If you are working and living abroad and meet certain requirements, you may be eligible to use the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. If you meet the requirements you can complete Form 2555, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to exclude your foreign wages or salary from income earned in the foreign country. You may also qualify to exclude compensation for certain foreign housing costs or your personal services.
To be eligible for this exclusion, a citizen of the United States or a resident alien must have a tax home in a foreign country and they must receive income for working in the foreign country. This is commonly referred to as foreign earned income (FEC). The taxpayer must also meet one of two tests.
- The Bona Fide Residence Test: You must reside an entire tax year, January 1 through December 31, to be eligible for the bona fide residence, in a foreign country for an uninterrupted period. You may leave the country for temporary or brief trips to the United States or elsewhere, during the period of bona fide residence in a foreign country.
You must have a clear objective to return from these trips, without unreasonable delay, to retain your status as a bona fide resident of a foreign country. You can return to your foreign residence or to a new bona fide residence in another foreign country. - The Physical Presence Test: Generally, you must be physically present for at least 330 full days during the 12-month period, in a foreign country or countries, to meet the physical presence test. You can count days spent abroad for any reason.
If family problems, illness, a vacation, or by employer’s order, cause you to be abroad for less than 330 days in a 12-month period, you do not meet the Physical Presence Test.
If your being present in a foreign country is in violation of United States law, you are not treated as being physically present or as a bona fide resident in the foreign country while in violation of the U.S. law. Income earned within such a country during the period of violation would not qualify as foreign earned income.
If you have to leave a foreign country due to civil unrest, war or similar condition, the two tests may be waived. You must provide evidence that you are expected to meet, if not for the situation, the minimum time requirements. In order to implement the waiver, you must have had a tax home in the foreign country and were physically present in or a bona fide resident of, the foreign country on or before the start date of the waiver.
Before you enter the foreign earned income exclusion into the program you should enter the foreign earned compensation first, so you can then exclude this income.
To enter the Foreign Earned Compensation (FEC), go to:
- Federal Section
- Income
- Less Common Income
- Other Compensation
- Foreign Earned Compensation
To enter the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555), go to:
- Federal Section
- Income
- Less Common Income
- Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Form 2555
For more information:
Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad
Form 2555 Instructions