# Did i make a mistake on my return?



## Purplebee (Dec 12, 2017)

I am really worried! I just filed my US tax return ( i am a uk reisdent) and all was fine, i did my foreign earned income exclusion and i answered all the questions and it all came to the normal i owe nothing and i will get no refund, but i realised i mis read/ missunderstood a question on the form, on the FEIE form it says on line 15 'Did your visa limit the length of your stay or employment in a foreign country? If “Yes,” attach explanation' 
I swear it was worded differently on turbo tax, from what i understood it was asking if my visa was limited and if so give an explanation so i put in the explanation box 'Visa has an expiration date but it will be renewed before the expiration date is reached' because i thought it was just generally asking about my visa limitations, will this be okay to just leave the way it is? My return looks exactly the same to last year except that one part and it has me very worried

*EDIT* 
It is underneath the Bonafide residence test part which is what i qualified under


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

I haven't used the FEIE for a while, so I had to go back to an old return and the visa question has been there for a while. There doesn't appear to be any specific line instructions on how to fill the visa question out.

So long as your answer to the other questions in Part II were not materially impacted by your visa I would not worry about it.

Without specific line instructions, I would read the question as... if you had to leave the foreign country within the tax year due to visa related issues, but still consider yourself a bona fide resident for the whole tax year, explain yourself.

Regardless, I do not believe there is a need to amend your return. Generally you only need to do it if there is a material impact to your return overall. If the error means more income, more deductions, a change to tax credit carryover, missing mandatory forms etc.


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## Purplebee (Dec 12, 2017)

Thanks so much for your reply, i made it very clear through all parts of the bona fide resident section that i have not left the uk since 2017, the question was definitely worded differently on turbo tax and i got confused, as long as this inst something that will get me in trouble with the irs and wont cause me tax issues then its fine and i will learn my lesson for next time, i just definitely want to avoid amending if possible


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

I think they're just looking to see if you're living overseas "temporarily" - like for a defined assignment overseas or something. (Note that the question is part of the section on filing as a "bona fide resident")

But I also checked the 2555EZ form and there is nothing like that on the simplified form.

I wouldn't worry about it. I filed for some 20 years with a form 2555 and where it asks for what kind of visa you entered the country on, just filled in "none." (Long story - but true! I never had a visa for entering France.)

They don't generally look into those questions unless they think something is "funny" about your overall return.


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## Purplebee (Dec 12, 2017)

Thanks so much for all your help! Also one last question for my return, I was obviously just using the turbo tax free file software and last year is automatically included the schedule 6 for my foreign address, but it was also the first year of me filing taxes outside of the US, but this year it did not include that form with my completed tax return, I don't completely understand why it didn't add it but is that a problem? I still I haven't obviously mailed off my tax return or anything yet so I am not sure if that is something I have to add or if it is just a first time you do you do your taxes abroad you need to include the schedule 6 for the adress


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Purplebee said:


> Thanks so much for all your help! Also one last question for my return, I was obviously just using the turbo tax free file software and last year is automatically included the schedule 6 for my foreign address, but it was also the first year of me filing taxes outside of the US, but this year it did not include that form with my completed tax return, I don't completely understand why it didn't add it but is that a problem? I still I haven't obviously mailed off my tax return or anything yet so I am not sure if that is something I have to add or if it is just a first time you do you do your taxes abroad you need to include the schedule 6 for the adress


They re-did those numbered schedules this year. Last year there were 6 schedules, but this year there are only 3. I guess they managed to configure the main address fields to handle foreign addresses this year.


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

The IRS must have hired someone with a bit of common sense who thought having a form with half your address on it and a second form having the other half was pointless. All in all they merged 6 schedules into 3.

Schedules 2 and 4 were combined into Schedule 2 
Schedules 3 and 5 were combined into Schedule 3 
and Schedule 6 was put back onto the 1040 itself.


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