Foreign Earned Income Exclusion Calculator

Estimate how much of your overseas pay you can exclude from U.S. income tax under the foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE), and roughly what it saves.

Short answer: for tax year 2026 you can exclude up to $132,900 of foreign earned income (Rev. Proc. 2025-32) if your tax home is abroad and you pass the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test (330 full days abroad in 12 consecutive months). You may also exclude part of your housing costs. Income above the exclusion is taxed at the rates that would apply if nothing were excluded, and self-employment tax still applies.

This calculator is for informational purposes only. It produces estimates, not a completed Form 2555, and it can't confirm that you meet the qualification tests. For tax home, the two tests, and the FEIE-versus-foreign-tax-credit decision, read the foreign earned income exclusion guide.

What to enter in the FEIE calculator

How the tool computes the result:

1. It checks the test you chose (330 full days for physical presence).
2. It prorates the limit: $132,900 × qualifying days ÷ 365.
3. It excludes the smaller of your foreign earned income or that prorated limit, then any housing exclusion you entered, up to the foreign income left.
4. It subtracts the larger of your standard or itemized deduction.
5. It figures tax on the rest with the stacking rule from the Form 1040 Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet, and compares that with the tax you'd owe with no exclusion. The difference is the savings.

The result also shows the marginal rate your remaining income is taxed at under the stacking rule. Every worked example below matches what the calculator shows for the same inputs. It uses ordinary-income brackets only, so qualified dividends and capital gains (which keep their lower rates on the worksheet) are treated as ordinary income, and credits are not applied.

How the foreign earned income exclusion is calculated

The exclusion is the smaller of:

1. The annual limit — $132,900 for 2026 — prorated for qualifying days if you qualify for only part of the year, or
2. Your foreign earned income minus your foreign housing exclusion.

Per Pub. 54, each spouse who qualifies gets a separate limit, so a couple both working abroad can exclude up to $265,800. One spouse can't use the other's unused amount.

Proration for a partial year

The limit is prorated by the number of qualifying days in your tax year:

Prorated limit = $132,900 × qualifying days in 2026 ÷ 365

That works out to about $364.11 per day. Under the physical presence test, you pick the 12-month window that gives the most qualifying days in the year.

The stacking rule: why excluded income still raises your tax

You figure tax on non-excluded income with the Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet in the Form 1040 instructions. It works like this:

1. Add your excluded amount back to your taxable income.
2. Figure tax on that total.
3. Subtract the tax on the excluded amount alone.

The result: your remaining income is taxed starting in the bracket where the excluded income left off, not at 10%.

Worked examples with 2026 numbers

All examples use the 2026 brackets and standard deductions ($16,100 single, $32,200 married filing jointly).

Example 1: single, full year abroad, $150,000 salary

• Taxable income after the exclusion: $150,000 − $132,900 − $16,100 = $1,000
• Stacking: tax on $1,000 + $132,900 = $133,900 is $17,966 + 24% × ($133,900 − $105,700) = $24,734
• Tax on the excluded $132,900 alone: $17,966 + 24% × $27,200 = $24,494
• U.S. tax: $24,734 − $24,494 = $240, versus $24,734 with no exclusion

Without the stacking rule, the remaining $1,000 would be taxed at 10% ($100). Stacking taxes it at 24%. The exclusion still saves $24,494.

Example 2: married filing jointly, one earner abroad

One spouse earns $180,000 abroad; the couple also has $8,000 of U.S. interest and dividends taxed as ordinary income.

• AGI: $180,000 + $8,000 − $132,900 = $55,100
• Taxable income: $55,100 − $32,200 = $22,900
• Stacking: tax on $22,900 + $132,900 = $155,800 is $11,600 + 22% × $55,000 = $23,700; tax on $132,900 is $11,600 + 22% × $32,100 = $18,662
• U.S. tax: $5,038 (not the $2,290 you'd get by taxing $22,900 from the bottom)

With no exclusion, tax on $155,800 would be $23,700, so the FEIE saves $18,662. Foreign income tax paid on the $47,100 of non-excluded salary may be creditable against the $5,038.

Example 3: moved abroad on April 1, 2026

A single filer earns $30,000 in the U.S. from January through March, then $110,000 abroad from April through December, and meets the physical presence test for April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027 — 275 qualifying days in 2026.

• Prorated limit: $132,900 × 275 ÷ 365 = $100,130
• Taxable income: $30,000 + $110,000 − $100,130 − $16,100 = $23,770
• Stacking: tax on $123,900 is $22,334; tax on $100,130 is $5,800 + 22% × $49,730 = $16,741
• U.S. tax: about $5,593, versus $22,334 without the exclusion

In the calculator, enter $110,000 of foreign earned income, $30,000 of other income, and 275 qualifying days.

If you haven't met the test by the April 15 deadline, Pub. 54 lets you file Form 2350 for an extension until after you qualify.

Example 4: adding the housing exclusion

A single employee pays $36,000 a year in rent and utilities in a city without a special IRS limit and qualifies all of 2026.

• Housing expenses, capped at the standard limit of 30% × $132,900 = $39,870: $36,000
• Minus the base housing amount of 16% × $132,900 = $21,264
• Housing exclusion: $14,736

With a $150,000 salary, the FEIE is the smaller of $132,900 or $150,000 − $14,736 = $135,264, so the full $132,900 applies. Total excluded: $147,636. Only $2,364 remains, which the standard deduction covers — U.S. income tax is $0. Enter $150,000 of foreign income and $14,736 in the housing field and the calculator shows $147,636 excluded and $0 of tax.

The housing exclusion applies to employer-provided pay. Self-employed expats claim a housing deduction instead, limited to foreign earned income left after the exclusion. Many high-cost cities have a higher cap than $39,870; the list is in the Form 2555 instructions.

Example 5: self-employed expat and self-employment tax

A freelance designer living abroad all year nets $90,000. The FEIE wipes out the income tax, but self-employment tax still applies: $90,000 × 92.35% × 15.3% = $12,717. Excluding income does not reduce this. If the country has a totalization agreement with the U.S. and you get a certificate of coverage, you may pay into the foreign system instead.

2026 FEIE figures at a glance

For 2027 the maximum exclusion rises to $137,300 per person (Rev. Proc. 2026-35, section 3.41), or $376.16 a day for proration ($137,300 ÷ 365). The calculator offers 2027 in the Tax Year menu; the 2027 housing amounts depend on the IRS's location-by-location notice for that year, which is not out yet.

What the result doesn't tell you

• Credits you give up. If you claim the FEIE you can't take the earned income credit or the additional child tax credit (the refundable part of the child tax credit) that year (Pub. 54). For parents with modest incomes in high-tax countries, the foreign tax credit can be worth more.
• MAGI add-backs. Excluded income is added back for Roth IRA limits, the premium tax credit, the adoption credit, and others. Check with the MAGI calculator.
• Retirement contributions. Excluded foreign earned income and housing amounts don't count as compensation for IRA contributions (Pub. 590-A). Someone who excludes all of their earnings may be unable to contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA at all; excluding less, or claiming the foreign tax credit instead, keeps that compensation available.
• State tax. Some states don't follow the FEIE or still treat you as a resident.

Mistakes that skew the estimate

• Counting U.S. workdays as foreign income. Pay for days you worked while visiting the U.S. is U.S.-source income and can't be excluded, even if a foreign employer paid it.
• Counting travel days as full days abroad. A day spent partly over international waters or in the U.S. is not a full day in a foreign country for the 330-day count.
• Excluding U.S. government pay. Wages paid by the U.S. government to its employees abroad are not foreign earned income.
• Including passive income. Interest, dividends, rent, pensions, and capital gains are not earned income and never qualify.

Related tools and guides

Check your bracket on non-excluded income with the federal tax bracket calculator, and see the 2026 inflation adjustments guide for every other indexed limit. If you are adopting while living abroad, remember the exclusion is added back to MAGI for the adoption tax credit calculator.