Dataset current to Oct 2026

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Expat & Cross-Border Tax Preparation

Ten services for Americans living abroad, compared on what the standard annual filing — a federal return and an FBAR — costs at each, and on who actually prepares it.

Disclosure Links to providers on this page earn this site nothing. They go to the provider’s own site unmodified, with no tracking parameters. If that ever changes, this notice changes with it. Full disclosure.

The comparison

10 providers. Sort any column; the sorted or filtered view has its own address and can be linked to.

Who prepares it

10 providers

Every figure here was checked against the provider’s own page in Sep 2026, except where a date is shown against the figure. Figures are rechecked at least every 12 months; one past that is marked “Recheck due”.

date checked against the provider’s own pagecalculated; oldest date among its inputspast its recheck window

Segments show the tier reached, not the score:BasicStandardStrongExcellent

The first column adds the federal return and the FBAR at each provider's published price. A provider that only explains how to file the FBAR yourself adds nothing for it, and the FBAR column says so — filing it yourself is free, but it is your work. 'Starting at' prices are floors, and the price-basis column marks them. The score is the headline column alone; use the filter to compare software with software and professionals with professionals.

Scoring weights

rubric 2026.1

  • Federal return with FBAR100%

Set once per vertical and versioned. Changing a weight is a logged version bump, not routine upkeep — methodology.

Verification state

Dated fields in this table
70
Oldest check
Sep 2026
Most recent check
Oct 2026
Recheck window
365 days
Past that window
0

Ranked for a specific question

The same verified data, ordered by the figure that answers one decision rather than by the overall score.

Guides

One question each, answered in the first sixty words from the figures in this table.

Scope

What the figures cover, and what is deliberately absent — an omission a reader cannot see looks like an oversight.

What this table covers

  • Every price is read off the provider's own pricing page and dated individually.
  • The headline column prices the filing most US citizens abroad make every year: a federal return using the foreign earned income exclusion or foreign tax credit, plus an FBAR for foreign bank accounts. Where the FBAR is included, it adds nothing; where it is extra, its published price is added.
  • Software you complete yourself and returns prepared by a professional are in the same table, because a reader choosing between them wants to see the price gap. The 'who prepares it' column and filter keep them apart.
  • The last column is the published price of each provider's package for the IRS Streamlined procedures, for catching up on missed returns and FBARs. It is shown, not scored: the score is the standard annual filing.

What it leaves out, and why

  • State returns. Only some expats owe one, and not every provider publishes a price.
  • Returns with self-employment, rental, investment or foreign-company reporting beyond each package's stated limits. These are priced as add-ons that vary too much to compare.
  • Form 5472 for a foreign-owned US LLC. It is a business filing rather than a personal one; the one preparer here that publishes a price for it, Taxes for Expats, is in the Form 5472 table instead.
  • Quality of advice. It is not published, so it is not scored; the score is price alone.

Every figure above is dated to the last time it was checked against the provider’s own pricing page, not to when this page was published. See methodology for how scores are calculated from those figures.