Services

We work two very different ways depending on who you are. Choose below and the page will show the version that applies to you.

Cross-border compliance, foreign asset reporting, structuring advisory, and remediation — delivered as a controlled process rather than a scramble each April.

White-label international support for firms whose clients have outgrown their in-house capability. You keep the relationship; we take the cross-border complexity.

Viewing as:
Two tracks

Which describes you?

The services overlap technically, but the engagement, the deliverable, and the commercial relationship are different enough that we've split them.

Individuals & businesses

You're the taxpayer. We prepare and file your returns, review what's already been filed, and get you back into compliance where something's been missed.

Tax & legal professionals

You have the client. We work behind your brand on the international schedules and technical analysis, under a strict non-compete.

01 — Compliance & reporting

The filings that carry the real penalties

International information returns are penalised on failure to file, not on tax owed. A return with no tax due can still trigger a five-figure penalty. That's the risk we're managing.

Entity & ownership reporting

  • Investments in foreign corporations, partnerships, branches, and disregarded entities
  • US reporting by foreign-owned corporations and disregarded entities
  • US entity classification elections

Income & credit positions

  • Calculating and claiming the maximum eligible foreign tax credit
  • GILTI / Net CFC Tested Income computations
  • Subpart F income analysis

We turn complex reporting packages into a controlled filing process — the outcome is timely filings that avoid surprise notices and penalties. The full list of forms is further down this page.

02 — Foreign asset compliance

Reporting what you hold abroad

The category that catches people out most often, because ordinary savings and retirement products abroad frequently carry US reporting consequences that have no domestic equivalent.

Accounts

Foreign bank and financial accounts reported through FBAR / FinCEN 114, and specified foreign financial assets under FATCA on Form 8938.

Investments

Mutual funds, SIPPs, ETFs, unit trusts, and investment funds — including PFIC analysis and Form 8621 where it applies.

Pensions & insurance

Foreign pensions, retirement accounts, and life insurance policies, with treaty positions applied where they're available to you.

03 — Structuring & advisory

Choose the structure before it chooses your tax result

Structure decisions compound. The difference between a good and a poor entity choice usually shows up years later, when unwinding it is expensive.

Inbound & outbound structures

A clean path for US ownership, reporting, and entity choice — whether you're a foreign business expanding into the US or a US business investing abroad.

Treaty-aware planning

Cross-border analysis that accounts for the applicable treaty, including claiming treaty rates through the correct withholding tax forms.

Multi-tiered structures

Multi-national, multi-tiered ownership chains where reporting obligations cascade through several layers.

Audit-ready posture

Keeping your cross-border structure documented and consistent, so the reporting matches the ownership and the activity.

04 — Return review

A second look at what's already filed

If a previous preparer handled your international position without specialising in it, a review is the cheapest diagnostic available. We look for:

  • Missed disclosures
  • Missed elections
  • Inconsistent or inaccurate foreign tax credit positions
  • Incomplete or inaccurate foreign asset reporting
  • Incomplete or inaccurate foreign income reporting

What you receive

  • A written list of the issues identified
  • Clear priorities for getting into compliance, with the potential risks named
  • Next-step recommendations
  • A filing plan with prospective timelines
05 — Resolution & streamlined filings

Already behind? There's a defined way back.

Missed a critical international reporting form? Didn't report income from foreign assets accurately? The IRS maintains specific programmes for exactly this, and choosing the right one matters.

Delinquent filings

Delinquent international information return submission procedures (DIIRSP) where the facts support it.

Streamlined procedures

Both streamlined domestic and streamlined offshore procedures, depending on your residency and the nature of the non-compliance.

Penalty relief

First-time abatement and reasonable-cause relief, argued on the specific facts of your situation.

An important limit. We are not attorneys. For penalty mitigation we may ask you to work with a tax attorney, so that attorney–client privilege can be enforced for your situation and so you receive specific legal advice on alternative tax positions you might elect.

01 — The engagement

You keep the client. We take the complexity.

When a long-standing client turns up with a controlled foreign corporation or eight years of unfiled FBARs, most firms face a choice between refusing the work, referring it out and risking the relationship, or signing a return they're not comfortable with. This is the fourth option.

1

You stay the point of contact

We work behind your brand. Depending on your preference we're invisible to the client entirely, or introduced as your international specialist.

2

We take defined scope

Usually specific schedules or a technical question — not the whole return. You keep control of the filing and the client relationship.

3

You deliver the result

Completed schedules and written analysis come back to you, ready to integrate into the return you're signing.

02 — What we take off your desk

Two ways firms use us

Most engagements start as the first and grow into the second.

Specialised form preparation

The heavy lifting on the schedules that consume disproportionate time: Forms 5471, 8865, 8858, 5472, 8621, 8992/8993, 1116/1118, and FBARs.

We integrate with your existing workflow rather than asking you to adopt ours.

Advisory back-office

Acting as your silent partner or co-advisor on the technical analysis: treaty positions and eligibility, Subpart F income, GILTI / NCTI calculations, entity classification elections, and inbound/outbound structuring.

Delivered as written analysis you can rely on and file behind.

03 — For attorneys

Kovel engagements

We support attorneys under Kovel agreements, assisting their clients with tax returns and specific advisory on tax matters within the scope of the engagement.

Where a matter involves potential exposure and the analysis needs to sit inside privilege, this is the structure that allows the accounting work to happen without waiving it.

To be explicit about our limits: we are not attorneys and do not provide legal advice.

Where a client needs penalty mitigation argued, or legal advice on alternative tax positions they might elect, that's your role — or we'll ask a direct client to engage a tax attorney so privilege can be enforced.

04 — The commercial basis

Strict non-compete ethos

The single question every firm asks before referring work to a specialist: will you take my client?

We don't pursue your engagements

Our focus is exclusively on resolving cross-border complexity. We do not compete for your core domestic work — that boundary is the entire basis of the arrangement, not a courtesy.

You expand without hiring

Keep your most valuable clients and widen what your firm can credibly take on, without the overhead and recruitment risk of an in-house international tax specialist.

05 — Getting started

A first engagement is usually small

Most firms start with one client and one problem, then decide.

Send the fact pattern

Anonymised is fine. Entity types, countries, ownership percentages, and which years are in question are usually enough for us to scope it.

We scope it back

Which forms are triggered, what analysis is needed, and what we'd need from you — before any commitment on either side.

Then decide

If it's not a fit, we'll say so. If it touches estate, gift, trusts, or transfer pricing, that's outside our scope and we'll tell you immediately.

Are you a CPA, EA, or attorney? There's a separate set of services for firms — white-label form preparation, advisory back-office, and Kovel support, under a strict non-compete.

Looking for help with your own tax position? The client-facing services — compliance and reporting, foreign asset compliance, return reviews, and streamlined filings — are listed separately.

Reference

Forms we prepare and file

Not an exhaustive list — but it covers most of what arrives on our desk.

Not an exhaustive list, but it covers most of what arrives on our desk. If you recognise your situation in the left-hand column, the right-hand column is what should have been filed.

The schedules we routinely take on. If your client's fact pattern triggers something here and it isn't work you want in-house, this is the list to send us.

International tax forms prepared by AlignMyTax, by reporting subject
Reporting ofRelevant forms
Foreign corporations5471, 926
Foreign partnerships8865
Foreign disregarded entities and branches8858
Entity classifications8832
Foreign-owned corporations and disregarded entities5472
Foreign tax credits1116, 1118
GILTI / Net CFC Tested Income8992, 8993
Foreign bank and financial accountsFBAR (FinCEN 114)
Specified foreign financial assets8938
Passive foreign investment companies8621

Outside our scope: estate and gift taxes, trusts, and transfer pricing.

This boundary is deliberate. These are broad areas requiring a different set of expertise, and keeping them out is what keeps our international compliance and structuring work focused. Where your situation needs them, we'll tell you early.

Next step

Not sure which of these you need?

That's a normal place to start. A short consultation will identify which service applies and what the sequence should be.

Not sure which of these you need?

That's a normal place to start — most people can't tell in advance. A short consultation will identify what applies to you and what order to do it in.

Have a client fact pattern to scope?

Send it over anonymised, or book a call. We'll tell you which forms are triggered and what we'd need from you — before either side commits to anything.