Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the FEIE or the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. So for those who are unaware, and I pointed this out before, I am a member of the US Tax Court; I do assist folks from time to time with Tax matters here in Thailand primarily in a corporate capacity but I do advise and assist Americans regarding Tax Matters. 

One of the things that comes up relatively frequently is the issue of the FEIE, the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Now one thing, one sort of point to clarify here is we are talking about earned income. This is like wages, salaries earned outside the United States. Unearned income, things like interest or capital gains, that is going to be a different analysis, we're not going to discuss that in this video. But yes it may be possible depending on your factual circumstances and not to sound like a broken record, but all tax analysis is going to be based on the underlying facts in the given case, the long story short is yes you may be eligible for the Foreign Income Exclusion by dint of the fact that you are abroad for 335 days or more out of a given year. If that in fact pertains to you then the FEIE you may apply to you, that mechanism may have kicked in and that allows folks to basically have their income excluded from American Tax liability up to a certain point. There is basically a cost of living adjustment, sort of an inflation adjustment attached to the FEIE. I think at present we are up in the low 110,000 range in terms of what the threshold is off the top of my head, I can't remember it. Again it moves. I remember being 106 and 108 and change and now I think it would probably be somewhere between 110 and 115. In fact I may do a video follow up to this one where I go through the exact foreign earned income threshold. But conceptually the thing to take away from this video is you may not be liable for any taxes in the United States even if you do earn money overseas. You may need to still file a tax return as we have discussed in other videos, in order to avail oneself of the FEIE, you need to go ahead and actually file a return, but you may not actually owe any money. 

So the thing to take away from this video is the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is out there, it is a benefit to many Americans who are living and working abroad and it may result in maybe needing to file a tax return but no real tax liability associated therewith.