This is a pretty weak response from TT
Effective 2018, Form 8858 is required for self-employed individuals who are living/working in a foreign country. In that scenario, the IRS happily allows electronic filing for the 8858.
Sadly, TT doesn't seem to even flag the possible need for an 8858 for the self employed who claim the FEIE or FTCs--and there are statutory penalties of $10k for not filing. Ditto the 8938--you get an FBAR warning, but no 8938 warning.
There are large numbers of self-employed expats (probably more than a million, as there are 9 million US expats) that would be able to file 8858 electronically that will continue to move to other software packages because TT doesn't support them, when it could.
In the expat tax groups, TT continues to get a bad name for silly things, like not letting US citizens married to NRAs enter NRA in the social security boc=x when. filing married, filing separately. Other tax software packages manage this easily enough, but year after year TT fails. The recommended T solution is put in a fake SSN, print the return, white out the fake SSN and hand-write in NRA and mail the printed return instead of filing. Dumb...just dumb.
I am guessing TT underestimates the size of the expat community wanting/needing software to file that supports all the basic expat needs. And how their market share is declining in that 9-million person market as other tax software companies rise to the challenge.
I have used TT as an expat for 8 years. It's time for. change for 2021.
