Question

Why is my foreign earned income not reported on Line 7 (Wages, Salaries and tips ) on my 1040 form as FEC ?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
April 14, 2020
2 replies
0 views

I filled out the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion form excluding all my income earned outside the US, but when reviewing my return it says I can not e-file because lines 7b Total Income has a 0 value.

TurboTax Deluxe Online

P

pk12_2

Employee

@tania3559 , we cannot see your forms and so must have more information to understand what went wrong ---

(a) are you US citizen/Resident ( green Card ); (b) is this your first year of foreign earned income exclusion; (c) when did you arrive at the foreign country ( i.e. when did you establish foreign tax home ); (d) which country are you in and which country did you earn in 2019; ( e) are you using on-line version or desktop version of the software; (f) did you have to pay taxes to the foreign country; (g) what was the test period ( the 12 months that is used ) on form 2555 -- the one that qualifies you for foreign earned income exclusion; (h) is this self-employed income or is it wages from a local entity in that foreign country --- please answer these questions -- thank you

T

tania3559Author

Hi,

(a) I am US Citizen, (b) This is my first year filing for foreign earned income exclusion, (c) I arrived on 26th September 1993 and I am still living here, (d) I live in Trinidad & Tobago and I also worked in this country for the entire year for 2019, (e) I am using Turbo Tax Deluxe online version, (f) Yes I am required to pay Taxes to the foreign country, (g) I used the Bona Fide Residence test and qualified to exclude my income as my Tax home was in a foreign country for 365 days, (h) This is wages from a local entity in the foreign country,not self employed. After answering the questions for form 2555 I was able to exclude all my foreign income, but it is not showing up in Line 7 as Total Income on my 1040 form and remains blank. Do I need to add the foreign income as Foreign Employer Compensation for it to show up as FEC on line 7? if so how do I add this ?

P

pk12_2

Employee

@tania3559 , thank you for your answers to my questions -- from your post it appears you should be able to satisfy the foreign tax home ( form 2555 ) and exclude your foreign earned income from US taxes.

Generally how I enter the foreign wages is as follows --- under personal income, ; select "I will choose what I work on", then from the next screen (list of income categories ) , go all down to the bottom -- under category head " Less Common Income", you will find Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion " , select this on the right and this should take you to --> What form was Foreign Income reported on --- follow through the next few screens entering / answering questions and you should see the final income ( wages appear on line 7 of the form 1040 ) and a subtraction amount ( of the excluded amount ) on line 7a ( this comes via schedule-1, line 9 ).

Are you not seeing this?

How did you enter the income?

Another item to note --- if you have declared that you are a resident to your host country ( Tobago, Trinidad ) then yes you should file as bona-fide resident -- but this requires IRS approval. Most ExPats, that I know use the Physical Presence Test -- 330 days away from the USA in any 12 months ( the test period ) -- it is just that in this case you have to meet the test every year where as for bona-fide resident , once approved by the IRS, you do not have to pass any test again.

I await your answer ( entry of the income ) -- because there is something different -- I cannot replicate your situation and need help

3

3366817166

Where is foreign earned income entered in Turbo Tax?

HopeS

Here's how to enter your foreign income:

Sign in to TurboTax and open or continue your return
Search for foreign income
Select the Jump to link in the search results
Answer Yes to Did You Make Any Money Outside the United States? and follow the onscreen instructions

Below is additional helpful information :

Foreign Earned Income

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