form 2555 unsure about answers

[ageof]

I moved from the USA to Japan in July 2022, and there are a couple of lines on form 2555 that I'm unsure about. First, for Line 9 "List your tax home(s) during your tax year and date(s) established.", since I moved partway through the year, one of my tax homes would be the USA correct? And if so, would my "date established" be my date of birth? Since I've never had a tax home anywhere else before.

Second, for line 17 "Enter your principal country of employment during your tax year.", since I was employed in the USA for most of the year (until July, and also I earned more income in the USA than in Japan in 2022) would I put USA as the answer, even if my qualifying period is for Japan? I was thinking this because it says "tax year" in the question, not "qualifying period".

[pk]

@ageof , may I suggest that you first take  a quick look at the instructions for the form 2555 --- 2022 Instructions for Form 2555 (irs.gov)

Generally the form is interested in is your foreign Tax home and so all the details you provide are towards that  e.g. if you entered Japan  on 08/01/2022 then your tax home  for  purposes of 2555 is Japan -- starting 08/02/22 -- first full day  of residence.

If you have more questions/ doubts on this , please welcome to add to this thread and I will circle back and help.

pk

[ageof]

Hi @pk, thank you for your answer. I think I understand now, I should just be focused on the relevant foreign country with my answers here. So does that also mean that for the second question, "Enter your principal country of employment during your tax year.", I should put Japan, even though I was working in the USA for a larger part of the year? Because the form is only interested in the details about my foreign work?

[pk]

@ageof , I think your assumptions are correct.   Note that the test period of 12 months  ( to meet the physical presence test ) needs to include all of the  period in the current tax year that are  used for excluding foreign earned income.   Thus if you entered foreign country on 6/1/22 and began your tax home on 06/02/2022, your earliest test period  can be  06/02/2022 to 06/01/2023.  This means that your foreign earnings  during the 2022 tax year i.e. 06/02/2022 through 12/31/2022 are eligible  for foreign  earned income exclusion.

Do you need more help ?  

pk