My employer is foreign based and does not have an EIN. How do I address this issue on my W-2 form?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 7, 2019
3 replies
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TurboTax Premier Online

Best answer by dogongulf

You do not need an EIN or a W-2 to report income that you earned for working in a foreign country for a foreign employer. Do not make up a W-2 if you did not get one.

In TurboTax's Income section look for the "Less Common Income" heading. Under that heading select the choice of "Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion". When it asks you what form your foreign income was reported on, select "A statement from my foreign employer." And then enter your data.

dogongulfAnswer

Level 4

You do not need an EIN or a W-2 to report income that you earned for working in a foreign country for a foreign employer. Do not make up a W-2 if you did not get one.

bdotypccam

Level 2

Where is this "less common income"? I'm not able to get through any of the forms because my wife is an non-resident alien with no SSN. Shouldn't there be a separate form for US citizens living and working abroad who have already paid taxes in a foreign country with foreign spouses? Where is this?

linaj20201

Level 14

To enter foreign earned income/exclusion in the TurboTax online program, here are the steps:

After sign into your account, select Pick up where you left off
At the right upper corner, in the search box, type in foreign income and Enter
Select Jump to foreign income
Next screen, Did You Make Any Money Outside the United States? answer Yes
Follow prompts

@bdotypccam

lisacslater

Level 2

Hi... The previous instructions for this are a bit confusing, if not incorrect...

IF the employer is a US Employer but the employee is working in a Foreign Country they should have an EIN and it will be REQUIRED for input or the return will be rejected.

IF the employer is a Foreign Employer, they will not have an EIN so you CANNOT enter the income as W-2 Income because an EIN will be required...

The solution I found was to:

1. Search for Foreign Wages, then select the Taxpayer or Spouse the income applies to.
2. Enter the Wages in US currency as converted from the Foreign Country.
3. Make sure to enter the 2555 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

That should do it, if it doesn't... please let me know and I'll see if I missed a stop.

Lisa C. Slater, CPA