I moved from the US to Germany in November. Turbotax marked my US income as foreign. How do I fix that?

[dhmitchell23]

How and where do I enter my foreign employer who is separate than my US employer? Turbotax seems to want to put all income as coming from the same employer

[pk]

@dhmitchell23 ,  part of what you do depends on your future plans.

(a) you enter your W-2 i.e. income from the USA under wages.

(b) you enter your foreign income under  "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion " --- but to achieve this you have to wait till you meet the  Physical Presence Test-- 330 days  away from the USA in a 12  month continuous test period.  So if you entered your new tax home on 11/01/2025, then your test period start is the first full day i.e.  11/02/2025 and lasts through11/02/2026,  This will allow you to exclude  foreign earnings for the period 11/02/2025 through 12/31/2025.

So before we go too far, please tell me more about the situation , such as  are you a US person ( citizen/GreenCard);  are you employed by a local entity or a wholly owned subsidiary of MNC ; are you filing MFJ etc. etc.

If you are abroad, your filing date is 06/15/2026  but payment date is still 04/15/2026.

I will circle back once I hear from you --yes ?

[dhmitchell23]

I think it's a bug in Turbotax but not instrumental. That is, it's a wording mistake which doesn't affect outcome.

I lived and worked in the US through October then moved, lived, and worked in Germany for a German company Nov and Dec (and continuing). I am a US citizen (as is my wife MFJ).

My urgency is that I owe taxes; so, I need to complete the taxes this weekend.

[pk]

@dhmitchell23 , since your situation is that you owe taxes, you could

(a)  file the return including all the world income for 2025, pay any taxes due and not ask for  foreign tax credit. And then when you have met the 12 month test period i.e.  Nov of 2026 file an amended return claiming exclusion of the German wages for the  Nov/Dec.

(b) Prepare  a dummy return so you can compute taxes owed, Pay this estimated payment.  Ask for an extension.  Then  file your return in Nov. when you have met the  Physical Presence Test. This may attract a failure to file penalty but ( beyond 10/15 ) but you can request abatement of penalty based on Physical Presence Test compliance requirement and because you have paid the  taxes already in time.

Personally and if you can stand the cost, it may be best to choose option (a) .