Hi MMMers, I am departing the US on May 31 on what I expect to be a permanent basis, and having a tough time understanding the requirements that are applicable for foreign earned income and health insurance requirements (generally in the health insurance context since I don't expect to earn any foreign income at this time). Based on my googling and research:
A US citizen or greencard holder that files taxes in the US has an
exemption to the healthcare mandate if:
- S/he lives outside of the US for at least 330 days during any 12-month period.
- S/he remains outside the US as a bonafide resident of another country or countries for an entire taxable year.
I will have qualifying health insurance in the US from January through end of May, but because I will depart on May 31, 2021, there are only
215 days left until Dec 31 - which seems to make it impossible to satisfy the first exemption for 2021 tax purposes. By the time April 15, 2022 comes around, only
320 days will have passed (assuming I don't return for any time at all in the interim). How does one satisfy this requirement for the first year abroad ? .
The following IRS publication has a lot of examples relating to the above requirements, generally in the foreign income context, although the rules appear to be the same for purposes of healthcare requirements:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p54.pdf