Fixed fees agreed before work starts – 18,000+ clients served
At Legal Quotient Consultants, we manage all your PFIC analysis & reporting (form 8621) requirements, from compliance to strategic planning. Our expert team ensures compliance, maximizes deductions, and optimizes your financial strategies so you can focus on growing your business. Reasonably priced PFIC Analysis & Reporting (Form 8621) with a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts. Call the 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068, or request a written quote today.
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Stay compliant and optimize your financial processes with our specialized PFIC analysis & reporting (form 8621) services.
| Service | Includes | Fee | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual Cross-Border Tax | T1 + treaty coordination · Foreign income · Credits | FROM- $349 | Explore More |
| U.S. Tax Returns | 1040 / 1040-NR · State returns · FBAR | FROM- $449 | Explore More |
| Corporate International Tax | T2 + foreign affiliate · T1134 · Repatriation | FROM- $999 | Explore More |
| Transfer Pricing Documentation | Local file · Benchmarking · s.247 compliance | FROM- $2,500 | Explore More |
| Cross-Border Estate & Trust | Terminal returns · U.S. estate tax · Clearance | FROM- $799 | Explore More |
A passive foreign investment company is any non-US corporation most of whose income is passive or most of whose assets produce passive income, and almost every Canadian mutual fund, exchange-traded fund and pooled investment meets the definition. A US person holding one is taxed under a regime designed to punish deferral: gains and certain distributions are treated as earned rateably over the holding period, taxed at the highest rate for each year and charged interest, unless the holder makes one of two elections — mark-to-market, which taxes annual value changes as ordinary income, or the qualified electing fund election, which requires information the fund must provide.
Form 8621 is filed for each PFIC each year, whether or not there was a distribution, and the analysis is which regime applies to each holding and whether an election is available and worth making. For Americans in Canada the practical answer is often to hold Canadian funds inside registered plans the treaty shelters, or to hold US-domiciled funds outside them, and to unwind existing PFIC positions in a planned way rather than all at once.
Are my Canadian ETFs really PFICs? In almost every case, yes. The definition turns on the fund's income and assets, not on how it is regulated or where it is listed, and Canadian funds are corporations or trusts that meet it.
Do PFIC rules apply to funds in my RRSP? The treaty lets a US person defer US tax on RRSP growth, and the annual PFIC reporting is relieved for holdings inside it; a TFSA has no such protection, so PFICs inside a TFSA are fully within the regime.
PFIC Analysis & Reporting (Form 8621): Legal Quotient Consultants provides pfic analysis & reporting for families and investors with assets in more than one country — planned and filed by cross-border specialists, with fixed fees agreed up front and every position explained before anything is submitted.
Send your documents securely through our portal or by email.
We prepare your PFIC analysis & reporting (form 8621) return and every supporting schedule.
You review each figure and approve before anything is filed.
We file with the CRA and send you the confirmation of receipt.
| Factor | Legal Quotient Consultants | Typical Firm |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed, flat fee | Hourly / unpredictable |
| Experience | 15+ years, 18,000+ clients | Varies |
| Helpline | 24 hours a day, +1 (416) 619-0068 | Office hours only |
| Where we work | Our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE | One office only |
| CRA audit support | Included | Billed extra |
Most Canadian mutual funds and ETFs are PFICs to a U.S. person; QEF elections, mark-to-market and fund selection decide whether the tax treatment is manageable or punitive.
Foreign investment funds are a trap for the unwary: U.S. persons holding Canadian mutual funds meet PFIC rules, while Canadians with foreign portfolios meet T1135 reporting at $100,000 of cost and offshore trust attribution rules. Engagements are quoted as a fixed fee for a defined scope, and reviews of prior-year filings are included where earlier positions affect the current one.
Covers: The full streamlined submission: the back returns, the account reports for the whole period, and the non-willfulness certification that is the substance of the application.
What moves it up: The number of years and the state of the records. The filings are mechanical; reconstructing account histories and building the chronology is what takes the time.
See this fee pageCovers: Both US foreign-asset reports prepared from one account and asset list, with the different contents each of them requires, and reconciled to the return they accompany.
What moves it up: Accounts you do not think of as yours. Signature authority over an employer's or a relative's account is inside one report and often outside the other, and finding them takes longer than filing them.
See this fee pageCovers: The Canadian foreign property statement built on cost amount, in Canadian dollars, across everything the test reaches — including holdings people assume are excluded.
What moves it up: Missing acquisition records. The statement is tested on cost, so a holding bought fifteen years ago in another currency has to be reconstructed before it can be reported.
See this fee pageProviding tailored PFIC analysis & reporting (form 8621) services to ensure compliance and maximize deductions.
Our cross-border tax accountants protect your business with complete federal and provincial tax compliance.
A dedicated team that handles your financials quickly and accurately, at a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts.
Dedicated preparation processes built around the countries each client files in.
Documents, questions and signatures in one portal, whichever country you are filing from.
Customized packages designed to grow as your business operations expand.
Start with a free, no-obligation consultation to review your business’s financial, tax filing and compliance needs and outline our affordable solutions.
Receive a comprehensive checklist and securely provide the required financial records and documents.
Our tax accountant and accounting experts carefully prepare your filings, identify all applicable deductions and credits, and conduct thorough reviews.
We file your documents electronically with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on time and provide post-filing support.
Quoted up front, in writing.
Contact UsCA (India), CA (Malaysia)
CA (India)
FCA (India)
CPA (Canada), CPA (USA), CA (India)
CPA (Canada), CA (India)
PFIC Analysis & Reporting (Form 8621) starts at a fixed fee quoted before any work begins. The quote is locked at the outset and does not change mid-engagement, and you review the deliverable with us before it is filed. Compare every plan on our transparent pricing page.
At minimum: prior-year returns and notices of assessment, your bank and credit-card statements for the fiscal period, payroll records if you have employees, and GST/HST filings. We send a checklist tailored to your situation after the first call to our 24-hour helpline.
Most engagements are completed within 3 to 5 business days once your documents are complete. Catch-up work covering multiple years takes longer, and we tell you the realistic timeline before you commit rather than after.
We respond on your behalf at no extra charge for any return we prepared. Every figure we file is supported by documentation retained in your file, which is what turns a CRA review from a crisis into correspondence. See how our CRA audit support works.
Yes. The late-filing penalty is 5% of the balance owing plus 1% of that balance for each full month the return is late, to a maximum of 12 months (CRA, 2025 tax year). Interest is what compounds, daily, on top. We prioritise catch-up work and, where eligible, file under the CRA's Voluntary Disclosures Program to reduce penalties.
Yes. We work with clients wherever they live, from our offices in India, the USA, Canada and the UAE, and your location does not change the price or the service. Browse our coverage by country and region to find yours.
We work across construction, healthcare, e-commerce, professional services, restaurants, real estate, transportation, technology and non-profits, each with its own deduction profile and the points tax authorities scrutinise. See all industries we serve.
Software applies the rules you told it about. It does not ask whether a treaty caps the withholding on that payment, whether the foreign credit was claimed in the right country, whether an information return was due on an account that earned nothing, or whether your related-party pricing is documented. Those are the questions that move the number on a cross-border file.
Our PFIC analysis & reporting (form 8621) services include complete filing, compliance management, and strategic advice customized to Canadian tax laws.
You can start by calling our 24-hour helpline on +1 (416) 619-0068 or sending the form. We will review your files, provide a fixed quote, and start working immediately.
Because the two systems classify it differently. The United States generally treats a single-member LLC as transparent while Canada treats it as a corporation, so the income is taxed in different hands in each country and the foreign tax credit does not line up. The result is tax paid twice with no relief to claim. Other structures reach the same commercial outcome without the mismatch. See why a Canadian should rarely own an LLC.
Almost certainly, and on more than one form. Canada requires reporting of foreign affiliates on the T1134; the United States has a family of returns keyed to the entity type and your level of control, and several carry penalties that apply whether or not any tax is owed. These are information returns, so the obligation follows the ownership rather than the profit. See T1134.
Still have questions? View our FAQ page or contact us.
A US person holding foreign mutual funds through an ordinary brokerage account needed those holdings identified as passive foreign investment companies before the resulting reporting was addressed. We reviewed the client's foreign fund holdings, confirmed their classification, and prepared the reporting each fund required.
A US person who inherited a position in a foreign fund needed the fund's reporting history reviewed, since the reporting requirement can apply from the date the holding was acquired regardless of how it was acquired. We reviewed the fund's history and brought the client's reporting current from the date of inheritance.
A client holding several foreign funds needed the available elections reviewed across the whole portfolio at once, since each fund's own election can produce a materially different result depending on the fund's own performance. We reviewed each fund separately and recommended the election that fit each one's own facts.
Electing to treat a non-resident spouse as a US filer buys joint rates and brings that spouse's worldwide income and foreign accounts into the return. The election is easy to make and hard to revoke, so both positions are modelled first.
Read how this one runsReturning restarts Canadian residence and re-values what you own on the day you arrive. Foreign pensions, employer plans and accounts opened abroad each land differently, and the reporting thresholds are tested against the whole portfolio rather than each account.
Read how this one runsThe heaviest exposure on a cross-border file is often a disclosure form rather than the tax. Where the return itself was right, the procedures for late information returns turn on a reasonable-cause narrative with dates and documents behind it.
Read how this one runsA trust settled in one country and a beneficiary living in another produces reporting for the trust, the settlor and the beneficiary, on different forms and different dates. The engagement maps who files what before anything is prepared.
Read how this one runsCross-border retirement accounts are recognised by treaty, but the deferral usually has to be elected rather than assumed. The engagement checks whether the election was made, makes it where it was missed, and reports the account on whichever side requires it.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.
Working from anywhere doesn't mean taxed nowhere: residency defaults, employer payroll exposure and treaty relief decide where income actually lands.
Working from another country does not by itself end tax residence in the one you left, and it can start one where you are sitting. Day counts, ties, the employer's own exposure and the treaty tie-breaker all point at the same question, and the year you move is the year it has to be answered on paper.
Where our partners studied — CPA Canada (In-Depth Tax Program), AICPA, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Malaysian Institute of Accountants.
