Timeline for How do I prepare for a year long trip as an employee trying to qualify for the FEIE via the physical presence test?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
14 events
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| Jun 16, 2020 at 10:49 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
Commonmark migration
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| Nov 17, 2018 at 14:55 | comment | added | Fattie | hi @Audus - regarding that passage just quoted by you, yes I would interpret it as "favorable to your situation", HOWEVER it would be totally reasonable to interpret that as only applying to folks in the USA (For example, I know for a fact that applies to US popstars and actors, who don't bother having a house and just glamorously live in hotels all year.) So certainly, the IRS could say, as it were, "oh that text is not about you at all, that's only for intra-US folks". It's unknowable, you've met the boundaries of tax law! | |
| Nov 8, 2018 at 19:50 | comment | added | Audus | There is a clause in the 'Tax Home' definition on the IRS site that I am not sure how to interpret. "If you have neither a regular or main place of business nor a place where you regularly live, you are considered an itinerant and your tax home is wherever you work". One interpretation is that I would qualify as an 'itinerant', another interpretation is that my tax home would be the location of my U.S. based company ('wherever you work'). Would I meet the tax home requirement? irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/… | |
| Nov 8, 2018 at 10:37 | history | edited | TripeHound | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added argument over tax-home from comments.
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| Nov 7, 2018 at 17:39 | comment | added | Fattie | indeed, your last sentence is compelling. I honestly don't know, really. I'm not sure anyone would know. It would become one of those weird IRS case things (if anyone bothered to notice it during processing :/ ) | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 14:57 | comment | added | TripeHound | @Fattie As I said, I'm not an expert... the wording of the "tax home" page (which I agree isn't "good legalese") to me implies you have to be in a single place for 12 months... my reading is that what the OP is proposing would be seen (by the IRS) as essentially no different than 12 one-month business trips. And – as you say – if you wouldn't pay tax in any one location that would tend to imply the OP's "tax home" would remain in the US. | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 14:41 | comment | added | Fattie | Actually it is very strange to be in 12 different places. You wouldn't pay tax to any of those - it would be nothing more than "a business trip to Korea" or wherever. I have no idea. | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 14:37 | comment | added | Fattie | As everyone knows, US tax "law" is fucked. I asked this subtle question money.stackexchange.com/q/100474/41786 of my tax company. They came back asserting absolutely "yes". I said thanks and got into an email discussion with them, escalating through their experts! I pointed out the info "nanoman" provided there. There was huge investigations. Eventually they said "right, we were totally wrong, the answer is "no"". The whole thing's a fiasco. (The para you quote just above is so far from being clear legal guidance language - its' a joke.) We should all just move to Monaco. :O | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 14:35 | comment | added | Fattie | hi TH, I read that as: "if in a single location for <1 year" you are disqualified. The immediately following sentence clearly says "If you expect it to last for more than 1 year, it is indefinite." I would just say, I know of .. 4 .. more? cases of US folks being outside of the US for a year, and making/getting the "FEIE" thingy (I didn't know it was called that!) and they were certainly in "more than one place". | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 14:30 | comment | added | TripeHound | Of course (and this is why the OP needs to speak to an expert in the field), it may be that 12x1-month stints can be argued to be a special case (and sufficient to move "tax home"), despite the IRS's wording specifying "a single location". | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 14:29 | comment | added | TripeHound | @Fattie I've no problem with Op meeting the 330+ days requirement, but the "tax home" requirement is separate. The paragraph on the IRS page specifically includes "in a single location" for the 12-month/1-year cut-off: if all the work in were to be in a single location, then OP may well be fine. But 12 different, one-month placings does not to me seem to be enough to move their "tax home" away from the US as things are worded [cont]. | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 14:22 | history | edited | TripeHound | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Added another reference and clarified conditions.
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| Nov 7, 2018 at 13:42 | comment | added | Fattie | I have to disagree TH, your own facts: (A) he will be physically present in foreign countries 330+. (B) section two, it is in fact a full year assignment. (It's commonplace that people do precisely this when it is "exactly a year to the day"; I personally just think the language on that last quoted para is a bit flakey.) | |
| Nov 7, 2018 at 8:24 | history | answered | TripeHound | CC BY-SA 4.0 |