Can I e-file with Form 1116 but no Form 2555?

[zuxyzuxy]

My tax situation required me NOT to take foreign income exclusion but to take foreign tax credit. However, although Turbo Tax online correctly removed foreign income exclusion for me it still asked me to fix Form 2555-S before e-filing:

"Form 2555-S: Total Foreign Earned Income has a value for foreign earned income but dates for the foreign earned income exclusion aren't entered. Form 2555 must be completed including dates for bona fide residence or physical presence for the foreign earned income exclusion to calculate..."

Although I did input all the required info but Turbo Tax seemed to delete all of them because no foreign earned income exclusion was actually taken.

I couldn't proceed to e-file without "fixing" the form I'm not supposed to file. Am I stuck with File by mail?

[ThomasM125]

You may be able to delete the form 2555 to resolve your problem by following these steps in TurboTax:

1. Tax tools (on the left menu bar)
2. Tools
3. Delete a form

Find form 2555 in the list and delete the form.

[zuxyzuxy]

Thanks! I know there's a trick in standalone TurboTax, but unfortunately I'm using TurboTax online this year and I don't know how to delete a form manually online.

[DaveF1006]

Here is how to delete a form in turbo Tax online.

1. Log into Turbo Tax
2. Go to tax tools
3. Tools
4. Delete a form
5. Delete the form you are wishing to delete.

[zuxyzuxy]

I see what you mean, but in my version of "TurboTax self-employed 2020" tax tools are nowhere to be found. The left column only contains two options: Tax home and Documents. Did TurboTax remove the online version's ability to delete a form?

[mesquitebean]

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@ zuxyzuxy wrote:

 in my version of "TurboTax self-employed 2020" tax tools are nowhere to be found. The left column only contains two options: Tax home and Documents. Did TurboTax remove the online version's ability to delete a form?

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If the only tabs in your left menu column are Tax Home and Documents, that means your return is not open.  You have to open your return interview to have a full complement of left menu tabs.

If TurboTax thinks you were finished, your return interview may be closed.   To open it back up, use this method:

At the Tax Home page, look for a link "Add a State."   That doesn't really add one, but opens the return back up.

[zuxyzuxy]

Thank you for your detailed instructions! I did manage to delete Form 2555. Unfortunately even after that I still couldn't e-file and got the same error message :(

[mesquitebean]

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@ zuxyzuxy wrote:

Thank you for your detailed instructions! I did manage to delete Form 2555. Unfortunately even after that I still couldn't e-file and got the same error message :(

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Your original comment mentioned 2555-S, so that sounds like a spouse's 2555.  Did you at one point indicate a spouse had foreign earned income?   Are you sure you removed all instances of the problem 2555 when you went to the forms list?

If so, I would log out of TurboTax, delete your browser cache, close and reopen the browser, go back to TurboTax, then see if it lets you efile.

If it won't let you, look at the forms list again and see if the 2555 is being regenerated.

I'm not a tax expert, but if problem continues, then hopefully one of the 2 TurboTax tax experts above can further advise. 

[zuxyzuxy]

Thanks! Yes it's my wife who has foreign earned income.

I made sure there was no more Form 2555 that could be deleted, and it was not regenerated. However, TurboTax insisted I fix the form when I tried to e-file

[mesquitebean]

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@ zuxyzuxy wrote:

Thanks! Yes it's my wife who has foreign earned income.

I made sure there was no more Form 2555 that could be deleted, and it was not regenerated. However, TurboTax insisted I fix the form when I tried to e-file

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I just ran a couple of scenarios, and think I know what your cause may be..

By any chance, was your wife's foreign earned income entered in the W-2 interview?    If so, I think I may know what may be flagging the return for more info related to a 2555 even though you deleted the 2555, and how to get around it.

Even if the foreign earned income is NOT W-2 income, I can hopefully still tell you what you might be able to do to clear everything related to a Form 2555 and solve the error.

So, in summary, please state if the wife's foreign earned income was reported in the W-2 section, or if it was  foreign wages (not on a W-2) which were entered directly into the FEI interview.   Or was it another type, such as self-employment income or a partnership K-1 entered in the FEI interview?

[zuxyzuxy]

Hello,

No my wife doesn't have a W-2. All her income in 2020 was foreign sourced and was entered directly in the "Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion" part as "a statement from my foreign employer (could be cash)"

[mesquitebean]

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@ zuxyzuxy wrote:

No my wife doesn't have a W-2. All her income in 2020 was foreign sourced and was entered directly in the "Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion" part as "a statement from my foreign employer (could be cash)"

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OK, then try this. By the way, I'm a fellow user, not a tax expert.  So I can't comment on any tax aspects of it.

Since you originally still had a Form 2555 in your forms list when you asked this forum question, I don't think you completely finished that FEI interview, because right at the end there is a screen that specifically asks if you want to try to exclude the income.  When you say "No, I  know I don't qualify to exclude my foreign income" (if that is your situation), it then asks if you want to delete Form 2555 and provides confirmation screens as it deletes the Form 2555.  Then it may also ask to delete Form 2555, page 3.   So if you still had a Form 2555, I don't think you got that far.

When you finish confirming that you want to delete the Form 2555 and Form 2555, page 3, then that interview is finished, and you should be back at the Your Income summary screen.

So if you walk through that FEI interview again all the way to the end, it may reset something.   As you do it, it may regenerate a Form 2555 in the background, but as I said, the last screens when you say "No, I know I don't qualify to exclude my foreign income" (if that's your situation,) then it will say it's deleting the Form 2555.   See these 2 images which are at the end of that interview.

Did you see and answer these 2 screens previously?

.

.

And the next screen is this one (although yours will say 2555-S instead of T.)

.

.

Then it may ask you if you want to delete the Form 2555, page 3.

Then you'll be back at Your Income summary screen.

I'm hoping that it will now let you efile.

[zuxyzuxy]

Thank you! I never encountered that particular question but instead was asked whether my wife took these exclusions before (she did), and whether they were subsequently revoked (they were), and whether we got IRS permission to choose the exclusion again (we didn't). Finally we were told we couldn't take the exclusions and the FEI interview ended.

Still couldn't e-file :(

[mesquitebean]

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@zuxyzuxy wrote:

Thank you! I never encountered that particular question but instead was asked whether my wife took these exclusions before (she did), and whether they were subsequently revoked (they were), and whether we got IRS permission to choose the exclusion again (we didn't). Finally we were told we couldn't take the exclusions and the FEI interview ended.

Still couldn't e-file :(

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Sorry you're still having trouble.  If you went through that interview again, did you go back to "Delete a Form" and make sure the Form 2555 had not been regenerated?

I didn't see those screens you mentioned since that's a much more specific scenario.  I simply told it that I knew I didn't qualify, and it deleted the Form 2555.

Your situation sounds more complicated.  Also, did you transfer 2019 data into your 2020 return?  If so, that might also account why you were seeing different screens.   In any case, I don't have anything else to suggest as a fellow user.   It's still possible someone else might post in this thread.

If you want to talk to TurboTax Support, here's how to phone them. 

Hours are 5AM-9PM Pacific (8AM-12 Midnight Eastern) 7 days/week.

You can use this contact form to get a phone number or it may schedule a callback.
https://support.turbotax.intuit.com/contact

[zuxyzuxy]

Thanks all the same! I made sure no Form 2555 was regenerated after I deleted it and I didn't import any 2019 data. I'll try to get in touch with TurboTax support over the phone.