Filing form 2555 for new Green Card Holder - Foreign job for a few months after first entering on CR-1

[SnakeBite 3]

Hi,

I've searched this forum and elsewhere and still don't have a clear answer to my question, so here goes:

Timeline:

My wife entered the US on a CR-1 visa near the end of December 2015, making her a green card holder from that date. She stayed in the US for 2 weeks before returning to the country she had been working in for 5+ years. She continued working abroad until mid-March 2016, then finished moving to the US in late-March 2016.

My question is:

Is she eligible to take the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555) for the income earned between Jan 1 and mid-March?

My initial reading of Form 2555 instructions and IRS Pub 54 leads me to believe yes since she was physically present outside the US for more than 330 days between March 2015 and 2016. I don't seen anything that would disqualify her just because she was a new green card holder, but I'm not sure if I'm missing anything and don't want to mess anything up.

Thanks!

[RandyW 149]

Hi,

I've searched this forum and elsewhere and still don't have a clear answer to my question, so here goes:

Timeline:

My wife entered the US on a CR-1 visa near the end of December 2015, making her a green card holder from that date. She stayed in the US for 2 weeks before returning to the country she had been working in for 5+ years. She continued working abroad until mid-March 2016, then finished moving to the US in late-March 2016.

My question is:

Is she eligible to take the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555) for the income earned between Jan 1 and mid-March?

My initial reading of Form 2555 instructions and IRS Pub 54 leads me to believe yes since she was physically present outside the US for more than 330 days between March 2015 and 2016. I don't seen anything that would disqualify her just because she was a new green card holder, but I'm not sure if I'm missing anything and don't want to mess anything up.

Thanks!

The Foreign Earned Income "Exclusion" is available to ANYONE, including American citizens and green card holders, who spent 330 days outside of the U.S. either ending or beginning in 2016 - yes, you read that correctly.

AFTER filling out the Form 2555, DON'T FORGET to use the Foreign Earned Income worksheet, which is in the Form 1040 instructions, to figure your taxes. Unless you are in the 10% bracket yourself, you will pay some extra tax due to her "Excluded" income

Edited October 9, 2016 by RandyW