We moved back to the US in 2022. Stayed & worked in Switzerland for about 6 months. TurboTax does not seem to let me exclude a half of the foreign income exclusion (it should per the IRS code). After the exclusion, I will claim a foreign tax credit for the remainder of the income (non-excluded income).
Assuming you qualify for the exclusion through the “Physical Presence Test,” you’d need to be out of the U.S. for 330 days in a 365-day period. You mentioned six months — but did you mean six months during 2022, plus some time earlier?
There is a proration which takes place on Form 2555 (seen here, starting on line 31), wherein the exclusion is adjusted to the number of days in your qualifying 12-month period which actually fall within the tax year (making it better if you were there all year, of course). The TurboTax program handles this automatically, based on your entries regarding your stay there.
However, @sunnydoh-gmail-c, I’m thinking that you’re talking about something else, and would like to help clarify. Can you describe your stay abroad (if it was more than that six months), and tell us specifically what you read about the tax treatment which applies?
@sunnydoh-gmail-c , from your post I am not sure whether you are actually eligible for Foreign Earned Income Exclusion -- need the following info first :
(a) are you US person ( citizen / GreenCard / Resident for Tax purposes ) ?
(b) when did you leave US and when did you arrive at Switzerland ? You need a test period of 12 months abroad which must either start or end in the tax year and you must have been abroad 330 days in that test period -- Physical Presence Test;
(c) The pro-ration , after passing the physical presence test , is based on actual earning days in the tax year.
(d) The earnings to be considered as foreign earned income is either wages or self-employment income.
(e) any foreign income that is not eligible for exclusion and that had attracted foreign taxes , is eligible for mitigation of double taxation either by foreign tax credit or by deduction ( itemized deduction under State & Local taxes category --with SALT limitations ).
Please answer the questions above and I will circle back