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      The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

      Super Cheap

      • Chitré, Panama
      • Santa Marta, Colombia
      • Phuket, Thailand
      • Dumaguete, The Philippines

      Cheap

      • Medellin, Colombia
      • Boquete, Panama
      • Kyrenia, Cyprus
      • Hua Hin, Thailand
      • The Algarve, Portugal

      Affordable

      • Valencia, Spain
      • Cascais, Portugal
      • Las Terrenas, The DR
      • Pisa, Italy
      • La Rochelle, France
      • Mazatlán, Mexico

      Luxury

      • Ambergris Caye, Belize
      • Kotor, Montenegro
      • The Panama City Beaches
      • Paris, France
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      • Home
      • Countries

        Top Destinations:

        Whether you’re looking for fun and sun, a peaceful retirement, or the chance to earn some extra income, you’ve got a real world of opportunity open to you… In short, we’ve done our best to narrow down your best options, but only you can decide the right country for you.

        • Spain
        • Portugal
        • Panama
        • Belize
        • Colombia
        • Cyprus
        • Mexico
        • France
        • Montenegro
        • Browse All Countries

        Best For:

        • The Best Places To Retire
        • Health Care Abroad
        • Cost Of Living
        • Investing in Real Estate
        • Establishing Residency
        • Gun Laws In The World
        • English-Speaking Countries
        • Safest Places For Retirement
        • Best Places In Latin America
      • Budgets

        How Much Will It Cost You To Live Overseas?

        The only honest answer is, we have no idea. And neither does anyone else. The only one who can answer that question is you. Here’s the most important thing to understand about budgeting your new life overseas…

        Super Cheap

        • Chitré, Panama
        • Santa Marta, Colombia
        • Phuket, Thailand
        • Dumaguete, The Philippines

        Cheap

        • Medellin, Colombia
        • Boquete, Panama
        • Kyrenia, Cyprus
        • Hua Hin, Thailand
        • The Algarve, Portugal

        Affordable

        • Valencia, Spain
        • Cascais, Portugal
        • Las Terrenas, The DR
        • Pisa, Italy
        • La Rochelle, France
        • Mazatlán, Mexico

        Luxury

        • Ambergris Caye, Belize
        • Kotor, Montenegro
        • The Panama City Beaches
        • Paris, France
      • Resources

        Global Living

        • Living & Retiring Overseas
        • Raising A Family Abroad
        • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
        • Offshore & Diversification

        Making Money

        • International Real Estate
        • Banking
        • Employment
        • Investing

        Follow Us:

        • Meet Our Experts
      • Real Estate

        Join our Weekly Newsletter
        Overseas Property Alert

        Sign up for our weekly newsletter to receive expert insights on the best international real estate investment opportunities.






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          Buying Real Estate For Cashflow

          • Discover tips and strategies used by global property investing veterans

          Explore Our Latest Posts

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          Go To The Overseas Property Alert Site

          • How To Become Independently Wealthy And Fund The Lifestyle Of Your Dreams
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          • Explore Our Events Site

          International Property Summit

          Caribbean Virtual Conference

          Live and Invest In Spain Conference

          PANAMA CITY, PANAMA

          June 18-20, 2025

          VIRTUAL

          July 17-19, 2025

          Valencia, Spain

          Sep. 17-19, 2025

          LEARN MORE
          LEARN MORE
          PRE-REGISTER
          LEARN MORE
          PRE-REGISTER
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          Toll-Free U.S. and Canada:
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          From Outside North America:
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          Reach us with your questions by email at: events@liveandinvestoverseas.com

        • Store

          Unlock The World

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          • Titles on living and investing around the world
          • Explore Our Store
          Your passport to a life well-lived abroad

          Services

          overseas living letter offers affordable retirement guidance
          The Simon Letter Wealth Protection Insights
          Global Property Advisor Global Investment Opportunities

          Our Customer Service team is here to assist with any questions or concerns CustomerService@LiveandInvestOverseas.com

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          Home Retirement/Living

          You Need Not Necessarily Pay: The Foreign-Earned Income Exclusion Explained

          How To Earn Up To $224,000 Tax Free Overseas

          by Kathleen Peddicord
          Jan 14, 2022
          in Retirement/Living
          0 0
          Portrait of contemporary mature woman calculating taxes

          Adobe Stock/Seventyfour

          The most important tool in the U.S. expat’s tax toolbox is the foreign-earned income exclusion (referred to in tax-planning circles as the FEIE or “the exclusion”).

          If you qualify, it allows you to exclude up to US$112,000 in 2022 foreign-earned income from U.S. federal income tax.

          All U.S. citizens and residents who earn more than US$12,550 (single) or US$25,100 (married, filing a joint return) in a year must file a U.S. personal income tax return no matter where you reside.

          You must file, but that does not mean you must pay tax. One of the many benefits for an American living or retiring abroad is that, once you‘re a foreign resident, you‘re eligible to take advantage of the FEIE.

          The exclusion applies to foreign-earned income only—that is, wages or self-employment income (independent contractor earnings, for example) you receive for services you perform while living outside the United States. Wages can come from a U.S. corporation or a foreign corporation, including an offshore corporation, and it does not matter if you are also a shareholder or owner of that foreign corporation.

          Note, though, that earned income does not include interest, dividends, or other investment or passive income.

          The key is to qualify.

          Bottom Line, You Qualify For The Exclusion In One Of Two Ways:

          1. The 330 Day Test

          To qualify for the FEIE using the 330 Day Test, you must be in another country (just being outside the United States doesn’t work if you‘re in international waters, for example) for 330 days out of any 365-day period. It does not matter if the 330 days are over two calendar years (between Nov. 1, 2020, and Oct. 31, 2021, for example), and you can avail of a special extension to file your tax return to give you time to meet this requirement.

          2. The Bona Fide Residency Test

          In this case, you achieve foreign residency by moving to another country and making it your “home.” You can intend to return to the States in the future, but you must move to the foreign country for an “indefinite” or “extended” period of time that must include one full calendar year.

          The 330 Day Test is fact-based, while the Bona Fide Residency Test hinges on your intentions and is therefore more difficult to use and to prove.

          The Bona Fide Residency Test is one of the most misunderstood and misused sections of the U.S. tax code. You are a bona fide resident of another country if you move there and make it your home. You show this, typically, by filing and paying taxes in that country.

          The perfect example of a U.S. foreign resident is a person who moves to a foreign country, does not intend to return to the States, files and pays taxes in the new country, obtains a long-term visa that allows him to work in that country, sells his U.S. home and buys one in the foreign country, and who relocates with his family.

          Of course, though, few cases are perfect.

          Start Your New Life Today, Overseas






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            For example, a husband might move to France to work there indefinitely, leaving his family in California. Maybe he returns to the States for 40 days per year to visit and intends to return again full-time as soon as financially possible.

            In this case, the American in question has a good chance of being allowed the exclusion, assuming he is physically outside the States for at least one year, but it’s not guaranteed, and the determination by the IRS would depend on many facts and factors.

            Note that simply being out of the States for a full calendar year does not make you a resident of a foreign country. For example, if you go to a foreign country to work on a construction job for a specified period of time, say 14 months, you ordinarily would not be regarded as a bona fide resident of that country, even though you‘re living and working there for one tax year or longer. The length of your stay and the nature of your job are only some of the factors taken into consideration.

            If the residency test is so complex… you may be wondering…

            Why Should You Use It?

            The biggest reason would be if you want to be able to spend more than 35 days a year in the United States.

            Furthermore, once you qualify as a resident of a foreign country, you remain a resident of that country until you give up that residency. With the 330 Day Test, you must be out of the country for 330 days of each 365-day period. In other words, the determination is made year by year.

            Plus, with the residency test, you can qualify for all or only part of a year. Here is an example from the IRS website:

            “You were a bona fide resident of Singapore from March 1, 2022, through Sept. 14, 2024. On Sept. 15, 2024, you returned to the United States. Since you were a bona fide resident of a foreign country for all of 2023, you were also a bona fide resident of a foreign country from March 1, 2022, through the end of 2022 and from Jan. 1, 2024, through Sept. 14, 2024.”

            Also note that, if you‘re married, and you and your spouse both are residing abroad, you each can take advantage of the foreign-earned income exclusion. Meaning you could be able to exclude up to your first US$224,000 of foreign-earned income from U.S. tax.

            Finally, understand that the foreign-earned income exclusion is “use it or lose it.” If you don’t file your returns year by year, you can’t later go back and try to claim the exclusion. You‘ll be required to pay U.S. tax on all your worldwide income for any year in which you failed to file.

            Lief Simon
            Editor, Offshore Living Letter

            Tags: FEIEForeign Earned Income Exclusion
            Share85Tweet53
            Kathleen Peddicord

            Kathleen Peddicord

            Kathleen Peddicord has reported on opportunities for Americans to live, retire, and do business overseas for 40 years. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 24, established businesses in 7, renovated and built properties in 6, and educated her children in 5.

            Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets from the east coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland, then to Paris, France, and finally to Panama City, Panama, where she has based her Live And Invest Overseas business. Peddicord and her husband, Lief Simon, now divide their time between Panama and Paris.

            Peddicord was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. She opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Waterford, Ireland; Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France. Peddicord launched Live And Invest Overseas group in 2008 and has built it into a successful multimillion-dollar business. Today, she shares her firsthand experience of expat life with more than 500,000 readers of her publications, including Overseas Opportunity Letter and Overseas Living Letter.

            Kathleen has been featured often in The New York Times, MSNBC, AARP, CNN, Bloomberg, CNBC, and more and writes monthly about expat matters, international real estate, and offshore diversification for Forbes and U.S. News.

            Kathleen has written several books including the memoirs “At Home In Ireland” and “At Home At Los Islotes” and her latest title “At Home Abroad,” all published by Lahardan Books. Her best-selling "How To Retire Overseas: Everything You Need To Know To Live Well (For Less) Abroad” was published by Penguin Random House in 2018 and her “Buying Real Estate Overseas For Cash Flow (And A Better Life)” was published by Wiley in August 2020.

            Start Your New Life Overseas Today!
            Sign up for our free daily e-letter, Overseas Opportunity Letter, and we'll send you a FREE report on The 10 Best Places To Retire In 2025.

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                  HOME

                  Top Countries

                  • Spain
                  • Portugal
                  • Panama
                  • Belize
                  • Colombia
                  • Cyprus
                  • Mexico
                  • France
                  • Montenegro

                  Best For:

                  • Health Care Abroad
                  • Retirement Living
                  • Cost Of Living
                  • Investing in Real Estate
                  • Establishing Residency
                  • Gun Ownership
                  • English Speakers
                  • Safety
                  BROWSE ALL COUNTRIES

                  Budgets

                  How Much Will It Cost
                  To Live Overseas?

                  Super Cheap

                  • Chitré, Panama
                  • Santa Marta, Colombia
                  • Phuket, Thailand
                  • Dumaguete, The Philippines

                  Cheap

                  • Medellin, Colombia
                  • Boquete, Panama
                  • Kyrenia, Cyprus
                  • Hua Hin, Thailand
                  • The Algarve, Portugal

                  Affordable

                  • Valencia, Spain
                  • Cascais, Portugal
                  • Las Terrenas, The DR
                  • Pisa, Italy
                  • La Rochelle, France
                  • Mazatlán, Mexico

                  Luxury

                  • Ambergris Caye, Belize
                  • Kotor, Montenegro
                  • The Panama City Beaches
                  • Paris, France

                  Resources

                  Global Living

                  • Living & Retiring Overseas
                  • Raising A Family Abroad
                  • Foreign Residency & Citizenship
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