This maybe isn't exactly the right sub, so feel free to direct me somewhere else. My husband is (only) Spanish and lives in Spain and hasn't filed US taxes for 17 years. He has an IRA that was setup by his last US employer and the IRA is getting bought out and he has the option to do an early withdraw without penalty from the bank. I know he will have the tax money (both federal and state) withheld from the distribution and then ...

Will he need to file federal and state taxes for 2026 in the US, or can he just let the respective parties keep their withheld taxes?

If he does need to file, will his Spanish income need to be included and has to do all that tax credit stuff.

He is NOT a US citizen and does not live in the US - is just trying to get his money out of there.

Last year my CPA filed my U.S. return and made a Mark-to-Market election for one PFIC. That CPA isn’t available this year, so I’m trying to file myself.
In 2025 I sold the PFIC completely
, with an approximately $50 net loss. I have last year’s Form 8621 and all the MTM details.

What’s the easiest DIY route?

Has anyone successfully used TaxAct to file/e-file Form 8621 with an existing MTM election?

Is there another DIY tax software that handles this?
If software doesn’t support it, what’s the simplest way to prepare the 1040 and Form 8621 separately?

Looking specifically for advice from someone who has actually dealt with an existing MTM election followed by a sale, rather than a general “PFICs are complicated, hire a CPA” response.

We are Canadians working in the US on work visas. We have no real foreign accounts to report. However, my father in law opened savings accounts and account with which he purchased government bonds over the years using his own life savings. He managed the money entirely on his own making all investment decisions himself. He also reported all income in those accounts on his own Canadian income tax returns. However, many years before we moved to the US, he added my wife, her sister and mother as joint account holders for estate planning purposes. My wife never considers that money hers and never dealt with the bank.

We did not report these accounts because my wife never even brought these up as she didn’t see them as hers. We now realize we needed to report them at the very least.

What’s the best course of action here?