Comparison · updated monthly
Expatfile is solid for the simple expat. If you hold PFICs, you'll pay for their professional tier — or for us.
Expatfile is a self-serve US expat tax tool with strong UX for the FEIE / FTC baseline and integrated e-file, from $119 per return. It works well if your only complication is the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Form 8621 (PFIC) is not in the supported-forms list of any of its self-serve plans; PFIC work sits in its professionally prepared Unlimited plan.
Who Expatfile is for
Expatfile fits W-2 employees abroad with no foreign brokerage, who need Form 2555 + Form 1116 and not much else, and who want to e-file from inside the product. The simple flow is genuinely simple.
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.
Expatfile
Self-serve tax software
You enter the figures and file the return yourself; the software computes the forms it supports.
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
Federal return entry price (self-serve)
- Atamatax
- $299 flat, one tax year, no PFICs
- Expatfile
- $119 Standard · $159 Premier · $199 Investor, per return
Form 8621 (PFIC) in self-serve
- Atamatax
- PFIC Portfolio package: up to 25 Forms 8621 for a flat $499. Built-in classification + QEF / MtM / §1291.
- Expatfile
- Not listed in any self-serve plan's forms; Unlimited ($499, professionally prepared) only.
§1291 interest-charge rates
- Atamatax
- Real IRS quarterly underpayment rates 2009 — current year.
- Expatfile
- Not surfaced publicly.
Foreign brokerage CSV import
- Atamatax
- Positions CSV or statement upload from any broker, with per-holding ISIN screening.
- Expatfile
- Manual entry; no broker import advertised.
Treaty desks (FR/UK/DE/CH/CA/AU)
- Atamatax
- Five dedicated desks with article citations + Form 8833.
- Expatfile
- General treaty handling, no per-country desk.
FBAR + Form 8938 in same flow
- Atamatax
- Yes — generated alongside the 1040 package.
- Expatfile
- Yes.
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.
- Expatfile
- Self-serve SFOP software from $699 total (Standard; $819 Premier, $939 Investor), including a Form 14653 statement; you prepare and e-file.
Integrated e-file
- Atamatax
- Reviewable PDF package with step-by-step filing instructions; you file it.
- Expatfile
- E-file available.
Refund policy
- Atamatax
- Full refund if a delivered package has a software defect we cannot fix within 14 days of written notice.
- Expatfile
- Per their stated policy.
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 Expatfile'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.
Expatfile vs Atamatax pricing: what each number buys
Expatfile's self-serve plans ($119, $159, $199 per return) and its SFOP packages (from $699 total) are software licences: you enter the data, the product prepares the forms, you e-file. Atamatax's annual packages ($299 / $499 / $799) are also self-serve software for one tax year, without integrated e-file — the $499 PFIC Portfolio package is the one that includes up to 25 Forms 8621.
Streamlined is where the two are not the same product. Atamatax's $1,590–$2,990+ tiers are catch-up preparation done with you — three return years, six FBAR years, PFIC and FATCA work inside those years on the Investor and Complex tiers, a completeness check, and a written quote before any engagement. Expatfile's SFOP package is the cheaper self-serve route for a catch-up whose years contain no foreign funds.
- Simple return, no foreign funds, want to e-file: Expatfile is cheaper.
- Foreign ETFs or funds in the current year: Atamatax's $499 PFIC Portfolio package, or Expatfile's $499 Unlimited (professionally prepared).
- Years behind, no foreign funds: Expatfile SFOP from $699, or Atamatax Streamlined Essential at $1,590 if you want the years prepared with you.
- Years behind with PFICs in them: the Atamatax Streamlined Investor or Complex tier — Expatfile's self-serve SFOP forms list does not include Form 8621.
Bottom line
If you have zero foreign brokerage exposure, Expatfile is cheaper and lets you e-file today. If you hold any foreign mutual fund or ETF, Expatfile's self-serve plans do not list Form 8621 at all; Atamatax's $499 PFIC Portfolio package prepares up to 25 of them with the §1291 arithmetic shown. For a Streamlined catch-up the two are different services: Expatfile sells self-serve SFOP software from $699; Atamatax prepares the years with you at $1,590–$2,990+.
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 Expatfile'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 Expatfile'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.