@t-roth , generally speaking the tax computation post Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, is pretty ,much dictated by the IRS ( using a worksheet ) -- the tax liability is first computed disregarding the exclusion i.e. Tax on world income -- this pushes you into a much higher bracket. Then you are given credit ( a subtraction ) for the tax liability caused ONLY the excluded income ( not using a blended rate or any other mathematical regimes. Thus the increase due to higher bracket is much and credit for the excluded income is minimized. I have issues with this mechanism but this is the accountants at the IRS' perspective of how it should be done.
Don 't believe any tax software does it any different -- I could be wrong here since I do not have first hand knowledge on this aspect.
While a approx. 4000 rise mildly surprises me , I would be happy to confirm the figures ( by doping it by hand using the tax tables or calculations if you provide me the following:
Filing status; US sourced income; Foreign Earned income; Country of foreign tax home for spouse, Taxable income ( i.e. AGI adjusted for deductions -- standard or otherwise ). This should allow me top compute the tax.
Is there more I can do for you ?
pk
