FAFSA rejecting negative number for Foreign Earned Income Exclusion - how to report properly?

I had this exact problem last year with my FAFSA. The trick is counterintuitive - you actually need to enter the foreign earned income exclusion as a POSITIVE number in the specific field asking for the exclusion (should be separate from your regular income fields). The FAFSA system is designed to automatically treat that field as a reduction to your income. Don't try to use the negative sign or parentheses - just enter 112700 as a plain number. The system will properly subtract it during the SAI calculation, even though it feels wrong. Double-check your SAI calculation after submission to make sure it processed correctly.

i thikn ur suppose to put the amount with no negative or anything...just the plain number and the system knows its a deduction already. financial aid system is so stupid with these things lol

The FAFSA system is programmed to understand that the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is a deduction, so you enter it as a positive number (without the negative sign). The system will automatically subtract it from your income. This is actually explained in the FAFSA help text if you click the question mark icon next to that field, but it's easy to miss. Make sure you're entering it in the specific field asking for "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion" - not combined with other income fields. If your AGI on your tax return was $65,000 after the $112,700 exclusion, you would report: - AGI: $65,000 - Foreign Earned Income Exclusion: $112,700 (positive number) The system will calculate your SAI correctly based on these inputs.

The same thing happened to my sister last year and she was so stressed about it but you just enter the number without any sign and it works fine. The FAFSA is basically designed to confuse everyone lol 🙄

If you're still having trouble after trying the suggestions here, you might want to try calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center. They can walk you through it step by step. I was stuck on a similar international income issue and spent hours on hold until I found Claimyr (claimyr.com). They held my place in line and got me connected to an agent in about 15 minutes. They have a video demo at https://youtu.be/TbC8dZQWYNQ showing how it works. The agent explained exactly how to enter my foreign income correctly, and it saved me a ton of stress.

Is this for you or your child? Just want to clarify because if it's for your child and you're the one with the foreign income exclusion, you'd report it differently than if you're the student. The parent section and student section handle these fields slightly differently. Either way though, it should be entered as a positive number in the dedicated field.

Ugh the FAFSA is absolutely infuriating with international situations!!! I'm in a similar boat but with foreign housing exclusion and foreign tax credits. NO ONE at my college financial aid office could help me. Finally had to talk to someone at Federal Student Aid who knew what they were talking about. AND THEY TOLD ME EXACTLY WHAT OTHERS SAID HERE - enter as positive number!!! So stupid that they can't just explain this clearly in the instructions!!!

Just following up - were you able to successfully submit your FAFSA with the foreign earned income exclusion? Did it calculate your SAI correctly when you entered it as a positive number?

Great to hear you got it resolved! This is such a common issue for people with foreign income situations. For anyone else reading this thread later - the key takeaway is that FAFSA treats exclusion fields differently than regular income fields. Always enter exclusions as positive numbers in their dedicated fields, even though it feels counterintuitive. The system is programmed to handle the math correctly behind the scenes. Definitely bookmark this thread if you're dealing with international tax situations and FAFSA - could save you hours of frustration!

This thread is incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation but with both Foreign Earned Income Exclusion AND Foreign Housing Exclusion. Should I enter both as positive numbers in their respective fields? My tax return shows them both as negative adjustments totaling about $140,000, but based on what everyone's saying here, I should enter them as positive amounts in the FAFSA dedicated fields. Just want to double-check before I submit since this is such a large amount and I don't want to mess up my SAI calculation!

This thread has been a lifesaver! I'm a newcomer to this community and was frantically searching for help with this exact issue. I'm a graduate student who's been working abroad for the past two years and just started my FAFSA application. When I saw that negative number from my Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, I had the same panic - how do you enter a negative number when the system won't accept it?! Reading through all your experiences here, it's clear that entering it as a positive number in the dedicated field is the way to go. It's so counterintuitive but makes sense that the system is programmed to handle the math automatically. I'm going to give this a try tonight and hopefully finally get my application submitted. Thank you all for sharing your experiences - this is exactly why online communities like this are so valuable for navigating these confusing bureaucratic processes!

As someone who just joined this community after struggling with this exact same issue, I can't thank everyone enough for sharing their experiences! I'm a military spouse living overseas and was completely baffled when the FAFSA system kept rejecting my Foreign Earned Income Exclusion entry. Like everyone else, I kept trying to enter it as a negative number since that's how it appears on my tax return. Reading through this thread has been such a relief - knowing that I'm not the only one who found this completely counterintuitive! The fact that you have to enter exclusions as positive numbers in their dedicated fields, even though they're negative adjustments on your taxes, is something that really should be explained more clearly in the FAFSA instructions. I'm going to try submitting mine tonight with the exclusion as a positive number. It's amazing how this one simple formatting issue can hold up an entire application. Thanks again for creating such a helpful discussion thread!

Just wanted to add my experience as another newcomer who found this thread incredibly helpful! I'm an international student who's been working in the US on an F-1 visa with work authorization, and I was completely stumped by how to handle my tax situation on the FAFSA. While I don't have the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion specifically, I was having similar issues with other international tax complications where the FAFSA system seemed to want information formatted differently than how it appears on my actual tax documents. Reading through everyone's experiences here really highlights how poorly designed the FAFSA interface is for anyone with non-standard tax situations. The fact that so many people independently discovered the same "counterintuitive" solution (entering exclusions as positive numbers) suggests this is a systematic problem with how the form is designed and explained. Thanks to everyone who shared their stories - it's given me confidence to approach my own FAFSA complications with a better understanding of how the system actually works versus how it appears it should work. This community is such a valuable resource for navigating these bureaucratic nightmares!

As a newcomer to this community, I just want to say how incredibly helpful this entire thread has been! I'm a graduate student who recently moved back to the US after working abroad for several years, and I was completely lost when trying to figure out how to handle my Foreign Earned Income Exclusion on the FAFSA. Like so many others here, I kept trying to enter the exclusion as a negative number since that's exactly how it appears on my tax return. The fact that you have to enter it as a POSITIVE number in the dedicated field is so counterintuitive - no wonder so many people get stuck on this! What really strikes me is how this thread has become such a comprehensive resource for anyone dealing with international income situations on FAFSA. Reading through everyone's different scenarios (military families, contractors, international students, etc.) really shows how common this problem is and how poorly the official instructions address it. I'm planning to submit my FAFSA this weekend using the positive number approach that everyone has confirmed works. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and creating such a supportive space for navigating these frustrating bureaucratic hurdles!

As a newcomer to this community, I can't express how grateful I am to have found this thread! I'm currently dealing with this exact same Foreign Earned Income Exclusion issue and was at my wit's end trying to figure out why the FAFSA system kept rejecting my entries. Reading through everyone's experiences has been such a relief - it's reassuring to know I'm not alone in finding this process completely counterintuitive. The idea of entering a tax exclusion (which shows up as negative on my return) as a positive number in the FAFSA goes against every logical instinct, but clearly that's how the system is designed to work. I'm particularly grateful for the detailed explanations from folks like Paolo who broke down exactly which fields to use and how the system processes the information behind the scenes. It's frustrating that this crucial formatting detail isn't clearly explained in the official instructions, but this community discussion has created the guidance that should have been provided from the start. I'll be attempting my submission tonight using the positive number approach that everyone has confirmed works. Thank you all for sharing your hard-won knowledge and creating such a valuable resource for anyone navigating these international income complications on FAFSA!

As a newcomer to this community, I want to add my voice to thank everyone who contributed to this incredibly helpful discussion! I'm a returning adult student who has been working overseas as a consultant, and I was completely stumped by this Foreign Earned Income Exclusion formatting issue on my FAFSA. Like everyone else here, I kept trying to enter the exclusion as a negative number since that's exactly how it appears on my tax documents. It's so validating to read through all these similar experiences and realize that this counterintuitive "positive number solution" is actually the correct approach, even though it feels completely wrong at first. What really impresses me about this thread is how it's become such a comprehensive guide for various international income situations - from military families to contractors to international students. The official FAFSA instructions clearly fall short when it comes to these non-standard tax scenarios, but this community has filled that gap with real-world experiences and practical solutions. I'm planning to tackle my FAFSA submission this week using the positive number approach that everyone has validated. Thank you all for creating such a supportive and informative discussion - this is exactly the kind of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing that makes these online communities so valuable!

As a newcomer to this community, I'm incredibly grateful to have found this thread! I'm dealing with the exact same Foreign Earned Income Exclusion issue and was pulling my hair out trying to figure out why FAFSA kept rejecting my entries. Reading through everyone's experiences has been such a relief - it's amazing how many of us went through the identical frustration of trying to enter what logically should be a negative number, only to discover that the system actually expects it as a positive value in the dedicated field. The counterintuitive nature of this is mind-boggling, but clearly that's just how FAFSA is programmed to handle these exclusions. I'm particularly thankful for all the detailed explanations and real-world examples from different international income situations. This thread has become the comprehensive guide that the official FAFSA documentation should have been from the start! I'll be submitting my application this weekend using the positive number approach that everyone has successfully validated. Thank you all for sharing your hard-won knowledge and creating such a valuable resource for navigating these bureaucratic hurdles!