Can Form 2555 be filed for 2023 if it wasn't filed for 2022? Expat tax question

You can absolutely use Form 2555 for 2023 even if you didn't use it for 2022. There's no requirement that you must use Form 2555 consistently year after year. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is an election you can choose to make (or not make) each tax year based on what's most beneficial for your situation. For your 2022 return, if you had less than the filing threshold in income, you likely weren't required to file a return at all. But even if you did file a return, you weren't required to use Form 2555 - it's optional. For 2023, since you have more income and paid foreign taxes, you have two main options: use Form 2555 to exclude your foreign earned income OR use Form 1116 to claim a Foreign Tax Credit for taxes paid to your country of residence. Sometimes the Foreign Tax Credit is more advantageous, especially if you paid a lot of foreign tax on your investment income (since Form 2555 only applies to earned income, not investment income).

As someone who's been in the same boat, I wasted hours trying to figure out these expat tax forms until I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai). It saved me so much stress with my Form 2555 situation. I uploaded my tax documents and got instant clarification on exactly how to handle multiple years with different foreign income situations. The tool actually showed me I could use Form 2555 for some years and skip it for others without penalty - exactly what you're asking about. It also helped me understand when using Foreign Tax Credits was better than the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion. Totally worth checking out if you're dealing with expat tax complexity.

Just wanted to follow up about my taxr.ai experience - it was actually super helpful! I was skeptical at first but decided to try it for my complicated expat taxes. The system identified that I qualified for both the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion AND Foreign Tax Credits on different income streams. It guided me through the whole Form 2555 process including that confusing physical presence test calculation (turns out I'd been doing it wrong for years). The best part was seeing a side-by-side comparison showing whether using Form 2555 or just Form 1116 would be better for my situation. Ended up saving over $1,800 compared to how I filed last year. Definitely recommend for anyone dealing with these expat tax headaches.

If you need to talk directly with the IRS about your Form 2555 situation, good luck getting through on your own. I spent WEEKS trying to reach someone. Then I found https://claimyr.com and watched their demo at https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - it's a service that gets you through to an actual IRS agent without the endless waiting. I had a complicated question about switching between Form 2555 and Foreign Tax Credits in different tax years (similar to your situation). The IRS agent I spoke to confirmed that you can absolutely use Form 2555 for 2023 even if you didn't use it for 2022, and that you don't need to amend your 2022 return. The clarity was so worth it - I was able to confidently file without worrying about getting flagged for an audit.

I have to eat my words and apologize for being so negative about Claimyr. After my skeptical comment, I was still desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my Form 2555 question, so I grudgingly gave it a try. I'm honestly shocked - it actually worked! Got connected to an IRS agent who specialized in international tax issues within about 2 hours (which is a miracle compared to my previous attempts). The agent confirmed I could file Form 2555 for 2023 even though I skipped 2022, and explained exactly how to document my foreign tax situation. They even helped me understand which qualifying test would be best for my specific country of residence. I've never gotten such clear information about my expat taxes before.

Just a tip from personal experience - even if you don't have to amend 2022, you might want to consider it if you had any amount of foreign tax paid that year. I was in a similar situation and found out I could have gotten a refund by filing Form 1116 for the foreign taxes I paid, even though I didn't need Form 2555 that year. Also, for 2023, definitely look at whether the Foreign Tax Credit (Form 1116) might be better than the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (Form 2555) for your situation. With lower earned income but higher investment income with foreign taxes paid, Form 1116 might give you more benefit.

Does anyone know if using the standard deduction affects any of this? Last year I took the standard deduction because my income was so low ($9,800) and didn't bother with Form 2555. Now for 2023 my income is higher but I'm not sure if I've messed things up for using Form 2555 this year.