Can I contribute to traditional IRA 2019 if I work overseas and my oversea income are excluded from tax?

[tamaratreichel]

Can I contribute to traditional IRA 2019 if I work overseas and my oversea income is less than 100k and are excluded from paying  tax? why turbotax say i am not permitted to contributed to IRA since I do not have earned income? I do have earned income which is earned overseas and since it is less than 100k, i want to exclude it from paying tax in US since I already paid the tax in the oversea country.

[DavidD66]

No, not if your only earned income was excluded from tax.  According to the IRS, for determining earned income eligible for a contribution, compensation doesn’t include "any amounts (other than combat pay) you exclude from income, such as foreign earned income and housing costs."

[tamaratreichel]

Can I exclude part of my foreign earned income, and leave some not excluded so I can use it as earned income to allow me to contribute IRA? for example, I leave 6000 not excluded from earned income, then I contribute 6000 IRA, since 6000 IRA is deductible, so it counterbalance each other, I pay no tax. Does turbotax  give me option to ask me how much from foreign earned income i want to exclude instead of exclude all of them?

[tamaratreichel]

Can I exclude part of my foreign earned income, and leave some not excluded so I can use it as earned income to allow me to contribute IRA? for example, I leave 6000 not excluded from earned income, then I contribute 6000 IRA, since 6000 IRA is deductible, so it counterbalance each other, I pay no tax. Does turbotax  give me option to ask me how much from foreign earned income i want to exclude instead of exclude all of them?

[DavidD66]

The program does not ask you how much you want to exclude.  Depending on how your income was reported, you might be able to separate into two entries, and exclude all but $6,000.  Or, you might be able to manually adjust the amount excluded in Forms mode if you use TurboTax Desktop.