If you have a foreign pension or investment account abroad, you've probably never heard of a PFIC. That's a problem — because the IRS has, and the tax rules around them are brutal.   What's a PFIC? PFIC stands for Passive Foreign Investment Company. In plain English: almost any foreign fund. Foreign mutual funds, foreign ETFs, foreign pension funds that invest in pooled vehicles — they almost all qualify. If your foreign pension invests in foreign funds (which virtually all d