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PLANS & PRICING

Three plans, one federal return.

Compare the Standard, Premier and Investor plans for an eligible federal return: what each covers, the forms it includes and where its limits are. Starting is free. You review your return on screen, then pay before you sign and file.

Prices in USD · Per federal return · Starting is free

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THE PLANS

Each plan builds on the last.

Premier adds self-employment preparation, one business each for you and your spouse, to Standard; Investor adds investment sales, rental and royalty income and limited Form 8938 preparation to Premier. All prices are for one eligible federal return.

  1. EMPLOYMENT & SAVINGS

    Standard

    $119per federal returnPrice · USD

    For a salary abroad, bank interest, and ordinary dividends.

    WHAT IT COVERS
    • US and overseas employment income
    • Bank interest and ordinary dividends
    • Foreign income exclusion, if eligible
    • Foreign tax credit, with limits
    Coverage and limits

    Eligible federal returns: 2025 is e-filed, and 2019 to 2024 are prepared on paper for you to sign and mail. The foreign tax credit includes unused foreign tax carried over from earlier years: Schedule B of Form 1116 is filed from 2021, and for 2019 and 2020, which have no Schedule B, the carryover computation is attached to Form 1116 as a statement. Income and expenses entered in another currency are converted at the IRS yearly average rate, and we write the conversion explanation for any foreign tax we convert. When a foreign tax must use the rate on the day you paid it, you enter the dollar amount and attach your own short explanation before e-filing. Changing the credit on an earlier return, four special income categories, and expenses listed against foreign income are excluded. A past revocation of the income exclusion is handled; an IRS-approved re-election within five years is excluded, as are some credit claims. Retirement and savings forms are prepared for you or your spouse at no extra charge, for 2019 to 2025: Form 5329 covers the 10% early-distribution tax, with the exception you state, checked against its limit (an amount above it is refused by name) and against the year it began, and the extra tax on an excess IRA or health savings account contribution; Form 8606 covers nondeductible IRA contributions, conversions and Roth IRA distributions; Form 8880 covers the retirement savings contribution credit; and Form 8889 covers a health savings account, one form per account holder. Schedule 1 includes educator expenses (a school outside the United States is not prepared), student loan interest (refused beside some foreign tax credit claims), the early withdrawal penalty and the self-employed SEP, SIMPLE and qualified plan deduction. Form 5695 covers the residential energy credits for a home in the United States, for 2019 to 2025; insulation, exterior doors, windows and skylights count only for a main home you owned, and where more than 20% of an item's use is for business, only the personal share counts. Forms 8919 and 8801 (uncollected Social Security and Medicare tax on wages, and the credit for prior year minimum tax) are prepared for 2025 returns only. Form 8862 is prepared, for 2019 to 2025, when you claim a child or education credit (the child tax credit, the credit for other dependents or the American opportunity credit) that the IRS disallowed in an earlier year. The earned income credit part of Form 8862 is not completed. Form 3520 Part IV reports gifts and bequests from foreign persons, for 2019 to 2025, on its own paper filing, apart from your return, that you mail; in a streamlined package it goes with the return, and an amended return that changes the gifts comes with an amended Form 3520, mailed on its own (Parts I to III, for foreign trusts, are not prepared). The 2021 child tax credit is prepared on the 2021 paper return, with your Letter 6419 figures. Form 4952 covers investment interest deducted on Schedule A, for 2025 returns only: the interest paid, including a K-1's, last year's carryforward, investment income from interest, dividends, annuities, K-1s and your own royalties, your royalties' costs, and your choice to count qualified dividends or long-term gains. Gains count only from investments, not a home, a business or rental sale or a passive activity. Interest entered as a cost of your own royalty is counted on it too, and the form is then filed even with the standard deduction; a K-1 from a trading business you do not take part in counts from its statement's split of box 1. Some of the interest being for your royalty property (or not knowing), even with the standard deduction, until you enter that part as a cost of the royalty, a K-1's capital gains or losses where they could change the deduction or your choice to count long-term gains, a K-1's investment expenses (code B) where they could change the deduction, that choice beside Form 1116, the alternative minimum tax's second Form 4952 where it could change that tax, and a limited deduction shared between a royalty's or a trading K-1's interest and other investment interest are refused by name. Form 8833 prepares a treaty disclosure from a position you supply, for 2019 to 2025; personal treaty advice is not included. Check the form details for your situation.

    FORMS INCLUDED
    • 1040
    • Schedule 1
    • Schedule 1-A
    • Schedule 2
    • Schedule 3
    • Schedule A
    • Schedule B
    • 1116
    • Schedule B (Form 1116)
    • 2441
    • 5329
    • 8889
    • 5695
    • 6251
    • 2555
    • 8283
    • Schedule 8812
    • 8606
    • 8863
    • 8880
    • 8959
    • 8960
    • 8833
    • 8862
    • 8919
    • 8801
    • 4952
    • 3520

    Case limits apply to every listed form.

  2. FREELANCE & SELF-EMPLOYED

    Premier

    $149per federal returnPrice · USD

    For freelancers and independent contractors: one business for you, and one for your spouse.

    WHAT IT COVERS
    • Everything in Standard
    • One business each for you and your spouse
    • Self-employment tax calculation
    • Home office and business depreciation, if eligible
    Coverage and limits

    One eligible freelance or sole-proprietor business per person: on a joint return, you and your spouse can each have one, with a Schedule C for each business and a Schedule SE for each of you. Form 4562 covers ordinary depreciation of business assets; section 179 expensing and depreciation of vehicles and other listed property are not included. Form 8829 covers the regular home-office method for one business in one home; a home office for more than one business, more than one home, daycare use and casualty losses are not included. The simplified home-office method uses Schedule C instead. Form 8858 covers one foreign branch of your own business for 2025 when the branch keeps its books in US dollars. A branch whose books are in another currency, a foreign disregarded entity and other unusual branch situations are not included. A business run through a company or LLC set up abroad is refused by name. Statutory-employee cases are excluded, and self-employed health insurance has additional limits; a policy set up through an S corporation you own more than 2% of is included. Form 8995 prepares the qualified business income deduction by the simple computation, for 2019 to 2025. Only income from work done in the United States counts, so a business run abroad gets no deduction. Income above the form's limit needs Form 8995-A, which is not prepared, so that return is refused by name. More than one business for one person is not included in these plans.

    ADDS TO STANDARD
    • Schedule C
    • Schedule SE
    • 8995
    • 7206
    • 8829
    • 4562
    • 8858
    • Schedule M (Form 8858)

    Case limits apply to every listed form.

  3. INVESTMENTS & RENTALS

    Investor

    $199per federal returnPrice · USD

    For investment sales and rental or royalty income alongside your other income.

    WHAT IT COVERS
    • Everything in Premier
    • Investment sales, with or without Form 1099-B
    • Rental and royalty income, US or foreign
    • Partnership and S corporation K-1s, with limits
    • Limited Form 8938 preparation
    Coverage and limits

    Eligible sales, with amounts you enter: sales reported on Form 1099-B, and sales with no Form 1099-B (Form 8949 boxes C and F). Capital-loss carryovers from earlier years and capital-gain distributions are included; a carryover from a joint return to a separate return is not. Rental and royalty income goes on Schedule E Part I, with depreciation on Form 4562 as in Premier. Form 8582 is prepared when a rental loss is limited because you did not actively participate in the rental. Form 6198 is prepared when money you have in a business, rental, royalty or K-1 activity is not at risk and the activity has a loss. A loss the at-risk rules carried in that came partly from a sale is refused by name, and an amount last year's Form 6198 added back to income is deducted this year from the same activity. Grouped or short-term rentals and a limited rental loss alongside the foreign tax credit are not included. A rental or business held through a company or LLC set up abroad is not prepared. Schedule K-1 from a partnership or an S corporation goes on Schedule E Part II, for returns from 2019 to 2025 (2019 to 2024 on paper, 2025 e-filed), including streamlined and amended returns, with Form 7203 from 2021 for an S corporation shareholder with a loss or a distribution (for 2019 and 2020 the same basis figures are attached as a worksheet). A K-1 on a 2026 return is not prepared. A K-1 with foreign tax or Schedule K-3 foreign items is prepared for 2021 to 2025 returns, from its Schedule K-3 rows by country and kind of income on Form 1116. On 2019 and 2020 returns a K-1 with foreign tax or foreign transactions is refused by name. A K-1 from a business that trades financial instruments for its owners is prepared as not passive and stays in the 3.8% net investment income tax; one whose statement lists more than one activity is refused by name. Income a K-1's statement treats as not passive is prepared when it is rent from property let to a business you materially participate in, or profit from a business you worked in for more than 100 hours without materially participating. Refused by name: K-1 income its statement treats as not passive of another kind, where the 3.8% net investment income tax is due or beside losses of your other passive activities, and such a profit from a business you worked in beside a loss of another passive business or a rental whose income is treated as not passive because less than 30% of the property's cost can be depreciated (mostly land). Also refused by name: a K-1 from an estate or trust, a Schedule Q, a publicly traded partnership, foreign tax on a K-1 with no Schedule K-3, a section 951A tax, research and experimental costs on a K-3, foreign tax redeterminations (Schedule C of Form 1116), the Form 1116 line 18 adjustment (Worksheet B) for a K-3 gain or loss on a return with a Schedule D, foreign tax your basis limit holds back, a K-1 loss a basis, at-risk or passive limit holds back beside a Schedule K-3 on a Form 1116, work abroad smaller than a Schedule K-3's rows across two categories beside an exclusion, and a rental's or business's own interest above $5,000 of foreign income when it is shared by assets. On a 2019 to 2024 K-1, section 965 and subpart F inclusions, commercial revitalization and section 108(i) items are refused by name. Form 4797 covers the sale of depreciated business or rental property, for 2019 to 2025. A sale of property abroad on a return that claims the foreign tax credit, a sale beside the qualified business income deduction, property expensed under section 179, a partial sale, an installment sale and a sale to a related person are refused by name. Form 8621 covers each passive foreign investment company (PFIC) for 2025 returns and, on paper, 2022 to 2024 returns. A fund held through a partnership, a foreign company or a trust, your spouse's shares on a return that is not joint, and a case the IRS text does not settle, are refused by name. Incentive stock option sales are adjusted on Form 8949. Digital-asset sales (Form 8949 boxes G to L) and crypto file imports are not included in these plans. Form 8938 covers supported account and asset summaries, the income from those assets on your return (Part III), and assets already reported on Form 3520 or 3520-A (Part IV). When your income is below the level at which a return is due and nothing else on the return makes one due, Form 8938 is left off; a joint return keeps it in nearly every case. Form 8938 does not replace FBAR.

    ADDS TO PREMIER
    • Schedule D
    • 8949
    • Schedule E
    • 4797
    • 8938
    • 8582
    • 8621
    • 7203
    • 6198

    Case limits apply to every listed form.

A higher plan does not make every case eligible. "Included" means preparation coverage, not support for every part of an IRS form or every situation that needs it.

See form-by-form coverage
SIDE BY SIDE

Compare the plans line by line.

What each plan covers. Eligible and limited cases follow the case limits for each form.

Prices in USD, per federal return.
CoverageStandard · $119Premier · $149Investor · $199
US and overseas employment incomeIncludedIncludedIncluded
Interest and ordinary dividendsIncludedIncludedIncluded
Foreign income exclusion and foreign tax creditEligible casesEligible casesEligible cases
Child, dependent-care and education creditsEligible casesEligible casesEligible cases
Retirement, savings and energy forms (5329, 8606, 8880, 8889, 5695)Eligible casesEligible casesEligible cases
One business each for you and your spouseOutside packageEligible casesEligible cases
Qualified business income deduction (Form 8995)Outside packageEligible casesEligible cases
Self-employment tax, home office and depreciationOutside packageEligible casesEligible cases
Investment sales, with or without Form 1099-BOutside packageOutside packageEligible cases
Rental and royalty income (Schedule E Part I)Outside packageOutside packageEligible cases
Investment interest deduction (Form 4952), 2025 returnsEligible casesEligible casesEligible cases
Partnership and S corporation K-1s (Schedule E Part II)Outside packageOutside packageEligible cases
PFIC reporting (Form 8621) and business or rental property sales (Form 4797)Outside packageOutside packageEligible cases
Foreign financial assets (Form 8938)Outside packageOutside packageLimited cases
Extension requests (Forms 4868, 2350) at no charge, only up to the last day to ask; for 2025 that day has passed unless an IRS disaster relief notice gives your area a later dateLimited casesLimited casesLimited cases
ITIN application (Form W-7) and state check at no charge beside a priced returnIncludedIncludedIncluded
A 2025 return amended after the IRS accepted it, and 2019 to 2024 returns on paper, priced per return by the plan the forms needEligible casesEligible casesEligible cases
Guided interview, saved progress and return reviewIncludedIncludedIncluded
State returns (not prepared; the state check tells you whether a state may expect one, or to check with the state where we have no saved rules)Outside packageOutside packageOutside package
FBAR e-filing: optional, $59 per personOptional add-onOptional add-onOptional add-on
Accountant review, tax advice and audit defenseOutside packageOutside packageOutside package
Standard$119
  • US and overseas employment incomeIncluded
  • Interest and ordinary dividendsIncluded
  • Foreign income exclusion and foreign tax creditEligible cases
  • Child, dependent-care and education creditsEligible cases
  • Retirement, savings and energy forms (5329, 8606, 8880, 8889, 5695)Eligible cases
  • One business each for you and your spouseOutside package
  • Qualified business income deduction (Form 8995)Outside package
  • Self-employment tax, home office and depreciationOutside package
  • Investment sales, with or without Form 1099-BOutside package
  • Rental and royalty income (Schedule E Part I)Outside package
  • Investment interest deduction (Form 4952), 2025 returnsEligible cases
  • Partnership and S corporation K-1s (Schedule E Part II)Outside package
  • PFIC reporting (Form 8621) and business or rental property sales (Form 4797)Outside package
  • Foreign financial assets (Form 8938)Outside package
  • Extension requests (Forms 4868, 2350) at no charge, only up to the last day to ask; for 2025 that day has passed unless an IRS disaster relief notice gives your area a later dateLimited cases
  • ITIN application (Form W-7) and state check at no charge beside a priced returnIncluded
  • A 2025 return amended after the IRS accepted it, and 2019 to 2024 returns on paper, priced per return by the plan the forms needEligible cases
  • Guided interview, saved progress and return reviewIncluded
  • State returns (not prepared; the state check tells you whether a state may expect one, or to check with the state where we have no saved rules)Outside package
  • FBAR e-filing: optional, $59 per personOptional add-on
  • Accountant review, tax advice and audit defenseOutside package
Premier$149
  • US and overseas employment incomeIncluded
  • Interest and ordinary dividendsIncluded
  • Foreign income exclusion and foreign tax creditEligible cases
  • Child, dependent-care and education creditsEligible cases
  • Retirement, savings and energy forms (5329, 8606, 8880, 8889, 5695)Eligible cases
  • One business each for you and your spouseEligible cases
  • Qualified business income deduction (Form 8995)Eligible cases
  • Self-employment tax, home office and depreciationEligible cases
  • Investment sales, with or without Form 1099-BOutside package
  • Rental and royalty income (Schedule E Part I)Outside package
  • Investment interest deduction (Form 4952), 2025 returnsEligible cases
  • Partnership and S corporation K-1s (Schedule E Part II)Outside package
  • PFIC reporting (Form 8621) and business or rental property sales (Form 4797)Outside package
  • Foreign financial assets (Form 8938)Outside package
  • Extension requests (Forms 4868, 2350) at no charge, only up to the last day to ask; for 2025 that day has passed unless an IRS disaster relief notice gives your area a later dateLimited cases
  • ITIN application (Form W-7) and state check at no charge beside a priced returnIncluded
  • A 2025 return amended after the IRS accepted it, and 2019 to 2024 returns on paper, priced per return by the plan the forms needEligible cases
  • Guided interview, saved progress and return reviewIncluded
  • State returns (not prepared; the state check tells you whether a state may expect one, or to check with the state where we have no saved rules)Outside package
  • FBAR e-filing: optional, $59 per personOptional add-on
  • Accountant review, tax advice and audit defenseOutside package
Investor$199
  • US and overseas employment incomeIncluded
  • Interest and ordinary dividendsIncluded
  • Foreign income exclusion and foreign tax creditEligible cases
  • Child, dependent-care and education creditsEligible cases
  • Retirement, savings and energy forms (5329, 8606, 8880, 8889, 5695)Eligible cases
  • One business each for you and your spouseEligible cases
  • Qualified business income deduction (Form 8995)Eligible cases
  • Self-employment tax, home office and depreciationEligible cases
  • Investment sales, with or without Form 1099-BEligible cases
  • Rental and royalty income (Schedule E Part I)Eligible cases
  • Investment interest deduction (Form 4952), 2025 returnsEligible cases
  • Partnership and S corporation K-1s (Schedule E Part II)Eligible cases
  • PFIC reporting (Form 8621) and business or rental property sales (Form 4797)Eligible cases
  • Foreign financial assets (Form 8938)Limited cases
  • Extension requests (Forms 4868, 2350) at no charge, only up to the last day to ask; for 2025 that day has passed unless an IRS disaster relief notice gives your area a later dateLimited cases
  • ITIN application (Form W-7) and state check at no charge beside a priced returnIncluded
  • A 2025 return amended after the IRS accepted it, and 2019 to 2024 returns on paper, priced per return by the plan the forms needEligible cases
  • Guided interview, saved progress and return reviewIncluded
  • State returns (not prepared; the state check tells you whether a state may expect one, or to check with the state where we have no saved rules)Outside package
  • FBAR e-filing: optional, $59 per personOptional add-on
  • Accountant review, tax advice and audit defenseOutside package

Prices in USD, per federal return.

Compare every form by plan45 forms
Every inclusion carries case limits.
FormStandardPremierInvestor
1040IncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule 1IncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule 1-AIncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule 2IncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule 3IncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule AIncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule BIncludedIncludedIncluded
1116IncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule B (Form 1116)IncludedIncludedIncluded
2441IncludedIncludedIncluded
5329IncludedIncludedIncluded
8889IncludedIncludedIncluded
5695IncludedIncludedIncluded
6251IncludedIncludedIncluded
2555IncludedIncludedIncluded
8283IncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule 8812IncludedIncludedIncluded
8606IncludedIncludedIncluded
8863IncludedIncludedIncluded
8880IncludedIncludedIncluded
8959IncludedIncludedIncluded
8960IncludedIncludedIncluded
8833IncludedIncludedIncluded
8862IncludedIncludedIncluded
8919IncludedIncludedIncluded
8801IncludedIncludedIncluded
4952IncludedIncludedIncluded
3520IncludedIncludedIncluded
Schedule COutside packageIncludedIncluded
Schedule SEOutside packageIncludedIncluded
8995Outside packageIncludedIncluded
7206Outside packageIncludedIncluded
8829Outside packageIncludedIncluded
4562Outside packageIncludedIncluded
8858Outside packageIncludedIncluded
Schedule M (Form 8858)Outside packageIncludedIncluded
Schedule DOutside packageOutside packageIncluded
8949Outside packageOutside packageIncluded
Schedule EOutside packageOutside packageIncluded
4797Outside packageOutside packageIncluded
8938Outside packageOutside packageIncluded
8582Outside packageOutside packageIncluded
8621Outside packageOutside packageIncluded
7203Outside packageOutside packageIncluded
6198Outside packageOutside packageIncluded
NOT INCLUDED

Outside every plan.

These are not included in any of the three plans. A higher price does not add them.

  • State returns (we do not prepare them; the state check only tells you whether the state you last lived in may expect one, or to check with the state where we have no saved rules)
  • FBAR e-filing in the plan price (optional, $59 per person, added separately)
  • Catch-up filing (prepared separately, from $699)
  • More than one business per person
  • Digital-asset sales
  • Accountant review
  • Live tax advice
  • Audit defense
REFUNDS

Refunds, in plain terms.

When you can ask for your money back, and when the service counts as delivered.

Before we send it: a full refund, any reason

Before we transmit your return, or before you first open or download a paper package, you get a full refund for any reason. Choose Request a refund on the order in your account, or email contact@expatreturn.us from the address on your account.

Refunds go back to the card you paid with and usually appear within a few business days.

Paper packages: confirmed before the first opening

A return for an earlier year, a current-year return that must be mailed because it includes Form W-7, and a Form 1040-X that must be mailed are paper packages. Opening the package PDF counts as downloading it, and we ask you to confirm first.

Once you open or download it, the price is no longer refunded on request, and we keep the package for 5 years after it was last generated.

FBARs and Streamlined packages

The price of an FBAR stays refundable until we file that FBAR with FinCEN, whether or not your return has been sent.

For a Streamlined package, the refund ends when we file any of its FBARs or when you first open or download the package, whichever comes first.

After we send it

Once we transmit your return, file your FBAR, or you download a paper package, the service has been delivered and its price is not refundable, with two exceptions. We refund you in full if a defect in our software, rather than the information you entered, causes the IRS to reject your e-filed return and it cannot be corrected through the service, or if such a defect makes a paper package unusable and we cannot fix it within ten business days of your telling us.

Your tax result is not a refund reason

A smaller refund, a larger balance due, a slow IRS refund, or an IRS notice does not entitle you to a refund of our fee.

Signed Review and Audit Protection

If and when we offer them, checkout shows them with their price. A Signed Review is refunded in full if you cancel it before a Practitioner starts the review, and automatically if its findings are late. The Practitioner who signs your Review Statement cannot approve your return for filing; a separate reviewer you share your return with approves it.

Audit Protection is refunded in full on request, even after your return is sent, until you report an IRS notice to us. The refund ends the coverage.

Bought in advance?

You can cancel for a refund under the same rules. If we pause new sign-ups and purchases, you can still sign in, see and download your records, ask for a refund and change your settings.

Charged twice or the wrong amount?

Tell us and we will correct it. Please contact us before disputing a charge with your bank; most issues are fixed in a day.

LIMITS BEHIND THE FORM NAMES

What a listed form actually covers.

A form on a plan's list is prepared for eligible cases. These are the main limits to check before you rely on one.

FormWhat the plans cover
1116Eligible calculations, including prior-year carryovers (Schedule B to Form 1116, filed from 2021; for 2019 and 2020, which have no Schedule B, the carryover computation is attached to Form 1116 as a statement). Unused foreign tax carried in is used even in a year with no foreign tax, and such a Form 1116 is e-filed; unused tax carried in for the alternative minimum tax alone is used on the AMT Form 1116. Pay received for work in the United States in another year is US income for the credit. When foreign tax small enough to claim without Form 1116 sits beside unused tax carried in, both ways are figured and the larger credit is used. Apportionments the instructions do not settle, and income categories whose credit is worked out on forms we do not prepare, are refused by name.
1116, foreign currencyA foreign tax in a non-dollar currency needs the conversion explanation the IRS instructions require. We write it where we converted the tax at the IRS yearly average rate; otherwise your own PDF explanation is required before the electronic return is sent.
2555Does not guarantee you qualify for an exclusion. A prior revocation is handled; an IRS-approved re-election inside the five-year bar is outside scope.
8833Uses a treaty position you supply, for 2019 to 2025. Payer details (line 3) and the limitation-on-benefits fields (line 4) are not completed. Personal treaty interpretation and tax advice are not included.
5329The 10% early-distribution tax with the exception you state, never inferred, and the extra tax on an excess traditional IRA, Roth IRA or health savings account contribution, for 2019 to 2025. Each exception with a limit is checked against it, and an amount above the limit is refused by name. For 2025, a domestic abuse withdrawal covers at most the smaller of $10,300 and half of the account, and an emergency withdrawal at most the smaller of $1,000 and the account above $1,000, one a year, with none within 3 years of an earlier one from the same account unless it was paid back. Neither can come from a plan that pays a set pension. Education account payouts are not prepared.
8606Nondeductible IRA contributions and basis, the pro rata rule with the year-end value, Roth conversions and Roth IRA distributions, for you and your spouse, for 2019 to 2025. A gift to charity from a SEP or SIMPLE IRA an employer paid into for the year stays in income. A gift to charity from a Roth IRA payment is checked with the same tests and left out of income only up to what all your Roth IRAs would put in income if emptied; a larger gift is refused by name when you also have a traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA. A charitable gift above what a total payout would have put in income and a case the IRS text does not settle are refused by name.
8880, 8889, 5695Each for 2019 to 2025. Form 8880 is the retirement savings contribution credit. Form 8889 is one form per health savings account holder; a married holder 55 or older with both self-only and family months, a move from an IRA above the year's contribution limit, and an account pledged as security for a loan or used in a transaction the tax rules forbid, are refused by name. A second move from an IRA in a lifetime, or one from a SEP or SIMPLE IRA an employer paid into for the year, is taxed as an IRA payout and counted as money paid into the account. Form 5695 is the residential energy credits for a home in the United States; a home outside the United States takes no credit, and a residential clean energy credit carried forward from the year before is taken even when nothing was bought this year. Insulation, exterior doors, windows and skylights count only for a main home you owned. Where more than 20% of an item's use is for business, only the personal share counts; business shares that differ from item to item are refused by name.
Schedule 1 adjustmentsEducator expenses (a school outside the United States is refused by name), student loan interest (refused beside some foreign tax credit claims), the early withdrawal penalty and the self-employed SEP, SIMPLE and qualified plan deduction.
8919, 8801, 8862Forms 8919 and 8801 are prepared for 2025 returns only. Form 8801 uses a 2024 credit for tax paid abroad taken without Form 1116 whatever your 2024 minimum tax was, and refuses one figured on Form 1116 only where it would change the credit. Form 8862 is prepared for 2019 to 2025 when the child tax credit, the credit for other dependents or the American opportunity credit was disallowed in an earlier year; its earned income credit part is not completed.
3520Part IV only, for gifts and bequests from foreign persons, for 2019 to 2025. Parts I to III (foreign trusts) are not prepared. It is mailed on paper, apart from your return; in a streamlined package it goes with the return. A pension paid from a plan abroad for work, or from a personal pension you paid into such as a UK self-invested personal pension, is checked against the IRS exceptions for retirement plans; if your answers do not show the plan is exempt, the return is refused by name.
Schedule COne eligible business per person; on a joint return, you and your spouse can each have one, with a Schedule SE for each of you. Expenses go on the standard expense lines (8 to 25), with Part V listing other expenses. The simplified home-office deduction can be included through Schedule C. A business run through a company or LLC set up abroad is refused by name.
4562Ordinary depreciation of business and rental assets. Section 179 expensing and depreciation of vehicles and other listed property are not included.
8829The regular home-office method for one business in one home. A home office for more than one business, more than one home, daycare use and casualty losses are not included.
8858One foreign branch of your own business, for 2025 returns, when the branch keeps its books in US dollars. A branch whose books are in another currency, a foreign disregarded entity and other unusual branch situations are not included.
7206Limited health-insurance coverage. A policy set up through an S corporation you own more than 2% of is included, measured against the pay on its Form W-2 to you. Marketplace policies and premiums claimed for more than one business are refused. Form 7206 is prepared from 2023; on earlier years the deduction is taken with no such form.
8995Form 8995 prepares the qualified business income deduction by the simple computation, for 2019 to 2025. Only income from work done in the United States counts, so a business run abroad gets no deduction. Income above the form's limit needs Form 8995-A, which is not prepared, so that return is refused by name.
Schedule D and 8949Sales reported on Form 1099-B and sales with no Form 1099-B (Form 8949 boxes C and F), with the figures you enter, plus capital-loss carryovers and capital-gain distributions. A carryover from a joint return to a separate return and digital-asset sales (boxes G to L) are not included. A personal currency exchange that gained more than $200 is entered as a sale; an exchange of money kept for a business or as an investment is refused by name only when it gained or lost value in dollars.
4952Investment interest deducted on Schedule A, for 2025 returns only, in Standard: the interest paid, including a K-1's, last year's carryforward, investment income from interest, dividends, annuities, K-1s and your own royalties, your royalties' costs, and your choice to count qualified dividends or long-term gains. Gains count only from investments, not a home, a business or rental sale or a passive activity. Interest entered as a cost of your own royalty is counted on it too, and the form is then filed even with the standard deduction. A K-1 from a trading business you do not take part in counts from its statement's split of box 1. Refused by name: some of the interest for your royalty property (or not sure), even with the standard deduction, until you enter that part as a cost of the royalty, a K-1's capital gains or losses where they could change the deduction or your choice to count long-term gains, a K-1's investment expenses (code B) where they could change the deduction, that choice beside Form 1116, the alternative minimum tax's second Form 4952 where it could change that tax, and a limited deduction shared between a royalty's or a trading K-1's interest and other investment interest.
Schedule E and 8582Rental and royalty income on Schedule E Part I. Form 8582 is prepared when a rental loss is limited because you did not actively participate in the rental. Form 6198 is prepared when money in an activity with a loss is not at risk; a loss the at-risk rules carried in that came partly from a sale is refused by name, and an amount last year's Form 6198 added back to income is deducted this year from the same activity. Grouped or short-term rentals and a limited rental loss alongside the foreign tax credit are not included. A rental or business held through a company or LLC set up abroad is refused by name.
Schedule K-1, Part II and 7203Schedule K-1 from a partnership or an S corporation goes on Schedule E Part II, for 2019 to 2025 returns (2019 to 2024 on paper, 2025 e-filed), including streamlined and amended returns, with Form 7203 from 2021 for an S corporation shareholder with a loss or a distribution (for 2019 and 2020 the same basis figures are attached as a worksheet). A K-1 on a 2026 return is not prepared. A K-1 with foreign tax or Schedule K-3 foreign items is prepared for 2021 to 2025 returns, from its Schedule K-3 rows by country and kind of income on Form 1116; on a 2019 or 2020 return it is refused by name. A K-1 from a business that trades financial instruments for its owners is prepared as not passive and stays in the 3.8% net investment income tax; one whose statement lists more than one activity is refused by name. Income a K-1's statement treats as not passive is prepared when it is rent from property let to a business you materially participate in, or profit from a business you worked in for more than 100 hours without materially participating. Also refused by name: K-1 income its statement treats as not passive of another kind, where the 3.8% net investment income tax is due or beside losses of your other passive activities, and such a profit from a business you worked in beside a loss of another passive business or a rental whose income is treated as not passive because less than 30% of the property's cost can be depreciated (mostly land), a K-1 from an estate or trust, a Schedule Q, a publicly traded partnership, foreign tax on a K-1 with no Schedule K-3, a section 951A tax, research and experimental costs, foreign tax redeterminations (Schedule C of Form 1116), the Form 1116 line 18 adjustment (Worksheet B) for a K-3 gain or loss on a return with a Schedule D, foreign tax your basis limit holds back, a K-1 loss a basis, at-risk or passive limit holds back beside a Schedule K-3 on a Form 1116, work abroad smaller than a Schedule K-3's rows across two categories beside an exclusion, and a rental's or business's own interest above $5,000 of foreign income when it is shared by assets.
4797, 8621Form 4797 covers the sale of depreciated business or rental property, for 2019 to 2025. A sale of property abroad on a return that claims the foreign tax credit, a sale beside the qualified business income deduction, property expensed under section 179, a partial sale, an installment sale and a sale to a related person are refused by name. Form 8621 covers each passive foreign investment company (PFIC) for 2025 returns and, on paper, 2022 to 2024 returns. A fund held through a partnership, a foreign company or a trust, your spouse's shares on a return that is not joint, and a case the IRS text does not settle, are refused by name. Form 5471 and other foreign-company reports are not prepared.
8938Account and asset summaries, the income each account or asset produced and where it is reported (Part III), and your own count of related forms filed (Part IV). When your income is below the level at which a return is due and nothing else on the return makes one due, Form 8938 is left off; a joint return keeps it in nearly every case. It is not a substitute for FBAR.

Forms 5329 and 8606 should not be read as comprehensive retirement-tax coverage. Full form-by-form coverage

PRICING QUESTIONS

Questions about pricing.

See how it works
How do I buy a plan and file?

Create an account and answer the interview; your answers save as you go. You review your return on screen before you pay. After payment, you open a PDF of the prepared forms, sign with a self-select PIN, and we e-file the return with the IRS. The app shows when the IRS accepts or rejects it. Those steps are for a 2025 return. A return for 2019 to 2024 is prepared on paper, and you print, sign and mail it.

When do I pay? Is it a subscription?

You pay per federal return, after reviewing your return on screen and before you sign, submit or download the PDFs. It is not a subscription. The price is the plan price in USD shown on this page. The plan is the one your forms need: if you change your answers and the return then needs a higher plan, you pay only the difference.

Can I buy a plan before the interview opens for a tax year?

Sometimes. While we are selling a year in advance, your account offers a plan (Standard, Premier or Investor) and, for each person, whether we e-file their FBAR, at the prices on this page. No tax questions are asked and no return information is collected until the service opens. Then you open the return held for you from your dashboard and answer the interview. If your return needs a higher plan, or an FBAR you did not buy, you pay only the difference.

I barely owe anything. Why pay to file?

Living abroad does not automatically remove the need to file, even in a year with little or no US tax. Whether you must file depends on income, filing status, age and other circumstances; owing no US income tax does not by itself settle that question.

What do FBAR and catch-up filing cost?

Both are prepared separately and are not in the plan price. When you ask us to, we e-file your FBAR with FinCEN for $59 per person. The streamlined catch-up package is $699 (Standard), $819 (Premier) or $939 (Investor), covering the three past returns and the FBARs. You print, sign and mail the returns and certification to the IRS yourself; the FBARs are filed electronically with FinCEN.

Do I need the Investor plan for bank interest?

No. Bank interest and ordinary dividends are included in Standard coverage. Capital-gain distributions from funds are in the Investor plan, with investment sales, rental and royalty income and limited Form 8938 preparation.

What comes at no extra charge beside my return?

Form 4868 or Form 2350 to ask for more time, Form W-7 to apply for an ITIN for a spouse or dependent on your return, or to renew an expired ITIN (yours, your spouse's or a dependent's) with it (a return that carries a Form W-7 is a paper package you mail, not e-filed), Form 8958 in the narrow community property cases we prepare, Form 1040-V (the payment voucher, filled in for you when your return owes) and the state check add nothing to the price. The ITIN form is prepared for you to print and mail. So is an extension request for a 2025 return, up to the last day to ask, which has passed unless an IRS disaster relief notice gives your area a later date. We do not e-file extension requests today, and for 2026 you would use the form the IRS publishes until the 2026 form is on file here. The state check says whether the state you last lived in may expect a 2025 return; we do not prepare state returns.

How are amended and earlier-year returns priced?

Per return, by the plan that return's forms need, the same as any other return. You can amend a 2025 return we e-filed once the IRS has accepted it; we e-file the Form 1040-X where the IRS allows, and otherwise give you a paper package to mail. A return filed on paper or filed elsewhere cannot be amended here. An earlier-year return for 2019 to 2024 is prepared as a paper package.

Does a higher plan add an accountant?

No. The higher tiers add preparation coverage. They do not include accountant review, personal tax advice or audit defense.

What if I need both freelance and investment forms?

The Investor plan includes Premier and Standard coverage. Check both the business and investment restrictions; a higher price does not remove them.

Which tax year do the plans cover?

The plans cover eligible federal returns for tax year 2025, which we e-file, and for tax years 2019 to 2024, which we prepare as a paper package you print, sign and mail. Each return is priced by its own plan, per return. 2026 federal return support is not enabled. E-file for 2025 returns pauses for the IRS's year-end shutdown from December 26, 2026, 11:59 a.m. Eastern; the IRS says it reopens in January, and until then you can print and mail the return instead.

Who can I ask about plan coverage?

Email contact@expatreturn.us. Please do not email Social Security numbers, account numbers or tax documents.

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