If the US doesn't have a tax treaty with the country you are in, pensions become quite difficult. Even in countries like the UK where there is a tax treaty in

If the US doesn't have a tax treaty with the country you are in, pensions become quite difficult. Even in countries like the UK where there is a tax treaty in place, it can be difficult because the UK offers a wide variety of tax wrappers to encourage people to save money. But those tax wrappers can count as PFICs for US taxes and you won't be getting the paperwork you need to do a QEF, so you have to Mark To Market I farked up on an ISA because I never knew about any of this and ended up owing over $1000 in back taxes. If I had known enough to declare the PFIC correctly from the date I started it, I wouldn't have owed any where near that amount of tax on it :(