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Level 2
posted Jun 1, 2019 1:04:44 PM

How can I fix this? Form 2555-T: Total Foreign Earned Income has a value for foreign earned income but dates for the foreign earned income exclusion aren't entered.

My wife is a self-employed attorney who has elected to be treated as a US resident for income tax purposes. We live in Thailand. I have entered the dates of her presence in Thailand for purposes of the foreign earned income exclusions as 01/01/2018-12/31/2018. Turbo Tax accepts these dates. I have visited the foreign income screens many, many times and have filled out everything, but still get this error about the dates not being entered. What should I do?

(Note that I filled out the tax forms myself last year and received the foreign earned income exclusion for my wife's self employment income.)

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1 Best answer
Level 2
Jun 1, 2019 1:04:45 PM

It turns out that the solution to this problem is not the dates used to calculate the 330 day presence period, but the date that tax residency began. In other words, the wording of the error message is misleading. I tried entering the date my wife's actual tax residency began, but that didn't work. Then I just made up a date in 2017, and that worked. 

So odd.

1 Replies
Level 2
Jun 1, 2019 1:04:45 PM

It turns out that the solution to this problem is not the dates used to calculate the 330 day presence period, but the date that tax residency began. In other words, the wording of the error message is misleading. I tried entering the date my wife's actual tax residency began, but that didn't work. Then I just made up a date in 2017, and that worked. 

So odd.