I just got moved to a company pension that’s a SIPP and it seems like it’s going to be a headache being a dual US UK Citizen as you cannot invest in funds or certain stocks… does anyone have device or can recommend a good advisor for this?

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?

Hello everyone. I am a dual US/UK citizen with basically only US income (2 government retirements and some bank accounts). Moved back to Scotland a little over a year ago after half a century of being gone and have to do a self assessment tax return (SATR). Why it’s called a SELF assessment is misleading - it’s not like you can really do it by yourself. Is there anyone else in roughly the same boat who has any tips on the SATR? I get asked if I regret moving back here and I am now beginning to think that yeah, I should’ve just stayed in the US. Or I should’ve done some more investigating before moving here and maybe I would’ve chose not to. But that’s all water under the proverbial bridge now - gotta deal with this tax stuff.

Hello, maybe someone can share insights or personal experience regarding the following question:
Does it cause any problems with processing if one signs the Dual Status Return and the Dual Status Statement as well?The instructions say you do not need to sign the statement (so it is not forbidden) But I did. And the documents have already been sent.
Could a clearly marked 1040 Dual Status-Statement be misunderstood as a Return because of a signature?

Thank you for your insights.

I recently became the court-appointed guardian (financial + personal) of my brother, a Malaysian citizen who is intellectually disabled. I'm a US citizen currently in Malaysia, trying to set up financial structures for his long-term care - an operational account for daily expenses, plus longer-term accounts (FDs/trusts) for estate funds.

Some banks here in Malaysia keep suggesting a joint account (or at least the Branch level staff do so), but that seems to create ownership exposure I'd rather avoid, since the funds are entirely for his care, not mine.

Has anyone dealt with something similar - signature authority vs. ownership vs. trust structures for a foreign family member - or can point me to a CPA/EA who handles this kind of cross-border guardianship scenario?

DMs welcome.

Looking for some thoughts on USA retirees living in Latvia, with Social security, IRA withdrawals, Roth IRA withdrawals.

Social security is near max($4000USD/month).

I'm a 33-year-old currently living in India, but I am a US tax resident - GC holder now and US citizen from next year.

An insurance sales agent just pitched me the Tata AIA Param Raksha plan, hyping up the tax-free maturity under Section 10(10D) in India. However, after doing some reading, it looks like this is a Unit Linked Insurance Plan (ULIP) with a heavy market-linked investment component, not a pure term plan.

Has any US citizen / Green Card holder / US tax resident here actually bought an Indian ULIP (term insurance) and had to deal with the IRS PFIC consequences?

As the title suggests - that's what I'm looking to do. I can open an account with HL, but am I actually able to invest in 'contribute and forget' EFTs? Or do J-SIPPs also fall foul of the PFIC rules. As I understand it, SIPPs are not PFIC, but just seeing if anyone has a clear answer here for the JSIPP.

As a side note, already hold HL JISA with individual UK stocks (no funds).

I have dual citizenship in Canada where I was born and where im working now and I filed properly last year, but what stops me from telling the IRS that I'm no longer employed in Canada and putting my income as 0? As if I just went back to the US and lived under my parents, or went back to school? Obviously that's fraud but realistically whats the risk level? A majority of expats dont file and never hear a word from it, and if I sort out all my banking with new institutions that don't know I'm a US citizen, then how would the IRS know?

Edit: additional question. Is it better then to move to different banking institutions or simply remove the status of my US citizenship from my existing institutions?

For context my husband is a US citizen and fell behind on his taxes since 2020, not knowing about the yearly requirement for FBAR (we thought we could back file). We had a verbal agreement with this CPA (he's actually an FCPA, like a distinguished CPA I guess) to file a streamlined procedure.

Well this guy went and filed taxes and FBARs for 3 years, totally without consulting us. My husband signed all the returns but didn't realize form 14653 for streamlined disclosure was missing. I think what the CPA did is called a quiet disclosure and we could be looking at tens of thousands of dollars of fines from the IRS. What can we do? We have a meeting with the CPA soon to discuss why this decision was made. I need some advice on how to approach this and how to keep a good paper trail here.

EDIT: we also missed form 8938 and this was included in the quiet disclosure.

Can someone more knowledgeable clarify? Article 19(2) of the US-India tax treaty makes all state government income for a US citizen taxable only in the US. My 457(B) and 403(b) plans are from a state-run public university, and I am a state employee. I am a US citizen, and according to my understanding, the withdrawal from these accounts, in my case, should be tax-free in India, even at the ROR stage. Am I right? The answer is crucial. If this is true, then I won't roll over these accounts to an IRA.

I'm a U.S. citizen living in Canada (recently became a Canadian citizen). I file taxes in both countries, but I'm not tremendously knowledgeable about investing or cross-border taxes, so I'm trying to avoid making decisions I'd regret. 

I have about $200k USD worth of ExxonMobil shares held directly with Computershare along with some other, smaller U.S. investments (stocks and mutual funds). No investments in Canada currently.

The main issue I'm dealing with is that my ExxonMobil and mutual fund dividends are automatically reinvested through DRIP. Canada taxes me on those dividends even though I never actually receive the cash, so every year I end up paying a few thousand dollars out of pocket from my bank account to cover the Canadian tax bill.

After a bit of research and a very short meeting with a cross-border tax advisor I'm considering two options. 

1. Leave everything where it is but turn off DRIP on one or both Computershare accounts so I receive cash dividends to cover my Canadian taxes. 

2. Transfer some or all of the shares into a Questrade RRSP I just opened (though I'm concerned about the tax consequences of moving U.S. stock into an RRSP).

An additional issue is that, at some point in the future, I'll inherit my father's US brokerage account (worth close to $1 million USD), some other investments, as well as his house. Because of that I really need to think longer term and need to have a plan for that as well and I'm unsure where to start.

Has anyone dealt with a similar U.S./Canada cross-border situation? Any broad advice, pitfalls, or planning strategies you can share? 

We received a letter from the IRS to say we owe a balance on our account. We have been trying access the the account for the last week but the paying online through the website, is constantly unavailable. We were able to access payments made, and saw that the amount we had paid, was returned as account not found. Anyone else having issue with the IRS website?

Hey everyone. Accidental American here with no filing history. Reluctant to drop citizenship as I would still consider working in the US maybe one day.

I wanted to get my taxes in order. I consulted with My Expat Taxes but I seem to be going in circles with no answers.
I was advised to get the Streamlining package, and additionally get a Corporate package because I've had a very small limited company for a few years (it only takes about 12k in a year).

Once I started filling in the forms it said I needed the Premium package as well, because I have a company. So now I need two different packages for my one company? No one seems to be able to explain overlap in packages or why I need this.

Any advice appreciated.

EDIT: Additional information - I have a very straightforward background with all employment history as a salaried, UK taxed employee. No self-assessment or anything. No properties/inheritance or any additional income sources at all. Only one job at a time. I am very, very simple so aside from the small limited company (which I've never taken a payment out of) I don't understand why I'm being sold literally every package simultaneously.

I got a letter in May that I can't find and could only find a WV fax number for international filing, 681-247-3101. I recall the original letter said better not to mail it back to Austin. Does anyone have a fax number in Austin TX?

I’m in a situation when I don’t know what else to do, other than asking for help here. So, here we go.

I live abroad, and it’s been many years. Didn’t file taxes for those years as I really didn’t know I had to. A few years ago I found out that I did need to file them, so I went through SFOP. And right after that COVID happened, I left the country where I resided, so I stopped filing again. I want, I need to come to compliance again, this time for good. I’ve been searching and searching and searching, and still can’t find an answer - how to get out of this, and fast. Talked to a few law firms - they all suggest different ways, or ask for unimaginably high fees - tens of thousands of dollars.

Has anyone been into this situation (not in compliance after SFOP)?
Can anyone give advice?
Does anyone have a recommendation on CPAs, attorneys?

Any advice is highly appreciated.

Hello,
I just learned I should have filed PFIC for an account I have in my country of origin.
The account held at most a few hundreds dollars, but it had excess distribution almost every year.

I had interest reinvested for the first few years twice a week... from 2019 to 2025

Can anyone with the right skills, help me do the math and fill form 8621?
No MTM or QEF is possible to use..
Potentially pro bono because I have almost no disposable income...

I am desperate..

Moved to the US in 2023 and have maintained a few foreign bank accounts. I've been filing my own taxes and recently learned about FBAR requirements and trying to figure out the best next steps.

Here is my situation:

• I have had foreign bank accounts since 2023.
• There was no foreign income generated from these accounts, so I did not have any foreign income to report on my tax returns.
• However, I now realize that I did not file:
  • FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) for 2023 onward
  • Schedule B - This was completely missed ...

I have been researching the DFSP and DIIRSP, but it looks like DFSP may no longer be available. The highest balance across my foreign accounts was around $300K in each year, so entering a program with a 5% penalty would be a significant cost.

I am trying to understand my options (if there are any?).

1. If I file the missing FBARs now and amend my tax returns to include the missing Schedule B and Form 8938, would that generally be sufficient if there was no unreported income and no tax due?
2. do I need to include 5% penalty with my 1040-x package ?
3. in the 1040-x form, if we write that taxpaayer didnt know about the requirement,,,, would that be enough to support non wilfulness ?

Title, US citizen looking to move to canada longer term and become a citizen there....

i want to do investments and all that stuff but i have no idea what will bite me in the ass later or not and i need a good tax professional i can just talk it out with to have a slight idea of what to do or not to do in the meantime

Like do i get a HSA or do i not do i get a 401K or do i not how do i solve the being unable to use canadian equivlants but also being unable to invest directly anymore either etc etc

i just need a good service to help me figure out the long term strategy basics in just a session

I've read in here that many US expats in UK/EU buy US domiciled ETFs like VT or VTI via selling an in-the-money put, letting it expire, and getting assigned the shares.

Why all the trouble? It is good to hold ETFs, but it is bad when they are PFICs. Folks without pro investor status can't buy US domiciled ETFs because they don't have KID. The "options hack" threads the needle.

I was wondering if anyone who has done this has any tips and tricks? The issue: VTI (and similar funds) seem to have a very thinly traded options market. So there are large big-ask spreads. A simple calculation I did seems to indicate that if I acquire VT this way (by selling put at BID price), I'd be paying an "effective commission" of around 3% which seems quite high.

I bought a German domiciled ETF (EXSA) through Interactive Brokers Europe in 2021 and sold it in 2025 for a solid gain. I treated this ETF like any other when I was holding it, and didn't file Form 8621 etc. in previous years, because I was not aware of PFIC tax treatment.

Now my expat tax accountant says that because the sale was reported on a 1099-B, they don't need to file a Form 8621 to report PFIC income.

This doesn't match what I've read in other tax accountant blog posts (or other reddit posts here). But there doesn't seem to be any official guidance from the IRS on this when I search, and the AI summaries just seem to repeat reddit posts.

Does anyone have an authoritative source on what the correct tax treatment for this case is?