Filing taxes w/ TurboTax

[sioneva]

Hi everyone.

A heads up for everyone using TurboTax to file US taxes this year, if you're filing for the foreign earned income tax exclusion. PLEASE double-check your numbers. We filed not realizing that the foreign earned income tax form (2555) did NOT both add to our total income as well as subtracting it. It simply subtracted our UK income

Comments

[happycycling]

screw it, i'm just going to apply for an extension and go to H&R Block when i'm home in june.

[sioneva]

It *can* be done - you just need to enter the income twice, once on the foreign earned income tax exclusion form and once in "miscellaneous income" under "foreign income."

It's a dumb system (and opaque as hell) but it's possible.

If you don't mind waiting, though, and filing the extension, I'd do that.

[jenepel]

It's in two places because on the 2555 you're telling them the portion that you want exempted. The other place is you actually entering the full amount of foreign income you earned. It is possible (although unlikely) that those numbers will be different, thus the separate entries are required.

[sioneva]

In previous years I'm sure this was not the case and it's absolutely not clear in any way, shape, or form that it's necessary to do that.

Also, when one goes back to CHANGE the figures in an amended return, they automatically fill in the "amended" salary with the same salary as previously reported...only you're actually supposed to enter "O" in or it *doubles* your salary for you.

Whether or not there's an actual *bug* I won't say but there clearly is something wrong with the instructions/thought processes behind how they've written the program this year. Having used TurboTax for years, it was startling to find that there was an issue with it this year that we had never previously had.