what is PFSI reporting, which firms know how to handle it correctly?
every harmless foreign index fund i owned turned out to be PFIC, which i found out around same time i learned Form 8621 existed and that might owe one per fund per year. Fun. quick primer for anyone who has not had pleasure yet: PFIC is basically pooled foreign fund, so non US mutual funds, most non US ETFs, and good chunk of foreign pensions. if you hold one as US person, default treatment is excess distribution regime, where gains get allocated across entire holding period and charged interest. that can push effective rate from painful to outright ridiculous. QEF and mark to market elections exist as ways out of that, but only if you make election on time and fund provides usable figures, which foreign funds mostly can not be bothered to do.
part i am stuck on is finding someone who actually knows this stuff. one preparer shrugged it off, another quoted me like i had asked them to prepare return in hieroglyphics, and DIY expat software i tried wont handle Form 8621 properly.
at real asset levels, getting election wrong is not rounding error. it can compound against you for years.
has anyone found firm that actually does a QEF vs. MTM analysis for each fund instead of putting everyone into excess distribution and calling it day?