I didn't live or work in the states for all of 2017. I didn't even work in the country I moved to. How do I file my taxes!?

[allysonpforrest]

I moved to Israel Dec 28 2016.  I wont be back in America until middle of 2018.  Turbotax so far forced me to upgrade to the Deluxe package, and then tried to force me to pay more and upgrade to fill out self employment files.  I wasn't self employed though...I was even employed! I also am not even able to say that I lived outside of the states! It keeps asking me to pick the state I lived in! What do I do?? How do I file my taxes this year?  Why do I need to fill out a 1040 form??  Help!

[DoninGA]

If you have no income of any kind to report on a US tax return, either US sourced or Foreign sourced, then there is no reason to file a tax return.

However, if you do have income to report and you are located outside of the US then in the My Info section of the TurboTax online editions where asked to select your resident state, scroll to the bottom of the list and select Foreign or US Possession.  If you are using the desktop editions use the Personal Info section

To report Foreign Earned Income you will need to complete a Form 2555.  Using the online editions you will need to use the Deluxe edition or higher.  If you are using the desktop editions then any edition can support Foreign Earned Income.

If you are using the desktop editions and the program has recommended that you use a higher edition than Deluxe based on your tax data entries then that is only a Recommendation it is NOT a Requirement.

[allysonpforrest]

Thank you for replying! It unfortunately wasnt really allowing me to move forward because it said I had to file a 1040 and only the Deluxe version supported that.  Also yes, I have NO income of any kind....so I don't need to do anything at all??

[DoninGA]

No you do not have to do anything at all.  There is no reason to file a tax return that will have no information on the tax return since you did not have any type of income.

[allysonpforrest]

Amazing, thank you!