Trust center
A tax product earns trust by showing its limits.
Atamatax makes determinations that end up on federal filings, so this page is deliberately blunt: what the product is, what it does, what it refuses to do, where every number comes from, and what happens when we get something wrong.
What Atamatax is
Atamatax is tax-preparation software and diagnostic tooling for US citizens and green-card holders living abroad. It is not a CPA firm, law firm, or enrolled-agent service. It applies the Internal Revenue Code and IRS form instructions to data you enter and confirm, and shows its work — every “required” verdict is printed next to the value and threshold that produced it.
What it does
- Classifies foreign holdings and flags likely PFICs, with the reasoning shown per holding
- Estimates your Form 8621 workload and computes MtM (§1296), QEF (§1295, with an AIS), and §1291 disposition math
- Checks the FBAR $10,000 aggregate threshold from the accounts you enter
- Checks the Form 8938 (FATCA) thresholds by filing status and residence, end-of-year and any-time tests separately
- Generates a draft federal package: official IRS form PDFs pre-filled where integrated, mapped worksheets elsewhere
- Produces a CPA-ready summary your accountant can finish without redoing the PFIC analysis
What it deliberately does not do
- Provide legal advice, or individualised tax advice — it applies the statute to data you enter and confirm
- Guarantee IRS acceptance of any return
- Replace a CPA or enrolled agent for complex cases — foreign corporations, trusts (3520/3520-A), audits
- E-file your return today — integrated e-file via a partner ERO targets Q3 2026; until then you file by mail or transcribe
- File your FBAR — FinCEN 114 is a separate filing at bsaefiling.fincen.treas.gov, and we say so everywhere it appears
- Represent you before the IRS
- Determine willfulness for Streamlined cases — that is a legal judgment software must not make
Supported today, coming soon, out of scope
The per-form integration status — which forms are generated as official IRS PDFs, which are partially pre-filled, and which remain worksheets — is published on the supported-forms pageand printed inside every generated package. Product-level status (what's live, what's on the roadmap, what we route to a CPA) lives on the homepage status board.
Methodology
Classifications trace to the statute: IRC §§1291–1298 for PFIC treatment, the current IRS Form 8621 instructions for election mechanics, IRS Form 8938 thresholds by filing status and residence, the FinCEN FBAR rules, and the IRS Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures. The full write-up is on the methodology page; engine changes are recorded in the methodology changelog.
Data security
Data is encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest; brokerage access via Plaid is read-only; payments never touch our servers (Stripe); transactional email goes through Resend. We never sell your data and you can delete it whenever you want. Details, including breach notification, are on the security page.
Correction policy
If a calculation issue is discovered, we correct the engine, add a regression test so the same class of error cannot recur silently, update affected reports where possible, and publish the change in the methodology changelog. We do not quietly edit outputs: the changelog records what changed, which feature it affected, and the authority it was verified against.
Frequently asked
- Is Atamatax a CPA firm?
- No. Atamatax is tax-preparation software and diagnostic tooling for US expats. It is not a CPA firm, law firm, or enrolled-agent service, and nothing it computes is individualised advice. You (or your CPA) review and file.
- What happens if a calculation is wrong?
- We correct the engine, add a regression test so the same class of error cannot recur silently, update affected outputs where possible, and record the change in the public methodology changelog.
- Can I see exactly which forms are generated as official IRS PDFs?
- Yes — the supported-forms page lists every form in the package with its integration status: fully generated, partially pre-filled, worksheet-only, separate filing, or out of scope. The same statuses are printed inside every generated package.
Last reviewed .