SHEL · London · ISIN GB00BP6MXD84 · incorporated in United Kingdom · Energy
PFIC-screened: company says not a PFIC (2025)
The company states it was not a PFIC for 2025 in its 20-F. Xpat's own estimate: passive assets about 7% of total assets at market value (test: 50%); passive income about 2% of gross income (test: 75%) (SEC XBRL, 2025-12-31). The test is rerun every year.
Checked 2026-11-15Xpat's reading · Xpat's reading of PFIC screen for individual stocks: Xpat screens by type of company: operating businesses pass, funds, investment trusts and cash-rich holding companies are excluded. The test is annual and only the company can confirm it, so a stock is PFIC-screened, not certified. Banks and insurers pass only through the active banking or insurance exception, so they are shown as screened with that caveat. Where a company has published a statement, the stock records its year and source. · Xpat's reading of PFIC check from company statements and financial statements: Passive assets are estimated as cash plus financial investments (Xpat counts all cash as passive, the long-standing IRS position). Total assets are taken at market value (market capitalisation at the balance-sheet date plus liabilities), the basis a publicly traded company may use, when the share count and price are known; otherwise at book value, which errs high. A company statement is read from its own clause, and a present-tense statement in the annual report for a year counts for that year. Passive income is estimated as finance income over revenue plus finance income. At or above a legal threshold the stock is excluded; from 60% of a threshold it is flagged as elevated. A company statement that it was not a PFIC, for a year at most two years before the tax year, outweighs the estimate; a statement that it was one excludes the stock. Banks and insurers are not estimated: they rely on the active banking and insurance exceptions. · 26 U.S.C. §1297 — passive foreign investment company (official) · 26 CFR §1.1297-1 — definition of a PFIC (income and asset tests) (official) · 26 CFR §1.1297-4 — qualifying insurance corporation (official)
What the company says
“Shell believes that it is a QFC and is not a PFIC.”
Total assets at market value (market cap USD 210.0bn + liabilities)
USD 405.0bn
Passive assets (cash and cash equivalents)
USD 30.2bn
Passive share of assets (market value; PFIC at 50%)
7%
Revenue
USD 266.9bn
Finance income (interest, dividends, investment gains)
USD 5.2bn
Passive share of income (PFIC at 75%)
2%
SEC XBRL figures for the year ended 2025-12-31 · Source filing. All cash counts as passive and total assets are taken at market value when the share price is known, else at book value, so the estimate errs high.
What it means for a U.S. citizen or green-card holder
No PFIC filing for this holding while it stays a non-PFIC: dividends are reported like any foreign dividend (with a foreign tax credit) and gains as capital gains. Foreign accounts that hold it still count for FBAR and Form 8938.
Company type: Operating company. Evidence gathered 2026-11-15. Educational tool, not tax advice: PFIC status is decided each year on figures only the company has.