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[peripatetic_soul]

Hello,
A colleague of mine, a resident of VA, had worked in KSA for over 20 years. He filed federal Foreign Exclusion as well as VA state income tax forms annually. I followed suit in UAE the past 5 years. Neither of us incurred any VA state income tax. We met the criteria established with the IRS of residing less than 30 days in native country, and neither of us owned real estate in the U.S. at the time of filing. Hope this helps.

[naturegirl321]

Is residing being physically present ie visiting?

[peripatetic_soul]

Dear Naturegirl,

This pertains to VA only, as I'm not aware of the other state laws. Yes, being physically present within the U.S. borders, regardless of where you stay/visit in the country must be less than 30 days to be eligible for the Foreign Earned Income Tax Exclusion. However, one must still FILE both VA state and IRS income tax returns. On line 22, where one reflects total earned income, the foreign earnings are entered there within parentheses, per IRS instructions (indicating non-US, nontaxable income IF: a) one resides outside of the US for 330 days +; and b) for 2013, foreign earnings were less than $96,000. FILING and HAVING TO PAY taxes are two different issues. I filed but did not owe any VA state or federal taxes when employed overseas. Hope this answers your question. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.