I only have foreign income. I enter this only in section "Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion". Why is turbotax insisting that I have 0s on lines 6, 7, 11, 11a,12,15,18?

[bckcar013]

I only have foreign income. I therefore only enter income in the "Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion" section, as I obviously have no W2s. I enter my education and medical deductions as required.

At the first review, immediately after completing the Federal forms, all seems fine. However, after completing the State forms, at the final review, it suddenly says that I am not eligible for e-filing my Federal taxes due to some rule of the IRS and that I have 0's on several lines, which should not be there.

Why is turbotax insisting that I have 0s on lines 6, 7, 11, 11a, 12, 15, and 18? How can I possibly have a 0 on "Line 6 - Total Income" when I have clearly listed income?

[KarenJ]

If all you income was excluded (due to the foreign earned income exclusion), then you would have zero income for tax purposes. If this is the case, you cannot e-file a return with zero income.

The foreign earned income exclusion for 2018 is $103,900.

Let me know if you still have questions.

[bckcar013]

I do still have questions, thank you.

My taxable income may be 0, but this has never prevented me from e-filing - in the US or abroad. Has this suddenly changed?

I find the new forms very hard to follow, which is why e-filing is the best option. The program says that it would help me with mailing in forms, but then just cycles through the review phase. I've tried previewing the forms, but it won't let me. Without the preview, it is very hard to find what is actually going wrong.

[KarenJ]

TurboTax is unable to e-file a zero income return.  
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[bckcar013]

Is this new for this year, then?