Comparison · updated monthly
Taxes for Expats prepares your return with human experts. It markets itself 'no robots' — Atamatax is the self-serve software they're contrasting with.
Taxes for Expats presents a human-preparer service; verify its current staffing, scope, timing, and prices directly. Atamatax is guided self-serve software specialized in supported PFIC / Form 8621 inputs, with a free on-screen summary and a paid draft package.
Who Taxes for Expats is for
TFX fits expats who want an experienced human in the loop and prefer that to driving software themselves — particularly thorough hand-holding, messy multi-year situations, or filers who simply don't want to touch the forms.
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.
Taxes for Expats
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
Model
- Atamatax
- Self-serve software you complete yourself.
- Taxes for Expats
- Human preparers — explicitly 'no robots'.
Pricing
- Atamatax
- $299 / $499 / $799 flat per return, published.
- Taxes for Expats
- Flat tiers, typically ~$400+ for a core return.
Free on-screen summary before paying
- Atamatax
- On-screen draft free; pay to generate the PDF package.
- Taxes for Expats
- No free draft — engagement is paid.
Form 8621 (PFIC)
- Atamatax
- Core specialty; built-in, up to 25 per return.
- Taxes for Expats
- Handled by preparers, priced into the engagement.
FBAR (FinCEN 114) & FATCA (Form 8938)
- Atamatax
- Generated in the same flow.
- Taxes for Expats
- Prepared as part of the service.
Treaty positions (Form 8833)
- Atamatax
- Dedicated FR / UK / DE / CA / AU desks.
- Taxes for Expats
- Handled by the assigned preparer.
Turnaround
- Atamatax
- Self-paced draft; package generation remains user-triggered.
- Taxes for Expats
- Slower — depends on preparer review cycles.
Arbitrarily complex / unusual cases
- Atamatax
- Refers complex cases to independent CPAs.
- Taxes for Expats
- Human experts handle complexity end-to-end.
Integrated e-file & state returns
- Atamatax
- Reviewable federal package with filing instructions; you file it (federal only).
- Taxes for Expats
- Preparer files federal and state for you.
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.
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
Atamatax is the self-serve option: it shows PFIC calculations in the wizard and generates supported Form 8621 draft PDFs after purchase, with open items identified. You review and file the package yourself; human preparation and representation are what TFX sells. Verify the other provider's current scope directly.
Before choosing either
Check the facts the price depends on
- 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 Taxes for Expats'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.
- Taxes for Expats publishes its pricing per engagement rather than as a list, so the table describes the model and quotes no figure.
- 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.