A US citizen who moves abroad still files a US return on worldwide income. The foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE) can remove up to USD 132,900 of earned income for 2026 (USD 130,000 for 2025), but only if your tax home is abroad and you pass a test: 330 full days outside the US in some 12 months, or bona fide residence in a foreign country for a whole tax year. Separately, a foreign account report (FBAR) is due once your foreign accounts pass USD 10,000 combined. This is information from IRS pages, not tax advice; a nomad with several countries in a year should get a qualified preparer.
The three things people mix up
| Requirement | Trigger (IRS wording) | Form and where | Deadline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filing a return | Gross income from worldwide sources at or above the amount for your filing status (IRS) | Form 1040 | 15 April; the IRS page refers to an automatic extension to 15 June for people living abroad (details in Publication 54) |
| Foreign earned income exclusion | Foreign earned income, a foreign tax home, and one of two tests (IRS) | Form 2555, with a timely filed return | With the return |
| FBAR | Foreign financial accounts whose aggregate value “exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year” (IRS) | FinCEN Form 114, filed electronically in the BSA E-Filing System, not with your tax return | 15 April, automatic extension to 15 October |
| Form 8938 | Abroad: single more than USD 200,000 on the last day of the year or USD 300,000 at any time; joint USD 400,000 / USD 600,000 (IRS) | With the tax return | Return date, including extensions |
Using the FEIE does not remove the duty to file, and the FBAR and Form 8938 are independent of it: a nomad can owe the FBAR with no tax due.
The 330-day test, counted
The physical presence test asks for “330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months including some part of the year at issue.” A full day is “24 consecutive hours, beginning and ending at midnight” spent in a foreign country or countries. That leaves a margin:
- 365 days in the 12 months minus 330 required = 35 days that may be spent in the US, in transit, or otherwise not full days abroad (366 minus 330 = 36 in a leap-year span).
- Time over international waters or airspace does not count toward the 330 days, because the whole 24-hour day has to fall inside a foreign country or countries. The IRS also says days spent in violation of US law while abroad do not count. Publication 54 has the detail on travel days.
- The 12-month period can be any 12 consecutive months; periods may overlap, so you choose the window that works best.
- Days abroad for any reason count (holiday, illness, family).
For example, a 3-week trip to the US (21 days) plus 14 other days not fully abroad is 35 days: exactly at the limit, and one more day fails the test. That arithmetic is ours; the rules are the IRS’s.
The alternative, the bona fide residence test, needs residence in a foreign country for “an uninterrupted period that includes an entire tax year” (1 January to 31 December for calendar-year filers). Brief trips to the US or elsewhere are allowed if you clearly intend to return to your foreign residence, but the IRS looks at your intentions and circumstances, so it is harder to show if you keep moving between countries. That is why the 330-day test is the one a nomad usually checks first.
A tax home abroad is a separate hurdle
The IRS says your tax home is “the general area of your main place of business, employment, or post of duty.” If you cannot claim a foreign tax home, neither test helps. The IRS also says you cannot claim a foreign tax home if your abode is in the US, and abode turns on economic, family and personal ties, “not merely” owning property. Assignments of one year or less are treated as temporary, so a string of short stays is the risk case. Whether a specific nomad pattern has a foreign tax home is exactly what a preparer should decide.
The exclusion, with the maths
- Maximum: USD 130,000 for 2025, USD 132,900 for 2026, per person.
- If you qualify for only part of the year, multiply the maximum by your qualifying days and divide by 365 (366 in a leap year). Example: 200 qualifying days in 2026 gives 132,900 x 200 / 365 = USD 72,822 (rounded).
- Self-employment tax is not reduced: “The excluded amount will reduce your regular income tax but will not reduce your self-employment tax.”
- The remaining income is taxed at the rates that would have applied without the exclusion (the Foreign Earned Income Tax Worksheet in the Form 1040 instructions).
- If you exclude foreign earned income you do not qualify for the earned income credit for that year.
- Not earned income for this purpose: pensions, annuities and Social Security.
- You must file a return to claim it; it is voluntary and elected on Form 2555.
Where this ties to the rest of a nomad life
The US taxes citizens by citizenship, so the 183-day rules of other countries sit on top: you can be resident in one country for tax and still file in the US. The visa-by-visa tax table shows the day tests. Accounts count for the FBAR too: the banking guide explains why nomads hold several. For the wider playbook see the complete tax playbook; for a scheme that taxes remote workers at a low rate see Georgia’s 1% regime.
What this page does not cover
State income tax (some states keep taxing you after you leave), the foreign tax credit as an alternative to the exclusion, treaty and social-security totalization rules, foreign trusts and companies, penalties, and late-filing relief. Ask a US expat tax preparer for those. IRS pages change: the amounts above were read on 29 Sept 2026, and the 2027 limit will differ.
Method
Researched from eight IRS pages read on 29 Sept 2026 (dates in the source list); dollar figures were re-read on the IRS figuring and comparison pages by an independent auditor. The bona fide residence test page was added at audit. Counting examples and the proration are our arithmetic. No individual tax outcome is claimed. Re-checked every 90 days.