For EIC, the question asks if my wife and I had lived in the U.S. for more than 6 month in 2017. My wife and son where in the U.S. for the entire year. However, I was deployed to Iraq for 9 of the 12 months in 2017. Now it asks:
YES your time serving is counted as living in the U.S.
Perhaps the explanation in the software is confusing:
Thank you for your service.
YES your time serving is counted as living in the U.S.
Perhaps the explanation in the software is confusing:
Thank you for your service.
Yes, Department of Defense employees working overseas are considered as living in the USA during that time.
@TurboTaxKrisD Do you have a cite for this, specifically for DoD civilian employees?
Per SuperUser Rainman12:
Civilians do Not have all the same tax benefits as Military because their service is considered Voluntary. IRS Pub 3 specifically grants EIC benefits for Military only; Civilian DoD positions are covered by IRS Pub 54 and 516; Neither of the latter mention EIC for overseas positions. However, since such jobs normally have the same APO/FPO addresses as military use, it's hard to say how/when/if IRS would be able to discriminate unless W-2 EIN is a qualifier ...