Hi Experts,

I worked overseas for the year 2012 and family was with me. I still have home mortgage in the US (Washington), car payments, sales tax when we came back from vacation and health checkup, etc., etc.

Does the fact that the entire family is out of the country and we will elect the foreign tax exclusion $92,000 x 2 mean that we can... still choose 1040A itemized deductions for our payments in the US? Thank you

“Does the fact that the entire family is out of the country and we will elect the foreign tax exclusion $92,000 x 2 mean that we can... still choose 1040A itemized deductions for our payments in the US? “======No; as long as you itemize your deductions on Sch A of 1040, you MUST use ONLY form 1040 ;You can’t use either 1040A/1040EZ for itemized deductions.

Dear Wnhough, thank you for the quick reply. My original question is not so much which form to use but rather it is possible to itemize for mortgage, etc. cost in the USA while we are physically out of the US for more than 330 days.

Basically we will be claiming foreign exemption. Does that mean our US costs can no longer be deducted? Thanks again.

“My original question is not so much which form to use but rather it is possible to itemize for mortgage, etc. cost in the USA while we are physically out of the US for more than 330 days.”===yes; you can usually deduct the interest you pay on a mortgage for your main home or a second home in US as long as you itemizes deductions on Sch A of 1040.

“Basically we will be claiming foreign exemption. Does that mean our US costs can no longer be deducted?”=====Your FEIE has NOTHNG to do with your home mort interest deductions reported on Sch A of 1040;your FEIE can reduced your US tax liability, both fed and state taxes.So as long as there is still tax liability to be paid to the IRS after FEIE, you can claim your mort int exp on your main/second home in US on your return . As you can see, As of 2012, each person could exclude up to $95,100 in foreign earned income, and spouses filing joint tax returns who both had foreign earned income could exclude up to $190,200. Any foreign earned income over those amounts will be included in your taxable income.