Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

Hmmm... I asked a coworker here in India, another U.S. citizen if he knew what a foreign earned income exclusion was, since he's also had to file taxes with the IRS while working here, and he said he did and would drop by my desk later on.

But then in order to come up with a decent enough question I started digging into the IRS publication 54 and now it seems to make more sense.

It looks like my Tax Home is India. And I most certainly meet the "Were you physically present in a foreign country or countries for at least 330 full days during any period of 12 consecutive months?" test for 2006, 2007 and 2008.

And the definition of "foreign income" seems clear enough, it's what I earn here in India, while I'm here in it as my "tax home".

So, it looks like I can exclude up to $87,600 of my income, or my income if it's less than that from being taxed by the U.S. Except that since I earn less than that, it's all of my income.

Seems too easy, though.