 is filed per holding, per year. Five funds held across three catch-up years is up to fifteen holding-year reviews, not five, which is why a Streamlined catch-up is scoped as a multi-year package rather than a single return.
Is the estimate the price I will be charged?: No. It is a planning figure produced from the counts you entered. The tier is confirmed from the actual return before anything is charged, and a prior election, missing records or a portfolio outside the self-serve scope can move the work to review instead.

Before you rely on this result

What would settle it, and what covers it

Documents or facts needed

• A list of foreign funds held with ISINs
• Which years each was held, and any sales
• Elections made in prior years

Where this leads

PFIC Portfolio · $499 — one flat price covers up to the included number of Forms 8621 for a tax year.

Also possible: CPA Export ($199). The cheapest route that covers your facts is the right one; a package never covers more than one tax year.

How to read a status

Likely:: The facts entered meet the published test; confirm the inputs before acting.
Possible:: Some facts point this way and others are missing; more information decides it.
Needs review:: These inputs leave it open; a person should look before filing.
Not currently indicated:: Nothing entered triggers it this year; a changed fact can change the answer.
Outside supported scope:: This item is routed to a professional for preparation.

Scope. A scope estimate from counts you entered; the package price is fixed, the professional-fee comparison is illustrative. This is a computation on the answers you gave, not individualized tax advice.

What changes the result

This answer changes if…

Whether a fund is treated as a PFIC

…the fund is held inside a pension or retirement arrangement the U.S. recognises for this purpose — a treaty-recognised pension can take the fund out of Form 8621 reporting for the years it stays inside.
…the fund turns out to be U.S.-registered under a European-sounding name — a U.S.-registered fund is not a PFIC at all; the ISIN decides it. Check it
…the instrument is a note or a certificate rather than a fund — an exchange-traded note or a structured certificate is a debt claim on its issuer, analysed differently. Check it
…you hold shares of the fund manager rather than units of one of its funds — an operating company is not a pooled vehicle; the domicile alone never decides it.
…a reviewer has verified the classification — a screen from the fund's identity becomes a determination only when a person checks the fund's own facts.

What a PFIC costs in a given year

…you sold the holding, in full or in part, during the year — a disposition is an excess distribution over the whole holding period, with interest, not a capital gain.
…the fund paid you a distribution that exceeds 125% of the prior three years' average — the excess is thrown back across the holding period and taxed at each year's top rate.
…a qualified electing fund or mark-to-market election was made in a prior year — an election changes the regime for every later year until revoked; the §1291 default no longer applies.
…the fund publishes a PFIC Annual Information Statement — a QEF election becomes available; without the statement it cannot be made or kept.
…the purchase date or the cost is not what the statement assumed — the holding period and the basis drive both the allocation and the interest; a reconstructed date moves both.
…the year-end value is not the one used — under mark-to-market the year's inclusion is the change in value; a different value is a different figure.

Each line names a fact that moves the result; what it moves to depends on the rest of your facts. Nothing here is a determination.

How Atamatax calculations are produced — the tests applied, statutory sources and review cadence — is documented in the methodology, and how the engine is validated in accuracy & review. Calculation fixes are recorded in the changelog.

Authorities cited

IRS Form 8621 — About Form 8621 — Information Return by a Shareholder of a PFIC or QEF
IRC §1291 — IRC §1291 — Interest on tax deferral (excess-distribution regime)

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.