Please help an idiot - tax related

3POSTS

6 years ago

Hello all,

I am new to this so please help if you can. I don't know why I am having so much trouble understanding this but it should be easy for someone.

Form 2555 line 1 8 is asking me to report my travel and it say s the following:

"Exclude travel between foreign countries that didn’t involve travel on or over international waters, or in or over the United States, for 24 hours or more."
Then column (a) goes on to says "Name of country (including US)"

The way I understand the United States part is that if for example I traveled from canada to mexico and my flight went over the united states for less than 24 hours then I do not have to report this travel?

Whereas

If I traveled from canada to mexico and during that travel stayed in usa for three days then I have to report my travel/stay in USA? Or if I was in USA for three days visiting then I have to report this too?

Thank you. Sorry if this is the wrong part of the forum for this question, I thought this generic forum would be best.

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Jackson4 Serial expat

714POSTS

6 years ago

KPMG can help.

GuestPoster285 Guest

0POSTS

6 years ago

IMO your assumptions are correct. But make sure.

Loïc ViP

1777POSTS

6 years ago

Hello notthisagain and welcome to expat.com

I moved your topic to the USA forum, I think more people will be able to help you here

Have a great day & stay safe !

(and good luck with the taxes)

Regards.

Loïc

1 member reacted to this post

notthisagain New member

3POSTS

6 years ago

Philippine Destiny wrote:
IMO your assumptions are correct. But make sure.

Make sure how?

notthisagain New member

3POSTS

6 years ago

Loïc wrote:
Hello notthisagain and welcome to expat.com

I moved your topic to the USA forum, I think more people will be able to help you here

Have a great day & stay safe !

(and good luck with the taxes)

Regards.

Loïc

Thank you

1 member reacted to this post

whinglobal Member

2POSTS

6 years ago

Line 18 of form 2555 is to report your US travels to make sure you meet the PPT if you have any US travel. Your understanding seems correct.

Note the PPT is based on a rolling 12-month period, not a calendar year. Also, you may roll forward or backward your PPT days to maximize your PPT qualifying period in the tax year for a maximum foreign earned income exclusion.

Please note that you have 3 months (July 15) to file your taxes. if you need more time, you may wish to request an extension for an additional 3 months (October 15).

TaxMao82 Member

2POSTS

6 years ago

You need to report both trips to the USA on Form 2553. They (IRS) are trying to determine number of days back in the US for the FEIE (foreign earned income exclusion) physical presence testing and calculation. Report the days and nature of the trip in that section on line18 Form 2555.

TominStuttgart Germany Expert

2807POSTS

6 years ago

What interests the IRS is the time spent in the USA in your filing period. If one flies between Mexico and Canada and doesn’t stop in the US, then it doesn’t count. All days spent in the US count. Having been in the air and flown over is not a visit. There are 2 reasons the time spent in the US is important in context of the Foreign Earning Income Exclusion or FEIE. First of all, if one is not an ongoing foreign resident then they can still qualify for the FEIE under the physical presence test if they were not in the USA more than 30 days. For people with a bona fide foreign residence they could spend more time in the States but for either qualifying method then the amount excluded under the FEIE is less, prorated on how long they were in the States. The amount of the FEIE changes a bit each year and is now actually higher but just for simplicity sake, let’s say it was 100,000 USD and one spent 6 months in the States; then the limit of the FEIE would be 50,000 USD. And it is only applied like the name suggest on FOREIGN earned income and not the amount one might have earned while in the States.

Sean4545 Member

2POSTS

5 years ago

#10

Hi, The Travel which needs to be excluded on line 18, refers to the in-Transit travel, like if you are traveling to a third country. For the physical presence test, you just need to be 330 days outside of the US. Transit days in the US don't count. Hope this helps.