Turbotax Online: How do I enter wages from employment in a foreign country?

[dbe2022]

Federal > Wages and income only has the following options:
- Unemployment / paid family leave (1099-G)
- Investments and Savings (1099-B, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, 1099-K, Crypto)
- 1099-OID, Foreign Accounts

Then below (in smaller heading):
- Wages and Salaries (Form W-2)
- Self-Employment
- Unemployment
- etc, etc, etc,

Intuitively, I click on `Wages and Salaries (Form W-2)`, although my foreign employer does not provide a W-2. I am then presented with 3 options:
+ Work on my W-2
+ I don't have a W-2
+ Skip it for now

None of these options seem to apply. Could you please provide guidance on how to enter wages from employment in a foreign country, using https://us-east-2.turbotaxonline.intuit.com/ ?

[rjs · Accepted solution]

Wages from employment in a foreign country are called foreign earned income. To enter foreign earned income in TurboTax, in the Search box type "foreign income" (without the quotes), then click the link that says "Jump to foreign income."

When TurboTax asks what form the foreign income was reported on, select "A statement from my foreign employer (could be cash)."

[dbe2022]

This works very well. Thank you so much!

[euphorichords]

Hello,

I am in a similar situation. I was able to input one of the incomes from my foreign job, but in the year 2023 I switched jobs and can't figure out how to add the second job into the foreign income section. How can I add a second foreign income?

Thanks in advance,

[rjs]

@euphorichords 

I wrote the first paragraph below over 10 years ago. The situation has not changed.

You can only have one Form 2555. (One for each person on a joint return.) This is an IRS restriction, not a TurboTax restriction. Apparently the IRS has not made any provision for having more than one foreign employer in the same year. The best suggestion I could find, with a little Googling, is to enter "See statement" as the employer's name, and attach a statement to your return listing each employer and the amount of income from each one. Enter totals for both employers combined in TurboTax, so Form 2555 will have the totals. This means you will not be able to e-file. You will have to print your return and file it by mail.

Some other people suggest entering the name of one employer instead of "See statement." Enter either the most recent employer or the one where you earned the most. But you still enter the combined total amount of income, and you still have to attach a statement listing the individual employers and income amounts.