Foreign Earned Income Exclusion,
the US expat tax calculator.

Expat tax guide

Two surprises most FEIE guides bury as footnotes.

The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion lets qualifying US expats exclude up to $132,900 of foreign earned income from federal income tax in 2026. Most guides stop at the headline number — but two consequences catch people off guard enough that they deserve top billing, not a footnote.

Qualifying: two tests, one mechanical, one about facts

The Physical Presence Test is a pure day count: 330 full days outside the US in any 12 consecutive months. The Bona Fide Residence Test has no day count at all — it asks whether you genuinely reside in a foreign country for an uninterrupted period covering a full tax year, based on real facts and circumstances (housing, local ties, intent).

Self-employment tax doesn’t care about your exclusion

This is the single most surprising fact for self-employed expats: the FEIE excludes foreign earned income from income tax only. Self-employment tax — the Social-Security-and-Medicare combination on your net SE profit — is computed entirely separately and isn’t reduced by the exclusion at all. Exclude your entire $90,000 in self-employment income from federal income tax, and you can still owe over $12,000 in SE tax on that same $90,000.

The foreign housing exclusion, precisely

For 2026: base $21,264 (16% of the FEIE cap), ceiling $39,870 (30% of the FEIE cap) for most locations — a maximum excludable range around $18,606. It’s an exclusion when your employer provides or pays for housing, or a deduction when you’re self-employed. 137 IRS-designated high-cost cities get a higher ceiling than the standard figures above.

Your home state might not agree with the IRS

California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Hawaii, and Mississippi do not honor the federal FEIE — they tax the same foreign income the IRS just excluded. Concretely: move from San Francisco to Berlin earning $120,000, and you owe $0 federal tax on it but can still owe California roughly $8,500 if you remain a CA resident for state purposes. California’s own 546- consecutive-day safe harbor can reclassify a long-term expat as a nonresident — worth checking if you plan to be abroad that long.

Disclaimer

This calculator estimates your 2026 FEIE, housing exclusion, and self-employment tax; it does not compute the Foreign Tax Credit, model the 137 high-cost-city housing ceilings, or model a totalization agreement’s SE-tax exemption. This is an estimate for planning purposes, not tax advice — expat tax situations are genuinely complex; confirm your actual filing with a tax professional experienced in expat returns.