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Foreign Earned Income Exclusion calculator
Wages or self-employment earnings for work performed abroad. Not interest, dividends, capital gains or pension income — the exclusion does not reach those.
Your result
You could exclude $95,000
- Exclusion
- $95,000
- 2025 cap
- $130,000
- Earned income still taxable
- $0
Assumptions used
- • All the income entered is foreign earned income.
- • Your tax home was in a foreign country for the qualifying period.
- • The 2025 statutory cap of $130,000 applies.
Still to confirm
- • Whether the foreign housing exclusion or deduction adds to this.
- • Whether the Foreign Tax Credit would leave you better off.
- • That claiming the FEIE will not cost you the refundable Child Tax Credit.
- • Whether a prior FEIE revocation blocks the election.
Email me this result
The requested report is transactional. Educational follow-ups are sent only if you check the optional box.
How this calculation works
Section 911 lets a qualifying US person exclude foreign earned income up to an annually-indexed ceiling — $130,000 for 2025. The calculation here is the one Form 2555 performs:
- Take the statutory maximum for the tax year.
- Multiply it by qualifying days ÷ days in the year. A full year of qualification leaves the cap untouched; a part year reduces it proportionally.
- Exclude the lesser of that prorated cap and your actual foreign earned income.
Every figure comes from the site's audited facts registry, which records the source and verification date for each indexed amount. Years without a verified figure return no answer rather than an extrapolated one — an inflation-indexed number guessed forward looks authoritative and is wrong.
Limitations
- The foreign housing exclusion and deduction are not modelled. They can add materially on top of this for people with high rent abroad.
- This does not test whether you qualify — use the Physical Presence Test calculator or consider the bona fide residence test.
- It does not compute your resulting US tax. Excluded income is still used to set the rate that applies to your remaining income (the stacking rule).
- Self-employment tax is unaffected by the exclusion and is not included here.
Sources
- IRC §911 — citizens or residents living abroad.
- IRS Form 2555 and its instructions, Parts VII–IX.
- IRS annual inflation-adjustment revenue procedures for the indexed maximum.
Common questions
How much foreign income can I exclude?
The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion maximum is $130,000 for the 2025 tax year, indexed annually. That is a ceiling, not an entitlement: you can only exclude foreign earned income you actually have, and if you qualified for part of the year the cap is prorated for that part.
Is the FEIE limit prorated if I moved abroad mid-year?
Yes. The maximum exclusion is multiplied by the fraction of the tax year in which you met either the bona fide residence or the physical presence test. Someone who qualified for 200 days of a 365-day year has a cap of roughly 55% of the annual maximum. This is Form 2555 line 37, and it is the step most quick calculators leave out.
Does the FEIE eliminate self-employment tax?
No, and this is the most expensive misunderstanding for freelancers abroad. Section 911 excludes foreign earned income from income tax. Self-employment tax under Schedule SE is computed on your net earnings before the exclusion, so you can exclude all of your income and still owe roughly 15.3%. Relief usually comes from a totalization agreement with your country of residence, not from the FEIE.
What counts as foreign earned income?
Wages, salaries, professional fees and other pay for personal services performed in a foreign country. It does not include interest, dividends, capital gains, rental income, pension or annuity payments, US government pay, or distributions from a PFIC. Those remain in your US tax base regardless of the exclusion.
Should I claim the FEIE or the Foreign Tax Credit?
It depends, and the exclusion is not automatically better. The Foreign Tax Credit can preserve carryforwards, tends to work better in high-tax countries, and leaves income in the base for the refundable Child Tax Credit — which claiming the FEIE forfeits. Revoking the FEIE after claiming it also locks you out for five years without IRS consent.
How Atamatax calculations are produced — the tests applied, statutory sources and review cadence — is documented in the methodology, and what is and is not reviewed in accuracy & review. Calculation fixes are recorded in the changelog.
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