Publication 593 (1-2011) TAX HIGHLIGHTS FOR U.S. CITIZENS AND RESIDENTS GOING ABROAD

Introduction

This publication discusses in general terms some provisions of U.S. federal income tax law that apply to U.S. citizens and resident aliens who live or work abroad and who expect to receive income from foreign sources.

As a U.S. citizen or resident alien, your worldwide income generally is subject to U.S. income tax regardless of where you are living. You are subject to the same income tax return filing requirements that apply to U.S. citizens or resident aliens living in the United States.

However, several income tax benefits might apply if you meet certain requirements while living abroad. You may be able to exclude from your income a limited amount of your foreign earned income. You also may be able either to exclude or to deduct from gross income your housing amount (defined later). To claim these benefits, you must file a tax return and attach Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income. If you are claiming the foreign earned income exclusion only, you may be able to use the shorter Form 2555-EZ, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, rather than Form 2555.

You may be able to claim a tax credit or an itemized deduction on your U.S. return for the foreign income taxes that you pay. Also, under tax treaties or conventions that the United States has with many foreign countries, you may be able to reduce your foreign tax liability.

Publications 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad; 514, Foreign Tax Credit for Individuals; and 901, U.S. Tax Treaties, discuss in detail the treatment of your foreign income, the foreign tax credit, and the general tax treaty benefits available to you.

See How To Get Tax Help at the end of this publication for information about getting publications and forms.

Filing Information

The U.S. filing requirements for U.S. citizens and resident aliens in foreign countries are generally the same as those for citizens and residents living in the United States.

Who must file. Your age, filing status, gross income, and whether you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer determine whether you must file a U.S. federal income tax return. To determine if you meet the gross income requirement for filing purposes, you must include all income you receive from foreign sources as well as your U.S. income. This is true even if:

You must file a U.S. income tax return if you had $400 or more of net earnings from self-employment, regardless of your age. Net earnings from self-employment include income earned both in a foreign country and in the United States.

Generally, you must pay self-employment tax on your self-employment income even if it is earned in a foreign country and is excludable as foreign earned income in figuring your income tax.

Foreign bank and financial accounts. If you had any financial interest in, or signature or other authority over, a bank account, securities account, or other financial account in a foreign country at any time during the tax year, you may have to complete Treasury Department Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, and file it with the Department of the Treasury at the address listed on the form. You need not file this form if the combined assets in the account(s) are $10,000 or less during the entire year, or if the assets are with a U.S. military banking facility operated by a U.S. financial institution.

You can get Form TD F 90-22.1 from the offices listed at the end of this publication or at IRS.gov.

Estate and gift taxes. Under certain conditions, you may have to file a federal estate or gift tax return. For more information, see Publication 950, Introduction to Estate and Gift Taxes.

When to file. If your tax year is the calendar year, the due date for filing your income tax return is usually April 15 of the following year.

Extensions of time to file. You are automatically granted an extension to June 15 to file your return and pay any tax due if you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien and on the regular due date of your return:

You must pay interest on any unpaid tax from the regular due date to the date you pay the tax.

You do not have to file a special form to receive this extension. However, you must attach a statement to your tax return explaining what situation qualified you for the extension.

It may benefit you to file for an additional extension of time to file. You may benefit if, on the due date for filing, you have not yet met either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test, but you expect to qualify after the automatic extension discussed above. To obtain an additional extension, file Form 2350, Application for Extension of Time To File U.S. Income Tax Return, with the:

Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Austin, TX 73301-0045

Or, you can file Form 2350 with your local IRS representative or other IRS employee. You must file Form 2350 after the close of your tax year but before the end of the first extension. If an additional extension is granted, it will be to a date after you expect to meet the time requirements for the bona fide residence or the physical presence test.

Where to file. If any of the situations listed below apply to you, you should file your return with the:

Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Austin, TX 73301-0215

If none of the above situations apply to you, see the instructions for your income tax return.

Income Earned Abroad

You may qualify for an exclusion from tax of a limited amount of income earned while working abroad. However, you must file a tax return to claim it. In general, foreign earned income is income received for services you perform in a foreign country. You also may be able to claim an exclusion or a deduction from gross income for a limited amount of your housing costs if your costs are more than a base amount. Generally, you will qualify for these benefits if your tax home (defined later) is in a foreign country or countries throughout your period of bona fide foreign residence or physical presence and you are one of the following.

Your tax home is the general area of your main place of business, employment, or post of duty where you are permanently or indefinitely engaged to work. You are not considered to have a tax home in a foreign country for any period during which your abode is in the United States. However, being temporarily present in the United States, or maintaining a dwelling there, does not necessarily mean that your abode is in the United States. For details, see

.

Foreign country. A foreign country, for this purpose, means any territory under the sovereignty of a government other than that of the United States. It includes the country's territorial waters (determined under U.S. laws) and air space, but not international waters and the airspace above them. A foreign country also includes the seabed and subsoil of those submarine areas that are adjacent to the territorial waters of the foreign country and over which it has exclusive rights under international law to explore and exploit natural resources. For this purpose, U.S. possessions or territories and the Antarctic region are not foreign countries.

Waiver of time requirements. You may not have to meet the minimum time requirements for bona fide residence or physical presence if you have to leave the foreign country because war, civil unrest, or similar adverse conditions in the country prevented you from conducting normal business. However, you must be able to show that you reasonably could have expected to meet the minimum time requirements if the adverse conditions had not occurred.

A list of countries qualifying for the waiver is published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin (IRB). You can read the IRB at IRS.gov. Or, you can get a copy of the list by writing to:

Internal Revenue Service International Section Philadelphia, PA 19255-0725

Travel restrictions. If you violate U.S. travel restrictions, you will not be treated as a bona fide resident of, or physically present in, a foreign country for any day during which you are present in a country in violation of the restrictions. (These restrictions generally prohibit U.S. citizens and residents from engaging in transactions related to travel to, from, or within certain countries.) Also, income that you earn from sources within such a country for services performed during a period of travel restrictions does not qualify as foreign earned income. Your housing expenses within that country (or outside that country for housing your spouse or dependents) while you are in violation of travel restrictions cannot be included in figuring your foreign housing amount.

These travel restrictions currently apply only to Cuba. However, if you performed services at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, these travel restrictions do not apply.

Exclusion of Foreign Earned Income

If your tax home is in a foreign country and you meet either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test, you can choose to exclude from gross income a limited amount of your foreign earned income. Your income must be for services performed in a foreign country during your period of foreign residence or presence, whichever applies. However, you cannot exclude the pay you receive as an employee of the U.S. Government or its agencies.

Credits and deductions. If you claim the exclusion, you cannot claim any credits or deductions that are related to the excluded income. Thus, you cannot claim a foreign tax credit or deduction for any foreign income tax paid on the excluded income. Nor can you claim the earned income credit if you claim the exclusion. Also, for IRA purposes, the excluded income is not considered compensation and, for figuring deductible contributions when you are covered by an employer retirement plan, the excluded income is included in your modified adjusted gross income.

Amount excludable. If your tax home is in a foreign country and you qualify under either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test for all of 2010, you can exclude up to $91,500 of your foreign earned income. The maximum amount you can exclude is adjusted annually for inflation.

If you qualify under either test for only part of the year, you must reduce ratably the maximum amount based on the number of days within the tax year you qualified under one of the two tests.

Housing Amount

If your tax home is in a foreign country and you meet either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test, you may be able to claim an exclusion or a deduction from gross income for a housing amount.

Your housing amount is the excess, if any, of your allowable housing expenses for the year over a base amount. The amount of allowable housing expenses is limited.

Allowable housing expenses are the reasonable expenses (such as rent, utilities other than telephone charges, and real and personal property insurance) paid or incurred during the year by you, or on your behalf, for your foreign housing and that of your spouse and dependents if they lived with you. You can include the rental value of housing provided by your employer in return for your services. Also, you can include the allowable housing expenses of a second foreign household for your spouse and dependents if they did not live with you because of dangerous, unhealthy, or otherwise adverse living conditions at your tax home. Allowable housing expenses do not include the cost of home purchase or other capital items, wages of domestic servants, or deductible interest and taxes.

Your allowable housing expenses are limited to a percentage of the maximum foreign earned income exclusion amount (discussed earlier under Amount excludable), figured on a daily basis, times the number of days during the year that you meet the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test. The percentage may vary depending on the foreign country where your tax home is located. For more information, see the Instructions for Form 2555.

The base amount is 16% of the maximum foreign earned income exclusion amount, figured on a daily basis, times the number of days during the year that you meet the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test. For 2010, this amount is $40.11 per day ($14,640 per year).

You figure the limit on housing expenses and the base amount on Form 2555.

Exclusion. You can exclude (up to the limits) your entire housing amount from income if it is paid for with employer-provided amounts. Employer-provided amounts are any amounts paid to or for you by your employer, including your salary, housing reimbursements, and the fair market value of pay given in the form of goods and services. If you have no self-employment income, your entire housing amount is considered paid for with employer-provided amounts.

If you claim the exclusion, you cannot claim any credits or deductions related to excluded income, including a credit or deduction for any foreign income tax paid on the excluded income.

Deduction. If you are self-employed and your housing amount is not provided by an employer, you can deduct it in arriving at your adjusted gross income. However, the deduction cannot be more than your foreign earned income for the year minus the total of your excluded foreign earned income plus your housing exclusion.

Carryover. If you cannot deduct all of your housing amount in a tax year because of the limit, you can carry over the unused part to the following year only. If you cannot deduct it in the following year, you cannot carry it over to any other year. You deduct the carryover in figuring adjusted gross income. The amount of carryover you can deduct is limited to your foreign earned income for the year of the carryover minus the total of your foreign earned income exclusion, housing exclusion, and housing deduction for that year.

Choosing the Exclusion(s)

You make separate choices to exclude foreign earned income and/or to exclude or deduct your foreign housing amount. You choose the housing exclusion or deduction by completing the appropriate parts of Form 2555. You cannot use Form 2555-EZ if you are claiming the housing exclusion or deduction.

If you choose to take both the foreign housing exclusion and the foreign earned income exclusion, you must figure your foreign housing exclusion first. Your foreign earned income exclusion is then limited to the smaller of (a) your annual exclusion limit or (b) the excess of your foreign earned income over your foreign housing exclusion.

Once you choose to exclude your foreign earned income or housing amount, that choice remains in effect for that year and all future years unless you revoke it. You can revoke your choice for any year. However, if you revoke your choice for a year, you cannot claim the exclusion again for your next 5 years without the approval of the IRS. For more information on revoking the exclusion, see chapter 4 of Publication 54.

Married couples. If both you and your spouse are eligible for the exclusion(s), see chapter 4 of Publication 54.

Tax on Income Not Excluded

If you claim the foreign earned income exclusion, the housing exclusion, or both, you must figure the tax on your nonexcluded income using the tax rates that would have applied had you not claimed the exclusions. See the instructions for Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, and complete the Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet. When figuring your alternative minimum tax on Form 6251, Alternative Minimum Tax -- Individuals, use the Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet in the instructions for Form 6251.

Exclusion of Employer-Provided Meals and Lodging

If as a condition of employment you are required to live in a camp in a foreign country that is provided by or for your employer, you can exclude the value of any meals and lodging furnished to you, your spouse, and your dependents. For this exclusion, a camp is lodging that is:

Generally, you must pay U.S. tax on income earned abroad in the same way you pay tax on income earned in the United States. If you are an employee of a U.S. company, your employer probably withholds income tax from your pay. If income tax is not withheld or if not enough tax is withheld, you might have to pay estimated tax.

Withholding tax. You may be able to have your employer discontinue withholding income tax from all or a part of your wages. You can do this if you expect to qualify for the income exclusions under either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test. See Publication 54 for information.

Withholding from pension payments. U.S. payers of benefits from employer deferred compensation plans (such as employer pension, annuity, or profit-sharing plans), individual retirement plans, and commercial annuities generally must withhold income tax from the payments or distributions. To claim exemption from withholding, you must provide the payer of the benefits with a residence address in the United States or a U.S. possession unless you certify to the payer that you are not a U.S. citizen or resident alien or someone who left the United States to avoid tax.

For rules that apply to nonperiodic distributions from qualified employer plans and tax-sheltered annuity plans, get Publication 575, Pension and Annuity Income.

Estimated tax. Because foreign employers generally do not withhold U.S. tax from your wages, you may have to pay estimated tax if you are working abroad for a foreign employer. Your estimated tax is generally the total of your estimated income tax and self-employment tax for the year minus your expected withholding for the year.

When you estimate your gross income, do not include the income that you expect to exclude. You can subtract from income your estimated housing deduction in figuring your estimated tax liability. However, if the actual exclusion or deduction is less than you expected, you may be subject to a penalty on the underpayment.

CAUTION: If you qualify for the foreign earned income or housing exclusions, see Publication 505, Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax, to estimate your tax liability.

Use Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals, to estimate your tax. The requirements for filing and paying estimated tax are generally the same as those you would follow if you were in the United States.

Foreign Income Taxes

In some cases, you can claim a credit or take a deduction for foreign income tax you pay. It is usually to your advantage to claim a credit for foreign taxes rather than to deduct them. A credit reduces your U.S. tax liability, and any excess can be carried back and carried forward to other years. A deduction only reduces your taxable income and can be taken only in the current year. You generally cannot deduct some foreign income taxes and take a credit for others.

Tax credit. If you choose to claim a credit for foreign taxes, you generally must complete Form 1116, Foreign Tax Credit (Individual, Estate, or Trust), and attach it to your U.S. income tax return. Do not include the foreign taxes paid or accrued as withheld income taxes on Form 1040.

Limit. Your credit cannot be more than the part of your U.S. income tax liability based on your taxable income from sources outside the United States. So, if you have no U.S. income tax liability, or if all your foreign income is excludable, you will not be able to claim a foreign tax credit.

If the foreign taxes you paid or incurred during the year are more than the limit on your credit for the current year, you can carry back the unused foreign taxes as credits to the previous year and then carry forward any remaining unused foreign taxes to the next 10 years.

TIP: You will not be subject to this limit and may be able to claim the credit without using Form 1116 if the following requirements are met.

Foreign taxes paid on excluded income. You cannot claim a credit for foreign taxes paid on amounts excluded from gross income under the foreign earned income exclusion or the housing amount exclusion, discussed earlier.

Deduction. If you choose to deduct all foreign income taxes on your U.S. income tax return, itemize the deduction on Schedule A (Form 1040), Itemized Deductions. You cannot deduct foreign taxes paid on income you exclude from your U.S. income tax return.

More information. The foreign tax credit and deduction, their limits, and the carryback and carryover provisions are discussed in detail in Publication 514.

Tax Treaty Benefits

U.S. tax treaties or conventions with many foreign countries entitle U.S. residents to certain credits, deductions, exemptions, and reduced foreign tax rates. In this way, you may be able to pay less tax to those countries.

For example, most tax treaties allow U.S. residents to exempt part or all of their income for personal services from the treaty country's income tax if they are in the treaty country for a limited number of days.

Treaties also generally provide U.S. students, teachers, and trainees with special exemptions from the foreign treaty country's income tax. Publication 901 contains detailed information on tax treaties and tells you where you can get copies of them.

How To Get Tax Help

You can get help with unresolved tax issues, order free publications and forms, ask tax questions, and get information from the IRS in several ways. By selecting the method that is best for you, you will have quick and easy access to tax help. See chapter 7 of Publication 54 for more details on tax help that is available.

Contacting your Taxpayer Advocate. The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS. We help taxpayers who are experiencing economic harm, such as not being able to provide necessities like housing, transportation, or food; taxpayers who are seeking help in resolving tax problems with the IRS; and those who believe that an IRS system or procedure is not working as it should.

If you are in the United States, you can call a local taxpayer advocate, whose number is in your phone book, in Publication 1546, Taxpayer Advocate Service -- Your Voice at the IRS, and on our website at http://www.irs.gov/advocate, or call our toll-free line at 1-877-777-4778 or TTY/TDD 1-800-829-4059. We have at least one local taxpayer advocate in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

If you are outside the United States, you can call the Taxpayer Advocate at 1-787-622-8940 in English or 1-787-622-8930 in Spanish. You can contact the Taxpayer Advocate at:

Internal Revenue Service Taxpayer Advocate P.O. Box 193479 San Juan, PR 00919-3479

Free tax services. Publication 910, IRS Guide to Free Tax Services, is your guide to IRS services and resources. Learn about free tax information from the IRS, including publications, services, and education and assistance programs. The publication also has an index of over 100 TeleTax topics (recorded tax information) you can listen to on the telephone. The majority of the information and services listed in this publication are available to you free of charge. If there is a fee associated with a resource or service, it is listed in the publication.

Accessible versions of IRS published products are available on request in a variety of alternative formats for people with disabilities.

Internet. You can access IRS.gov 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to:

Many services are available by phone.

If you are outside the United States, taxpayer assistance is available at the following U.S Embassies or consulate.

 Beijing, China      (86)  (10)  8531-3870

 Frankfurt, Germany  (49)  (69)  7535-3834

 London, England     (44)  (20)  7894-0476

 Paris, France       (33)   (1)  4312-2555

Please contact the office for times when assistance will be available. If you cannot get to one of these offices, taxpayer assistance is available at 1-267-941-1000 (not a toll free call).

If you are in a U.S. territory (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands) and have a tax question, you can call 1-800-829-1040.

Walk-in. Many products and services are available on a walk-in basis.

If you are outside the United States during the filing period (January to mid-June), you can get the necessary federal tax forms and publications from most U.S. Embassies and consulates.

Also, during filing season, the IRS conducts an overseas taxpayer assistance program. To find out if IRS personnel will be in your area, contact the consular office at the nearest U.S. Embassy.

Mail. You can send your order for forms, instructions, and publications to the address below. You should receive a response within 10 days after your request is received.

Internal Revenue Service 1201 N. Mitsubishi Motorway Bloomington, IL 61705-6613

If you are outside the United States, you can get tax assistance by writing to the address below.

Internal Revenue Service International Section Philadelphia, PA 19255-0725

DVD for tax products. You can order Publication 1796, IRS Tax Products DVD, and obtain:

Purchase the DVD from National Technical Information Service (NTIS) at

for $30 (no handling fee) or call 1-877-233-6767 toll free to buy the DVD for $30 (plus a $6 handling fee).