Abroad, Form 8938 started at $200,000 for a single filer. Back home, it starts at $50,000.
Nothing was wrong before; the higher threshold applied while you qualified abroad. It drops once you are home.
The part of the year before you flew home can still claim a prorated exclusion.
Filing without Form 2555 for those months quietly gives that up.
Some states tax wages and some do not, and the state you settle in sets your bill for years.
Landing in one state and settling in another can mean a part-year return in both.
A pension, a brokerage account, or a local fund each stay reportable after you land.
A fund bought abroad is usually a PFIC, and reporting it means a separate form of its own.
Greenback keeps a full library of guides on the year you move back: how the return year is filed, claiming your final exclusion, the reporting thresholds that change, and what happens to accounts and pensions you keep. Here are the ones our clients reach for most.
A U.S. citizen is a citizen for the whole year, so the year you move back is one full-year Form 1040 on worldwide income, with the exclusion covering only the months you qualified abroad. Our guide to returning to the U.S. covers what changes when you come home, and our Form 2555 guide walks through the process of claiming the exclusion.
The exclusion is prorated by the days you qualified, so a mid-year return still shelters part of the year against the $130,000 annual limit for the 2025 tax year. Our guide to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion sets out both qualifying tests, and our Physical Presence Test guide explains how to count 330 days across two tax years.
The higher threshold turns on the same tests as the exclusion: bona fide residence for a full tax year, or 330 full days abroad in a 12-month period ending in that year. Miss both and Form 8938 starts at $50,000 at year-end, or $75,000 at any point, against $200,000 abroad. Our comparison of FBAR and Form 8938, along with our FBAR guide, explains which accounts each counts.
Some states tax wages, and some do not, so the state you settle in shapes your bill for years, not only the year you arrive. Our guide to state residency covers what establishes it, our guide to state taxes while abroad covers part-year returns, and our Q&A on assessments on former residents covers the state you left.
Accounts, funds, and pensions can stay abroad after you move back, and distributions are generally taxable at home. Our guide to foreign pensions covers your options on return, our PFIC guide and Form 8621 guide cover foreign funds, and our Foreign Tax Credit guide covers tax withheld abroad.
Many people file the move-year return without Form 2555 and forgo the exclusion earned for the months abroad. That can be corrected: generally within three years of filing the original return, or two years of paying the tax, whichever is later. Our guide to amended returns explains Form 1040-X, and our Q&A on the refund claim deadline outlines the deadline window.
A U.S. citizen is a citizen for the whole year, so the year you move back is one full-year Form 1040 on worldwide income, with the exclusion covering only the months you qualified abroad. Our guide to returning to the U.S. covers what changes when you come home, and our Form 2555 guide walks through the process of claiming the exclusion.
The exclusion is prorated by the days you qualified, so a mid-year return still shelters part of the year against the $130,000 annual limit for the 2025 tax year. Our guide to the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion sets out both qualifying tests, and our Physical Presence Test guide explains how to count 330 days across two tax years.
The higher threshold turns on the same tests as the exclusion: bona fide residence for a full tax year, or 330 full days abroad in a 12-month period ending in that year. Miss both and Form 8938 starts at $50,000 at year-end, or $75,000 at any point, against $200,000 abroad. Our comparison of FBAR and Form 8938, along with our FBAR guide, explains which accounts each counts.
Some states tax wages, and some do not, so the state you settle in shapes your bill for years, not only the year you arrive. Our guide to state residency covers what establishes it, our guide to state taxes while abroad covers part-year returns, and our Q&A on assessments on former residents covers the state you left.
Accounts, funds, and pensions can stay abroad after you move back, and distributions are generally taxable at home. Our guide to foreign pensions covers your options on return, our PFIC guide and Form 8621 guide cover foreign funds, and our Foreign Tax Credit guide covers tax withheld abroad.
Many people file the move-year return without Form 2555 and forgo the exclusion earned for the months abroad. That can be corrected: generally within three years of filing the original return, or two years of paying the tax, whichever is later. Our guide to amended returns explains Form 1040-X, and our Q&A on the refund claim deadline outlines the deadline window.
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For Americans back on U.S. soil after years abroad. We file one full-year Form 1040, prorate your final exclusion to the days you qualified, and carry the same treatment into every year after the move.
For Americans who kept a bank account, a fund or a pension abroad after moving home. We total the balances across your accounts and file FinCEN Form 114 for any year in which the combined high point exceeds $10,000.
For Americans settling into a new state, or passing through one on the way. We file the part-year return, allocate income to the right side of your arrival date, and record what establishes your new residency.
For Americans whose foreign assets now sit above the resident threshold. We test them against the $50,000 year-end and $75,000 any-time tests, $100,000 and $150,000 jointly, and file Form 8938 with your return.
For Americans whose return date is still open. Talk it through with a U.S. expat tax expert: how your arrival month affects the final exclusion, which state to settle in, and what you will still report.
If you have moved back to the U.S. after years abroad, or your flight home is already booked, these are the questions that come up first.
Yes, for the part of the year you still qualified. The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion is prorated by your qualifying days against the annual limit, which is $130,000 for the 2025 tax year, so returning midyear still shelters roughly the share of the year you spent abroad.
You need to have met either the 330-day physical presence test or bona fide residence for that period. Leaving Form 2555 off the return is what gives up the claim.
Yes. Greenback files the year you move back for $565, and it is one return, not two: a U.S. citizen is never a nonresident, so the move year is a single full-year Form 1040 on worldwide income.
We prorate the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion on Form 2555 to the days you qualified abroad, apply the Foreign Tax Credit on Form 1116 to tax you already paid overseas, file the part-year state return for where you settle at $185, and reassess your foreign accounts against the resident Form 8938 thresholds, $50,000 at year-end or $75,000 at any point.
It is the most involved year most expats file, and your accountant tells you which pieces apply.
Yes, and the thresholds are worth knowing because they drop once you no longer count as living abroad. That test is the same one the exclusion uses: bona fide residence for a full tax year, or 330 full days abroad in a 12-month period ending in that year.
Meet it and Form 8938 begins at $200,000 at year-end for a single filer, or $300,000 at any point. Miss it, and it begins at $50,000 and $75,000, or $100,000 and $150,000 filing jointly.
FBAR does not move: $10,000 combined. FBAR is $125 for up to five accounts, and Form 8938 is $120.
Yes. Filing the move year without Form 2555 is a common mistake, and it usually means giving up the exclusion earned for the months abroad. We prepare Form 1040-X to reclaim it, recalculate the year with the correct proration, and apply the Foreign Tax Credit to any foreign tax paid.
To claim a refund, the IRS generally gives you 3 years from the date you filed the original return, or 2 years from the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. Ours is $565.
The federal return for the move year is $565 and includes the prorated exclusion on Form 2555 and the Foreign Tax Credit on Form 1116. A part-year state return is $185; FBAR is $125 for up to 5 accounts; Form 8938 is $120 for up to 5 accounts; and an amended return to recover a missed exclusion is $565.
The Form 8621 filing fee for a foreign fund is $200. A consultation to time your return starts at $250. Pricing is flat and published, and nothing starts until you have approved the full cost.
A dedicated Greenback accountant, a U.S. CPA or IRS Enrolled Agent who handles both expat and domestic returns, prepares it from start to finish.
That matters in this particular year, because the filing needs someone who can claim the exclusion for the months abroad and the ordinary deductions for the months at home on the same return.
The same person carries your file forward afterward, never outsourced and never automated.
Most people moving home need more than one, and your accountant tells you which, so you do not have to work it out.
Tell us what you have: a salary earned abroad before the move, a state you arrived in partway through the year, accounts or a pension you kept, a foreign fund, a move year you already filed without Form 2555, and we will confirm the filings before anything is prepared.
Each carries its own published flat fee: federal return $565, state return $185, FBAR $125+, Form 8938 $120+, Form 8621 $200, amended return $565, consultation $250+.
Work with an accountant who files your move year, claims your final exclusion, and resets what you still have to report at home.
