Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kenny Kimchee]

Right, so (as usual) I'm taking it right up to the deadline. I'm using TurboTax for the web to prepare my return. When I started the program up, it began with $180 in taxes.

I took the foreign earned income exclusion. I had some investments, but losses exceeded gains (I'm a financial genius). Despite having an effective income of $0, I still owe $180. What gives? Is there a minimum income tax? Anybody else had this problem?

[LarrytheGiraffee]

If you cant figure it out using Turbo Tax, just use the good ol' paper method. You would file a 1040 and a 2555EZ

Also, no need to worry about the deadline, you get a automatic 2 month extension when you work overseas, you just have to write foreign income at the top of the 1040 form.

[Dawn]

The web version of Turbo Tax is doing screwy stuff with foreign-earned income/the foreign earned income exclusion. I had to enter, delete and re-enter foreign income at least half a dozen times before the getting the foreign-earned income field and the foreign-earned income exclusion field to reconcile.

If you enter foreign-earned income before completing the foreign-earned income exclusion (2555) step, it insists upon defaulting the exclusion to $0. If you complete the 2555 first, then enter foreign-earned income, it magically doubles your exclusion. I finally got it to work by completing the 2555, jumping back and entering the income, then going back to the 2555 and deleting the income TurboTax so graciously added to my original claim. And, yeah, in the end, going the paper route would have been a lot faster and easier, but (1) all the actual documents reflecting my investment income for the year are on the other side of the Pacific and (2) I'd already paid the $20-something-buck to e-file my state taxes and was bound and determined to conquer the web rather than forfeit my money.

[mdokupilkr]

Go to irs.gov From there you should be able to a link that will take you to the hrblock website that will allow you to file your taxes for free if you income was less than 25000 in the usa. You must go through the irs.gov porthole or you will be charged 20 bucks. If you get to the final step on hrblock and it says you owe 20 bucks, try again. Ive done my taxes this way for the last 3 years and havent ever paid a dime.