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tdo061803
June 2, 2020
Solved

Unemployment benefit from abroad

  • June 2, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 0 views

I lived in Germany and received unemployment benefits in Germany in 2019.

 

1. Is unemployment benefit passive or active income?

2. I entered my unemployment benefits in "miscellaneous income" under Less Common Income. Is that correct?

3. Shall I also enter unemployment benefits in Foreign Tax Credit?

Best answer by SusanY1

Unemployment income is considered general income for the foreign tax credit.  Entering it as miscellaneous income since it's from a foreign source is perfect.

 

When you enter it in the foreign tax credit section, you will need to re-enter the income to pair it with the credit (but it will not be reported as income again from this section) and labeling it as foreign unemployment would be perfect. 


For the foreign tax credit, this income will be "General category income." 

1 reply

SusanY1
SusanY1Answer
June 8, 2020

Unemployment income is considered general income for the foreign tax credit.  Entering it as miscellaneous income since it's from a foreign source is perfect.

 

When you enter it in the foreign tax credit section, you will need to re-enter the income to pair it with the credit (but it will not be reported as income again from this section) and labeling it as foreign unemployment would be perfect. 


For the foreign tax credit, this income will be "General category income." 

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    T
    tdo061803Author
    July 9, 2020

    @SusanY1 

    Thank you for your reply. 

     

    The German unemployment benefit I received is not taxable in Germany.

    Do I understand it correctly, if I take FTC it will result in some tax in the US and FEIE I won't? It's about 24k.

    I am better off taking FEIE. correct?

     

    technical question:

    If above is affirmative, should I move the income amount from

    Less Common Income -> Other income in Turbotax 

    to

    Less Common Income -> Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion 

    T
    Tlein123
    April 3, 2024

    Hey there, 

    I am curious about how you ended up solving this?

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