US Foreign Income Exclusion (FEIE): the rule, how days are counted, examples

Summary

A US citizen or resident who works abroad can keep foreign earned income out of US income tax, up to 130,000 US dollars for 2025 and 132,900 US dollars for 2026. One way to qualify is the physical presence test: 330 full days in foreign countries inside any 12 months in a row. A full day runs from midnight to midnight, so travel days to and from the United States do not count. With 329 days you get no exclusion at all. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) applies the rule.

Target: At least 330 full days in a foreign country or countries
Period: Any 12 months in a row, which you choose
A day counts when: You are in a foreign country for the whole 24 hours, midnight to midnight
Most you can exclude: 130,000 US dollars for 2025, 132,900 US dollars for 2026
Law: Internal Revenue Code section 911, claimed on Form 2555
Run by: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Who it applies to

US citizens who live and work in another country as employees or as self-employed people.
Green card holders and other US tax residents who take a job abroad.
Remote workers and contractors who move between several foreign countries during the year.
People in their first or last year abroad, who need a 12-month period that crosses two tax years.
Americans abroad who make regular visits home and need to know how many days those visits cost.

The rule

The United States taxes its citizens and residents on income from the whole world, wherever they live. Section 911 of the Internal Revenue Code lets a qualified person leave foreign earned income out of taxable income, up to a yearly maximum. Foreign earned income is pay for work you do in a foreign country, such as wages or self-employment income. It does not cover pensions, interest, dividends or pay from the US government.

To qualify you need two things. First, your tax home must be in a foreign country. A tax home is your regular or main place of work. If your abode, meaning the place where your home and family life are, is in the United States, you normally fail this test. Second, you must meet either the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test. US Foreign Income Exclusion (FEIE) tracks the second one.

The physical presence test is only about days. You must be physically present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 months in a row. The days do not need to be in a row. The reason you are abroad does not matter, and the reason you fall short does not matter either: illness, family problems or an order from your employer do not lower the number.

A full day is 24 hours in a row from midnight to midnight. A foreign country is land under the rule of a government other than the United States, with its territorial waters and airspace. US territories such as Puerto Rico and Guam are not foreign countries, and neither is Antarctica. International waters and the air above them are not a foreign country.

If your 12-month period does not cover the whole tax year, the maximum is reduced. You multiply the yearly maximum by the number of days of your qualifying period that fall in the tax year and divide by 365, or by 366 in a leap year. You claim the exclusion on Form 2555 with your US return. You still have to file the return.

Why it exists

Americans abroad usually pay income tax in the country where they work. Without relief they would face US tax on the same pay. The exclusion removes most of that double tax and keeps US workers and US companies able to compete abroad. The 330-day test gives a clear line that needs no judgment about where a person really lives, and the full-day rule makes sure the benefit goes only to people who are truly outside the United States for nearly the whole year.

Counting the days

You count whole days spent in foreign countries, inside a period of 12 months in a row that you choose. A day counts only if you were in a foreign country at both its first and its last midnight.

Write down every trip that took you out of a foreign country: to the United States, to a US territory, to Antarctica, or across international waters for 24 hours or more.
For each trip, mark the day you left, the day you came back and every day in between as days that do not count.
Pick a period of 12 months in a row. It can start on any day and ends the day before the same date one year later.
Count the full days in foreign countries inside that period. You need at least 330. In a normal year that leaves 35 days that do not count, and 36 in a period with 29 February.
If one period fails, move the start date and count again. Periods may overlap, and you may choose the one that gives you the largest exclusion.
Count how many days of the qualifying period fall in the tax year, to work out the reduced maximum.

How Countr counts it. Countr counts a day only when its evidence shows you outside the United States and its territories at both midnights of that day, so departure and arrival days are never counted, the same way the IRS counts. It looks at the 12 months that end today and shows your full days against 330. It warns you when you have 14 spare days left. Days in the United States, a US territory or Antarctica do not count. Countr cannot see days spent in international waters or airspace, so a long sea trip may be counted when it should not be. Where its evidence has gaps it counts fewer days, not more, and days filled in by your gap setting are marked as estimates. Countr tracks only the period ending today, while the law lets you choose any 12 months. It cannot check your tax home, and qualifying does not change whether you are a US tax resident.

Track US Foreign Income Exclusion (FEIE) on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

First year abroad with one visit home

Dana flies from Chicago on 10 June 2025 and lands in Lisbon on 11 June. Her first full day abroad is 12 June 2025. She takes the period from 12 June 2025 to 11 June 2026, which has 365 days. She flies to the United States on 20 December 2025 and lands back in Lisbon on 3 January 2026. The 15 days from 20 December to 3 January do not count. She has 350 full days and passes the test.

Three visits that cost too much

Luis works in Singapore for all of 2026. He visits the United States three times. Counting both travel days each time, the trips cost 14, 12 and 12 days, which is 38 days in total. In the period from 1 January to 31 December 2026 he has 327 full days abroad, 3 short of 330. For that period he gets no exclusion. He can only qualify if another 12-month period, for example one that starts before one of the trips and reaches back into 2025, holds 330 full days.

A period that crosses two tax years

Dana's qualifying period runs from 12 June 2025 to 11 June 2026. In 2025 the days from 12 June to 31 December are part of it: 19 in June, then 31, 31, 30, 31, 30 and 31, which is 203 days. Her maximum for 2025 is 130,000 US dollars multiplied by 203 and divided by 365, which is 72,301 US dollars. Foreign pay above that amount in 2025 is taxed in the normal way.

Exceptions

If you had to leave a country because of war, civil unrest or similar conditions, the IRS can waive the 330-day minimum. The IRS publishes the list of countries and dates each year, and you must show you could reasonably have expected to meet the test.
Time spent in a country in violation of US law does not count. The Form 2555 instructions name travel to Cuba against US travel restrictions.
When you travel between two places outside the United States and stop in the United States for less than 24 hours, you are not treated as present in the United States. But those hours are treated as time outside any foreign country.
Travel between two foreign countries that keeps you outside any foreign country for less than 24 hours costs no days. A sea or air trip outside any country that lasts 24 hours or more makes you lose the days it touches.
People who cannot reach 330 days may still qualify under the bona fide residence test, which asks whether you have truly lived in a foreign country for a period that includes a whole tax year.
The exclusion lowers income tax only. Self-employed people still owe US self-employment tax on the excluded income.

Common misconceptions

“I can spend 35 days a year in the United States and keep the exclusion.”: Only if you count travel days as lost days too. A two-week visit normally costs 15 or 16 days, because the day you leave the foreign country and the day you arrive back are not full days abroad.
“The 12 months must be the calendar year.”: No. The period can start on any day of any month. Many people use a period that crosses two years, most often in the year they move abroad or move back.
“If I fall a few days short, I get a smaller exclusion.”: No. Below 330 full days in the period there is no exclusion under this test at all. The exclusion is reduced only when a qualifying period covers part of a tax year.
“If my income is below the maximum, I do not need to file a US return.”: You still have to file. The exclusion is a choice you make on Form 2555, attached to your return. It is not applied for you.

Questions and answers

Does the day I fly out of the United States count as a day abroad?

No. A day counts only if you are in a foreign country for all 24 hours. If you leave the United States on 10 June and land on 11 June, your first full day is 12 June.

Do days in Puerto Rico or Guam count toward the 330 days?

No. US territories are not foreign countries for this test. Days there are treated like days in the United States.

Do the 330 days have to be in one country?

No. You can add up full days in any number of foreign countries. Moving from one foreign country to another does not cost a day when the trip keeps you outside any country for less than 24 hours.

What happens if I end up with 329 days?

You fail the physical presence test for that 12-month period and cannot exclude any income under it. Try a different 12-month period, or check whether you meet the bona fide residence test.

Does qualifying for the exclusion make me a US nonresident?

No. The exclusion is for US citizens and US residents, and you stay one. It only takes a limited amount of foreign earned income out of US income tax.

Can a married couple each claim the exclusion?

Yes. Each spouse who works abroad and meets the tests can claim a separate exclusion, up to the yearly maximum, against that spouse's own foreign earned income.

Do days on a cruise or a long sailing trip count?

Days in international waters are not days in a foreign country. If the trip keeps you outside any foreign country for 24 hours or more, you lose every day the trip touches.

Sources

Other rules for United States

Arizona Tax Residence 273 days in each calendar year
California Tax — Visitors 181 days in each calendar year
California Tax Residence 273 days in each calendar year
Connecticut Tax — 30 Days or Fewer 30 days in each calendar year
Connecticut Tax Residence 183 days in each calendar year
Delaware Tax Residence 183 days in each calendar year
Hawaii Tax Residence 200 days in each calendar year
Idaho Tax Residence 270 days in each calendar year

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.