Comparison · updated monthly
Bright!Tax assigns you a CPA. If your situation isn't unusual, you're paying for a CPA you don't need.
Bright!Tax is a done-for-you CPA firm — a human prepares your return after a structured intake. The trade-off is price: from $170 per Form 8621 (no distributions) on top of the base preparation fee. For straightforward expat returns, that's a steep premium over self-serve software.
Who Bright!Tax is for
Bright!Tax is the right call when you genuinely need a CPA — partnerships or trusts, an IRS examination in flight, FATCA disclosure with material gaps, or a structurally complex year where the marginal time saved is worth the bill. If you just hold a few PFICs, the value is harder to justify.
Where each sits
Products in different categories are not better or worse than each other; they are for different returns. The category that matches your situation is the one to compare inside.
Bright!Tax
General expat preparation
A preparer or a workflow built for Americans abroad across the common forms — 2555, 1116, FBAR, 8938 — with foreign funds handled as an add-on.
Atamatax
Complex foreign-investment workflow
Import the foreign portfolio, identify the PFICs, compute the allocation per holding and per year, reconstruct missing basis, and produce the workpapers.
Professional handoff
The analysis packaged for an accountant to file from — classification with its reason, worksheets per holding, threshold arithmetic, an assumption log.
Self-serve tax software
You enter the figures and file the return yourself; the software computes the forms it supports.
Side-by-side
Pricing model
- Atamatax
- Flat $299 / $499 / $799 per return
- Bright!Tax
- DFY CPA pricing; from $170 per Form 8621 (no distributions)
Form 8621 (PFIC)
- Atamatax
- Up to 25 included in the $499 PFIC Portfolio package; no per-form fee inside that limit.
- Bright!Tax
- From $170 each (no distributions).
Who prepares the return
- Atamatax
- You, with the engine output and a draft PDF package.
- Bright!Tax
- Assigned CPA prepares and reviews.
Turnaround
- Atamatax
- Same session for the draft; immediate at file step.
- Bright!Tax
- Days to weeks depending on backlog.
Audit support
- Atamatax
- Representation is arranged with a professional you engage; the package gives them the figures.
- Bright!Tax
- CPA representation available.
Foreign brokerage CSV import
- Atamatax
- Positions CSV or statement upload from any broker, with per-holding ISIN screening. Plaid connection for US brokers: built, opens after Plaid production review.
- Bright!Tax
- Manual intake by preparer.
Treaty desks
- Atamatax
- FR / UK / DE / CA / AU with article citations.
- Bright!Tax
- CPA-level treaty knowledge across many countries.
Streamlined Foreign Offshore (3 return years + 6 FBAR years)
- Atamatax
- Prepared with you: Essential $1,590 · Investor $2,200 · Complex from $2,990. You sign Form 14653 and file.
- Bright!Tax
- Done-for-you CPA engagement starting at $1,860; the CPA prepares and files.
Each row states what the two products do as of September 2026. We update this page when their offering changes — tell us if it's out of date.
Competitor pricing last verified: against Bright!Tax's own published price list. Prices change; confirm on their site before deciding.
Two Atamatax product lines appear in this table. Self-serve software for one tax year — $299 (no PFICs), $499 (up to 25 Forms 8621) and $799 (treaty positions) — and the Streamlined catch-up preparation tiers at $1,590–$2,990+, which are quoted in writing after a free scope check and prepared with you. They are different services at different prices.
Bottom line
If you need a CPA — examinations, partnerships, complex disclosures — Bright!Tax is a legitimate choice. For the typical US expat with W-2 income and a few PFICs, you're paying CPA prices for software-grade work.
Before choosing either
Check the facts the price depends on
- Streamlined eligibility checkerBefore paying anyone's Streamlined price: whether the published gates fit your facts, and where a question is a professional's to settle.Free · no signup
- Is my fund a PFIC?Screens a fund or ETF by ISIN or domicile — the count of PFICs is what a per-form price turns on.Free · no signup
- PFIC filing cost calculatorWhat Form 8621 preparation is likely to cost from your holdings and years, to set beside a per-form quote.Free · no signup
- US expat tax calculatorWhich forms your year actually needs, and an outlook on the tax — the list the price on either side should be quoted against.Free · no signup
How this comparison was made
- Competitor facts come from Bright!Tax's own published pages — the price list, the plan descriptions, the forms list — and are linked under Sources where a public page exists. Where a price is quoted per case, the table says so rather than guessing a number.
- Prices were last read from Bright!Tax's site on ; they are re-read on a monthly cadence and the date above changes when they are.
- Atamatax's prices are rendered from the pricing configuration the checkout uses, so the table cannot show a price the product does not charge.
- Rows describe scope, not quality: no cell is marked as a winner, and the bottom line says who is better served by the other product.
Out of date? Tell us and the row is re-read. Atamatax pricing · Comparison methodology and index
Sources
Compare on your own situation
Which Atamatax package would your return actually need?
A few questions name the forms, the package and the price for your year — then the comparison above is about you, not about a generic expat.
Or skip the questions: the on-screen draft is free and you pay when you generate the package — start my return.