IRC § 911 / Form 2555 / Physical Presence 330-Day Rule
Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Calculator
Estimate the 2026 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, review tax-home and residency-test requirements, and estimate the amount of qualifying foreign earned income that may be excluded from U.S. gross income.
FEIE Eligibility & Exclusions
Calculator limitation: This is an FEIE threshold estimator, not a complete Form 2555 tax calculation. It does not calculate the full foreign housing exclusion/deduction, foreign tax credit, FEIE stacking tax, detailed self-employment-tax allocation, or every Form 2555 limitation.
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FEIE Tax Rules
- ⚠️ Earned Income Only: The FEIE generally applies to qualifying compensation for personal services, including wages, salaries, professional fees, and qualifying self-employment earnings. Investment income such as interest, dividends, and capital gains generally is not foreign earned income.
- ⚠️ Not Automatic: You must actively file Form 2555 to elect this benefit; the IRS will not apply it automatically.
- ⚠️ Foreign Tax Credit Exclusion: If you exclude income using the FEIE, you generally cannot claim the Foreign Tax Credit on foreign income taxes attributable to the same excluded income.
- ⚠️ Tax Home: You must generally have a tax home in a foreign country throughout the applicable period. A foreign tax home is not simply the same thing as having a foreign residence or domicile.
- ⚠️ Housing Rules: A separate foreign housing exclusion or deduction may be available to qualifying taxpayers, subject to statutory and location-specific limitations. This calculator does not calculate housing benefits.
2026 FEIE Amount
The maximum FEIE for 2026 is $132,900 per qualifying person.
If both spouses independently qualify and each has qualifying foreign earned income, each spouse has a separate maximum exclusion. A partial-year qualifying period can require proration.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Under IRC §911, the maximum Foreign Earned Income Exclusion for tax year 2026 is $132,900 per qualifying individual. If both spouses separately qualify and each has qualifying foreign earned income, each spouse can claim a separate exclusion, allowing a combined maximum of $265,800 before any applicable limitations or proration.
The Physical Presence Test generally requires a U.S. citizen or resident alien to be physically present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months that includes part of the tax year. The Bona Fide Residence Test is a facts-and-circumstances test requiring bona fide residence in a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year. U.S. citizens can generally qualify under either test; resident aliens have additional restrictions on using the bona fide residence test.
The FEIE applies to qualifying foreign earned income, generally compensation for personal services such as wages, salaries, and professional fees, and qualifying self-employment earnings. Interest, dividends, capital gains, pensions, and similar unearned income generally are not foreign earned income for the FEIE. Rental income generally is not earned income, although specific facts can affect its tax treatment and other rules may apply.
Yes. Qualifying self-employed individuals can claim the FEIE for qualifying foreign earned income. However, the FEIE generally does not eliminate U.S. self-employment tax. Whether U.S. Social Security and Medicare taxes apply can depend on the applicable rules, including any Social Security Totalization Agreement between the United States and the foreign country. The totalization rules are separate from the FEIE itself.
The FEIE stacking rule under IRC §911(f) generally requires the tax on non-excluded income to be determined using the tax rates that would have applied had the excluded income not been excluded. Therefore, the remaining income is not necessarily taxed as though it were the taxpayer's only income.
You generally cannot claim a foreign tax credit for foreign income taxes imposed on income that you excluded under Form 2555. Foreign taxes associated with income that is not excluded may potentially qualify for the foreign tax credit, subject to the separate Form 1116 rules, limitations, and sourcing requirements.
Not necessarily. If you qualify for the FEIE for only part of the tax year, the maximum exclusion must generally be prorated based on the number of qualifying days in the year. The applicable calculation also depends on when your foreign tax home and qualifying residence or physical presence begin and end.
No. Self-employed taxpayers generally must determine foreign earned gross receipts, directly related business expenses, and the deduction for one-half of self-employment tax. The amount of foreign earned income that can be excluded can therefore be less than a simple gross-receipts calculation.
Generally no. The foreign earned income exclusion is an income-tax provision and does not itself eliminate self-employment tax. Social Security coverage may instead be affected by a separate Totalization Agreement or other applicable rules.
No. The FEIE excludes qualifying foreign earned income subject to the statutory limits. Non-excluded income remains subject to U.S. tax, and the stacking rule can affect the marginal tax rate applied to that income.
For 2026, the general limitation on housing expenses is $39,870 for a full year, although the IRS provides higher location-specific limitations for certain high-cost foreign locations. The housing exclusion or deduction has separate rules and is not included in this simple FEIE calculator.
Official IRS References
• IRS Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Guidance: irs.gov/feie
• IRS Form 2555 Instructions: irs.gov/form2555
• IRS 2026 Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Amount: irs.gov/feie-calculation
• IRS 2026 Foreign Housing Limits: IRS Notice 2026-25