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New Member
posted Jun 7, 2019 3:24:39 PM

If I paid foreign taxes in foreign currency am I unable to use Turbotax Online to file? How should I file?

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3 Replies
Level 15
Jun 7, 2019 3:24:40 PM

Tell more --- which country? Are  you US citizen/Resident ( Green Card )?   Have you been abroad for more than a year and when did you first enter the foreign country ?  Are you employed by a local entity?

New Member
Jun 7, 2019 3:24:43 PM

I am a US citizen. Have been abroad (living in Israel) for many years, am employed in Israel and paid in Israeli currency to an Israeli bank account, and I pay taxes in Israel. For US tax purposes, I had used the conversion rate on 12/31/18 to enter the dollar amounts, but then came across something related to Form 1116 that said if I am converting foreign taxes paid in foreign currency I cannot use TT Online. Is this the case? Thank you for your response.

Level 15
Jun 7, 2019 3:24:45 PM

If you have been living in Israel for many years , you surely qualify for Physical Presence Test and thereby be eligible for excluding your Foreign Earned Income   ( I think for 2018 it was $103,900 )..   To do this in TurboTax,   under personal tab, select  Income, then select  "I will choose what I work on", then from the list of income types , near the bottom of the screen you should  "other less common.... ", with that group there is "Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion" -- select "start or edit " --- that should walk you through  preparing form 2555  ( Physical Presence Test ) and exclusion of foreign earned income.   So on your form 1040  Schedule-1 , you should see both your total income and on line 21 a negative amount corresponding to the excluded  foreign earned income.
Any income that is not so excluded and taxed by the USA and Israel, will open form 1116 for  foreign tax credit.

Does this make sense?  Is this how you have done this before ?  Did you at anytiem tell IRS that you do not want to foreign earned income exclusion ?
Any more help, please say so in comments