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PFIC portfolio analyzer

The scanner for a whole portfolio rather than one fund: say where it is held, drop in a positions or transactions export or add each fund by name, and get every holding screened by the same engine a paid return uses — likely PFICs, the ones that need review, the §1291 tax on anything sold this year, and the FBAR, Form 8938 and catch-up questions the account raises. No signup, nothing saved. For a single fund, the PFIC checker is faster; for one known sale, use the Form 8621 calculator.

1 · Where are your investments held?

Optional, but it is what turns a list of funds into a filing picture: the wrapper decides the trust and treaty questions, the balance band decides the FBAR, and the filing history decides the route back.

2 · Import your investments

Drop in a statement, or find each fund by name

A positions export (Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, Swissquote, DEGIRO, Questrade, Wealthsimple…), a transactions export, or an Interactive Brokers activity statement — as CSV. The file is read in this browser tab and never uploaded. XLSX and PDF are not read yet: export the same table as CSV.

3 · Your holdings

Sold part, kept part? Add it as two rows — one held, one sold.

4 · Tax details

Used to size the §1291 charge on anything you sold and the Form 8938 threshold. They don't change which holdings screen as PFICs.

Filing status

What this tool answers

One question, answered properly.

It answers

Which of several holdings are PFICs, the §1291 tax on any you sold this year computed by the same engine a paid return uses, and the IRS forms that combination triggers.

Answered elsewhere

Holdings you do not enter, and the filing itself. Classification is screening on the facts you give it; the fund's own annual facts settle it.

The rest of the PFIC cluster

Each of these answers a different question.

Before you rely on this result

What would settle it, and what covers it

Documents or facts needed

  • • A brokerage CSV or the holdings with ISIN or ticker
  • • Year-end and highest balance for each foreign account
  • • Purchase and sale dates for anything sold in the year

Where this leads

PFIC Portfolio · $499 — covers the likely PFICs the scan found; a clean scan routes to the free diagnostic instead.

Also possible: CPA Export ($199) · Simple ($299). 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 screening result computed from the facts entered; not a legal classification and not individualized tax advice. This is a computation on the answers you gave, not individualized tax advice.

Tool: /tools/pfic-portfolio-analyzer

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

  • IRC §1297 — IRC §1297 — Definition of a passive foreign investment company
  • IRC §1298 — IRC §1298 — PFIC special rules (attribution, indirect ownership)
  • IRC §1291 — IRC §1291 — Interest on tax deferral (excess-distribution regime)
  • IRS Form 8621 — About Form 8621 — Information Return by a Shareholder of a PFIC or QEF

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.