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U.S. Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Calculator (FEIE)

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Use this U.S. Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) calculator to estimate the current statutory exclusion ceiling and qualifying-day proration under Internal Revenue Code Section 911 and Form 2555. The page is designed to stay evergreen: Numeros checks a verified official-rule feed for the current IRS ceiling, while the calculator keeps a verified fallback so an external outage does not break already validated rules. This is a U.S. federal tax tool for qualifying U.S. citizens and resident aliens working abroad; it does not calculate another country's income tax.

Current official rules
Current FEIE limit
$132,900Per independently qualifying person before other Form 2555 limitations.
Daily statutory rate
$364.11Annual ceiling divided by 365 days for proration.
Physical presence test
330 full daysEligibility threshold during any 12 consecutive months—not automatically the tax-year proration input.
330 days and FEIE proration are different concepts.
The physical presence test asks whether you were in foreign countries for at least 330 full days during a qualifying 12-month period. Form 2555 separately asks for the number of days in your qualifying period that fall inside the tax year. Enter that tax-year count here.

U.S. FEIE Calculator

PRO
U.S. taxpayer context
FEIE is a U.S. federal tax provision. Resident-alien access to the bona fide residence test has additional treaty/nationality rules.
Automatic current rule
Checking the verified Numeros rule feed…
Income and qualifying period
Enter foreign earned income from personal services performed in a foreign country during your qualifying period. Do not include interest, ordinary dividends, capital gains or pensions.
Use the number of days in your qualifying period that fall in the current tax year—not automatically 330.
Planning context
This selector changes guidance only. The calculator does not certify eligibility.
Self-employed Form 2555 calculations can require expense and half-SE-tax allocation not modeled here.
Housing rules are separate and location-sensitive. This calculator flags the issue but does not estimate the housing amount.
Simplified FEIE statutory estimate
$132,900.00
Full-year statutory maximum reached
Calculation breakdown
Current full-year per-person ceiling$132,900.00
Daily statutory rate$364.11
Prorated ceiling for entered days$132,900.00
Foreign earned income entered$150,000.00
Amount above simplified FEIE estimate$17,100.00
Unused statutory FEIE capacity$0.00
100%of current tax year
Qualifying days
365 / 365
Income covered by estimate
88.6%
Statutory cap used
100%
Compare qualifying-day scenarios
Use the same foreign earned income and compare how the statutory ceiling changes with two tax-year day counts. This is a planning comparison, not an eligibility test.
Scenario A simplified estimate$132,900.00
Scenario B simplified estimate$87,386.30
Difference: $45,513.70
Current IRS rules. Auto-updated with a verified fallback. Planning estimate only; final Form 2555 may differ.

How the FEIE calculation works

Full-year FEIE ceiling = IRS annual limit for the selected tax year Daily statutory rate = annual FEIE ceiling / number of days in the selected tax year Prorated statutory ceiling = annual FEIE ceiling x (qualifying days in the selected tax year / days in that tax year) Simplified FEIE estimate = MIN(foreign earned income entered, prorated statutory ceiling) Amount above simplified estimate = MAX(0, foreign earned income entered - simplified FEIE estimate)

This is intentionally a statutory-cap calculator. Form 2555 contains additional rules. For a broader federal-income-tax estimate after you understand the FEIE amount, continue to the Income Tax Calculator; do not simply subtract this result and assume the rest of the return is unchanged.

How the current rule stays up to date

The visible calculator is not tied to a printed tax year. It uses the current verified FEIE rule delivered by Numeros' rule feed. Routine annual ceiling changes can be published to the feed without rewriting this Blogger page. If the statutory calculation itself changes, the rule feed marks the tool as review-required and the calculator pauses tax results rather than silently applying outdated or invented logic.

Worked example

If your qualifying foreign earned income is higher than the current full-year FEIE ceiling and you qualify for the full tax year, the simplified estimate is capped at the current official ceiling. If you qualify for only part of the tax year, the ceiling is prorated by qualifying days. The remaining income is not automatically your final taxable income because Form 2555 and the rest of the return can still change the tax result.

Eligibility: what the calculator can and cannot decide

A dollar result is meaningful only after the eligibility requirements are satisfied. The IRS framework requires a foreign tax home and one of two qualifying tests. This calculator lets you select the route for guidance, but it does not decide tax residency or legal eligibility from a single number.

Physical presence test
Generally requires physical presence in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months. The 330 days do not need to be consecutive.
Bona fide residence test
Generally requires bona fide residence in a foreign country or countries for an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year. It is a facts-and-circumstances test, not a simple day counter.
Need the Business tax workflow?
This page is part of the Business Calculators hub. Self-employed taxpayers should also review the separate Self-Employment Tax Calculator because FEIE does not itself remove self-employment tax.

What counts as foreign earned income?

Foreign earned income generally means compensation for personal services performed in a foreign country during a period when the tax-home and qualifying-test requirements are met. Wages, salaries and professional fees can qualify. The location where the services are performed matters; the payer's country alone does not turn income into foreign earned income.

Income typeFEIE treatment in this planning context
Wages / salary for foreign servicesPotential foreign earned income if the tax-home and qualifying-test requirements are met.
Professional / self-employment feesPotential foreign earned income, but self-employed Form 2555 adjustments are more involved than this simplified cap calculation.
Interest and ordinary dividendsNot foreign earned income for FEIE purposes.
Capital gainsNot foreign earned income for FEIE purposes. Model capital-gain tax separately with the Capital Gains Tax Calculator.
Pensions / annuitiesNot foreign earned income for this exclusion.

If you are self-employed, a bookkeeping result is only a starting point. The Net Profit Calculator can help review ordinary business profitability, but its result is not automatically the Form 2555 foreign earned income amount because IRS allocation rules still apply.

Step-by-step: use the calculator without mixing up the rules

  1. Confirm that you are evaluating foreign earned income. Separate investment income from compensation for services. If your income is employment pay, the Salary Calculator can help with general pay analysis, but it does not determine FEIE-qualified income.
  2. Identify your qualification route. Physical presence and bona fide residence are different tests. Select one only as a planning context; the calculator does not certify either test.
  3. Determine the qualifying period. Under the physical presence test, the 12-month period can cross calendar years and can be chosen based on the facts. The IRS allows qualifying 12-month periods to overlap.
  4. Count qualifying days that fall inside the current tax year. This is the number used to prorate the current IRS-published annual ceiling. It is not automatically 330.
  5. Enter foreign earned income for the relevant period. For self-employed taxpayers, review Form 2555 expense and half-SE-tax allocation before treating the result as a filing number.
  6. Check the rest of the return. FEIE does not finish the tax calculation. Review the Income Tax Calculator for a separate broader estimate and the Self-Employment Tax Calculator when business income is involved.

FEIE vs foreign housing exclusion or deduction

The foreign housing rules are related to FEIE but they are not the same calculation. Employer-provided housing amounts can support a housing exclusion, while qualifying self-employment earnings can support a housing deduction. The IRS ties the base housing amount to the FEIE ceiling, and location-specific housing-expense limits can vary by city, country and tax year. If you expect to claim housing, use this calculator as a first-pass FEIE cap estimator and complete the housing sections of Form 2555 separately.

Why the tool does not guess your housing amount
Housing limits are location-sensitive and the housing computation depends on qualifying expenses, employer-provided versus self-employment amounts and the qualifying period. A single generic percentage would create false precision.

FEIE, foreign tax credit and the stacking rule

Claiming FEIE does not mean the remaining nonexcluded income starts over at the lowest U.S. tax brackets. IRS guidance uses a tax computation that preserves the rate effect of the excluded income on nonexcluded income. Foreign tax credits or deductions also cannot simply be claimed again for taxes allocable to income that was excluded under the FEIE or housing rules.

Investment income is outside the FEIE definition. If you are separately reviewing gains or investment-tax exposure, use the Capital Gains Tax Calculator and NIIT Calculator as separate planning tools; neither one determines FEIE eligibility.

Form 2555 filing checklist

Foreign tax home.
Confirm the tax-home requirement applies throughout the qualifying residence or presence period.
Qualifying test evidence.
Keep the residence facts or physical-presence travel dates used for the test.
Foreign earned income detail.
Separate compensation for foreign services from investment, pension and other non-earned income.
Housing and self-employment adjustments.
Complete the relevant Form 2555 sections instead of treating this statutory-cap result as final.
Attach Form 2555 to the return.
The IRS says Form 2555 is attached to Form 1040 or 1040-X; it is not submitted by itself.

Common mistakes

Using 330 as the FEIE day count automatically. The 330 full days are part of the physical presence eligibility test. The proration input is the qualifying-period days that fall within the selected tax year.
Calling every dollar earned abroad foreign earned income. The nature of the income, where services were performed, tax-home status and qualifying period matter.
Treating amount above the simplified estimate as final taxable income. The stacking rule, deductions, housing, foreign tax credit interaction and other return-level calculations can change the final tax.
Assuming FEIE eliminates self-employment tax. It does not. Use the Self-Employment Tax Calculator for a separate estimate.
Double-counting taxes against excluded income. Foreign tax credit/deduction rules restrict taxes allocable to income already excluded under section 911.

Frequently asked questions

Does the FEIE limit change over time?

Yes. Federal law provides for inflation adjustments to the FEIE ceiling. This calculator is designed to use the current verified rule from the Numeros rule feed instead of tying the page title or explanatory content to a specific year.

Do I enter 330 days if I pass the Physical Presence Test?

Not automatically. The 330 full days determine the physical presence eligibility test during a 12-month period. For proration, Form 2555 uses the number of days in your qualifying period that fall within the tax year.

Can two spouses each claim FEIE?

Potentially, yes. Each spouse must independently qualify and each spouse's exclusion is limited by that spouse's own foreign earned income and Form 2555 calculation. Do not simply double one spouse's calculator result without separate facts.

Does FEIE apply to capital gains or dividends?

No. Interest, ordinary dividends and capital gains are not foreign earned income for the FEIE. They may have separate U.S. tax consequences.

Is this calculator only for U.S. taxes?

Yes. FEIE is a U.S. federal income-tax provision under Internal Revenue Code Section 911 and is claimed on IRS Form 2555. It is designed for qualifying U.S. citizens and resident aliens working abroad. It does not calculate the income tax that another country may charge.

Does FEIE eliminate self-employment tax?

No. IRS guidance states that self-employment income is still taken into account in figuring net earnings from self-employment even when income is excluded for regular income-tax purposes.

Can I claim the foreign housing exclusion and FEIE together?

The foreign housing exclusion or deduction can be available in addition to FEIE when its separate requirements are met, but the housing calculation affects the Form 2555 computation and should be completed before treating the FEIE amount as final.

Do I still file a U.S. tax return if I expect FEIE to exclude all my salary?

The exclusion is claimed on a U.S. tax return. IRS guidance says qualifying income must still be reported and Form 2555 is attached to Form 1040 or 1040-X to claim the exclusion.

Sources

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