Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE)
Category: International · Related form: Form 2555
An exclusion for qualifying foreign earned income claimed on Form 2555 if you meet the bona fide residence or physical presence test. The exclusion amount is inflation-adjusted each year.
How Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) fits 2026 planning
Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) sits inside cross-border reporting, exclusions, credits, and information returns that travel with foreign income. For tax year 2026, US Tax Tools treats year-scoped constants (brackets, contribution limits, wage bases, credit schedules) as separate datasets — so explanations of Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) should be read with the same year selected in any linked calculator.
Category focus: International. Readers usually land on this page while comparing a paycheck estimate, a credit phaseout, or a retirement contribution room figure that depends on understanding Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) first.
Worked example
An expat who spends enough days abroad and earns foreign wages may exclude a large portion of that earned income from U.S. tax, subject to the annual limit.
Treat the example as a teaching sketch, not a filing position. Change filing status, state residency, or mid-year events and the same definition of Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) can produce a different cash outcome even when the glossary text stays the same.
What to watch for
Definitions of Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) can differ slightly across IRS publications, SSA rules, Marketplace subsidy worksheets, and state agencies. When two programs both say “income,” confirm which modification rules apply — MAGI for one credit is not always MAGI for another.
Legislation and inflation adjustments can move the dollar thresholds around Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) without renaming the concept. Prefer the effective date on the primary source (Rev. Proc., SSA notice, USDA table, or state DOR bulletin) over any blog summary — including this one if a later notice supersedes it.
On a filed return, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) most often surfaces around Form 2555. Read the official IRS instructions for that form for the tax year you are filing — glossary pages summarize concepts; they do not replace line-by-line worksheets.
You may also see this concept labeled as FEIE, Form 2555. Search engines and payroll portals sometimes use those aliases interchangeably with “Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE).”
Next step
When you are ready to model numbers, open the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) related calculator on US Tax Tools. Engines keep tax-year datasets separate so a 2025 habit does not silently reuse a 2026 constant.
Related reading: Tax insights for longer 2026 explainers, Methodology for how engines store cents and traces, and Disclaimer for educational-use limits.