r2i forum

Hello All

We are US citizen and OCI holders. I moved to India in September 2010 and my wife is moving only in May with our son. She is working in US. I started working in India since October 2010 and earned Indian income.

I am now filing 2010 taxes - married filing jointly. Turbo Tax is instructing me that I have to file an extension due to my Physical Presence test is not 330 days yet.

I haven't started filing Indian Income Tax yet.

How do I proceed with this ? I am in US now for a week and would like to settle this matter with feedbacks from you all. Please help

Hi,

It is true that to claim the foreign earned income exclusion you have to be out of USA for more than 330 days in a year. But your stay for year 2010 will be less than 330 days outside USA and hence cannot claim the same. In that case you can opt for the treaty benefits between the USA and India and claim for the taxes deducted in India on your Indian salary on the US tax return.

We assist in both USA and India tax filings from Pune, India. You can email us with more details on [email protected] or visit us at www.kkassociate.com

Regards,
KKA

I am in the same situation and would appreciate, if someone expert in matter shed some light on this topic

Some of the above replies is not correct.
If you get 6 months' extension (mid-oct), and then calculate a 12-month window that includes this extended period in 2011, and file closer to the extended time, you might be able to use physical presence test for claiming FEI for the period in 2010 that is falling within the 12-month window. See the wonderful examples given in irs website for calculating the window for physical presence test for FEI.
But since your wife moved only in May 2011, you may need to find out more about the case for MFJ.