# Questions about form 2555



## catalinacapri (Mar 13, 2014)

My wife and I lived overseas from February 2011 through February 23, 2013. During that time, we both had self-employment income as independent contractors, and both claimed the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion when filing for the 2011 and 2012 tax years.

On Feb 23, 2013, we moved back to the U.S. for a few months. My wife continued to make some self employment income during that time, but I made no money at all in the U.S.

On June 6, 2013 we moved to China where I became an employee of a Chinese hospital and began being paid by them and having Chinese income taxes withheld.

My wife continues to make some self-employment income.

So, I intend to file our return in May or June, once we've been in China long enough to qualify for the physical presence test here.

How do we need to file with regards to form 2555. Do we each file a single form 2555 and include information about both tax homes on it, or do we each file two 2555 forms with one form reflecting the first two months of 2013 (before we moved to the U.S.) and one form reflecting the last 7 months of 2013 (when we moved to China)?

I initially tried to prepare our return on TurboTax, but it didn't seem able to handle our situation.

Thanks for any help/advice!


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

You each file a 2555 for yourselves as individuals (so, ultimately you get two separate FEIEs). But I think for the two separate qualifying periods, you may each have to file 2 FEIEs covering the two separate periods/tax homes.

Not sure on that, but check to see if Publication 54 mentions anything about this sort of thing. We've had it come up before here in the forum, though I can't direct you to the thread at the moment.
Cheers,
Bev


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## BBCWatcher (Dec 28, 2012)

I think you're right about that, Bev. I seem to recall doing that for one year a few years ago.


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