Filing instructions for Form 2555 and the Foreign Income exclusion

[dschreiberca]

 IRS publication 54 for US citizens abroad says  that the federal return should be filed through their center in Austin Texas. 

1. Does this mean that I cannot e-file my federal return with TurboTax? OR

2. Does anyone know if the e-file option in Turbotax allows you to choose a particular IRS office and if so how do i do that?

[pk]

@dschreiberca , the  publication  provided  filing address is  for the people whom mail in their  tax return from abroad.  

You can prepare  and file  your return from abroad using TurboTax and IRS does accept e-filed   internation returns.  Generally the issue becomes how to pay for the  services  ( need a US address based  and issued  credit card ) and payment of  taxes to the taxing authority ( federal and  if req'd the state ).   Many expats prepare the return using TurboTax  desktop version and then file by mail ( many use  tracking services ).

Note that because of the  current Corona virus issues , IRS is not processing mailed in returns  (  from the notice  put out today ) -- filing and payment date now is July 15th for all  ( without extension ).

Does this help ?

[dschreiberca]

Thanks for your reply- I was able to efile my return. It appears that by e-filing my return will be directed to the right office.

Furthermore I found out from the community forum that by just leaving the field blank instead of entering "0"--the error disappears and when I efiled it was all "accepted"--you'd think Turbotax would put in some notes/instructions to help with that part of the 2555 form

I'll just wait and see what happens.