Ex Pat unsure of when to file

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@SensibleandHourly wrote:

in case she qualifies for the foreign earned income exclusion credit? 

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If she uses the Foreign Tax Credit, the amount of foreign tax could affect things, depending on if she uses "paid" or "accrued".

If she does not use the Foreign Tax Credit and only uses for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, the amount of foreign tax they pay has no effect.  They can file now.

@SensibleandHourly "The tax return shows that you have underpaid tax. This means you will receive your tax assessment notice in June at the earliest. "

Norwegian returns are due April 30.  Looks like the return was filed.  Likely, it shows the amount of tax.  As in the U.S., the tax is not owed until it is assessed by the tax agency (here, the IRS).  We do it within weeks, but Norway apparently takes a closer look at each return and waits until June to make the assessment.  (In some cases, they say it might take until November.)

But if this is someone who owes no US tax because their income is less than the exclusion amount, you don't need to worry about foreign tax. However, the fact they did not claim the credit last year, when their income might have been below the exclusion amount, doesn't mean they won't need to claim it this year, if their income increased above the exclusion amount.