Can I add my entry in Form 2555 line 18(e) "Number of days in US for business" if I am on vacation? Entering 0 didn't work, it said 1 is the minimum value. Any idea?

[taxbreak1004]

When you are visiting US purely for vacation and not for business, how do you enter Form 2555 line 18 (e) for Foreign Earned Income Exclusion? Turbotax asked me I had to enter line 18 that asked for any travel to US. But I could not enter 18 (e) which asked for "number of days in US for business" because the value 0 would not be accepted by software. It says the minimum value is "1", which means that 1 day was spent for business. For those who travel US for vacation, how do we make the entry?

[DaveF1006]

It depends. You wouldn't enter this on the form anyway.  You will enter this in the program.

To enter Foreign Earned Income -

• Click on Federal 
• Click on Wages and Income  
• Click on I'll choose what I work on (if shown)
• Scroll down to Less Common Income
• On Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion, click on the start or update button
• Scroll through the entries until you reach a section that says Enter information about US Travel
• Here is where you will specify how many days you spent in the US for vacations.
• Here is what the screen will look like.
• Leave the the last two columns blank if you were only vacationing and not in the US for business.

[taxbreak1004]

Thank you for your response. I am using an online Premier version of Turbotax (which is different from the screenshot that you provided) and it requires that I put some value in the last two fields that you mentioned, otherwise it would not proceed further. And as I mentioned before, it requires to enter at least "1" in the number of days in US for business. )  "0" would not be accepted. It may be some technical glitch, I don't know.

[DaveF1006]

Well. Let's input a value and give it what it wants in order to move on. Let me know if you are able to move from this and be able to file your taxes with no problems. 

[ExpatLife1]

The issue persists in Turbotax Premier 2022 and seems to be a glitch. What I did is that I left the "number of days present", "number of days on business", and "income earned" fields blank. That allowed me to continue onwards. When I got to the federal review section, it then showed me the 2555  form itself allowed me to insert the "number of days present" without forcing me to include "1" as the minimum value for "number of days on business". 

[Wff]

Using TT Deluxe 2022 I’m having the same problem reported below.  For Form 2555 line 18(e), number of days in U.S. on business, TT requires entry to be at least 1.   This applies in interview, in form, and in federal review.  But the true correct value is 0 because presence in US was only for family visit.  No business.  This certainly seems to be an error in the TT program.  Please fix, or explain how to enter zero.  

[Wff]

Program also is not allowing me to leave it blank 

[DaveF1006]

Yes, if the program is not allowing you to leave it blank or enter 0, put a 1 in. If this causes a further problem, please reach out to us if this impacts your return.

@Wff 

[Wff]

The solution seems to be to leave the "$ amount earned" blank, then you can also leave the "number of days in US for business" blank.  This worked for me.  On the other hand, if you fill in $0 as the amount earned, then it seems that the program requires an entry of at least 1 day in the "number of days in US for business" field.

[cbrady321]

This problem is CLEARLY a bug. It's possible to be in the USA and not for business.  Zero days is a valid response and used to be accepted in prior versions of Turbo Tax.

I am appalled at the advice which is "just say you were working in the USA for 1 day and say you didn't make any money".  And this won't raise any questions?  The advice is "make it work and hope for the best". 

Wow.  Super professional.  

[MarilynG1]

No, leave amount earned blank.  This should allow you to leave 'number of days for business' blank also, but allow you to enter 'number of days present' for your vacation days.

If you're using TurboTax Online, clear your  Cache and Cookies first. 

The 'number of days' question is to establish 'physical presence'.  

You could delete Form 2555 and step through the interview screens again.

If you get a review error, continue past it.  This doesn't mean you won't be able to Efile. 

Here's more info on Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.

@cbrady321