If you established close enough ties to a foreign country while working overseas, you may be able to take advantage of the "foreign earned income exclusion", the foreign "housing exclusion" or the foreign "housing deduction". Use this form to calculate and report these tax benefits.
In brief, the foreign earned income exclusion lets you exclude annually up to $91,500 in income you earned working abroad. The housing exclusion lets you exclude some of your employer-provided foreign housing expenses from income, and the housing deduction lets you deduct certain other housing expenses.
A simpler way to claim the foreign earned income exclusion is on Form 2555-EZ, but you can only use that form if your foreign earnings were $91,500 or less, you're not using the housing exclusion or deduction, and you jump through a few other hoops. See Form 2555-EZ for further details.
You and your spouse should each fill out your own Form 2555 or Form 2555-EZ if you both qualify for the tax benefits, even if you are filing jointly.
Click here to look up the code for your foreign address.
The cost of keeping your spouse and dependents safe from dangerous, unhealthful or other adverse conditions where you lived abroad also qualifies for the housing exclusion.
We'll do the subtraction for you. This is your foreign earned income.
Only those expenses which exceed this federal guideline are eligible. We do the computation for you.