Please help an idiot - tax related

KPMG can help.

IMO your assumptions are correct. But make sure.

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

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).

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.

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.

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.