Revocation of Form 2555

[Muffinman2020]

I have a client who lives foreign country used form 2555 on his 2018 tax return. For tax year 2019, his total foreign earned income was around $6,000 which is less than the standard deduction. In this case, if he doesn't file form 2555 for 2019, is that considered as revocation of form 2555?  (Taxpayer wants to file his 2019 tax return even if his total income was less than the filing requirement)

[itonewbie]

Taking a position that is inconsistent with foreign earned income exclusion would constitute a revocation.  Generally, the IRS views these as abuses of the tax benefit and these normally entail gaming the system for larger tax benefits.

Since your client has only an income that would be fully eradicated by the standard deduction and standard deduction does not interact with foreign earned income exclusion, that shouldn't be deemed a revocation.

If your client doesn't have a filing requirement but yet insists on filing a return, it's not clear why he wouldn't want to include a F.2555.

[Muffinman2020]

Thank you for your reply. Here is more information,

Taxpayer is married to Non-resident spouse so the filing status will be MFS. Taxpayer has a qualifying child(US citizen with valid SSN). If he doesn't file form 2555, he may qualify for additional child tax credit.  

[itonewbie · Accepted solution]

That's where you could have a problem with revocation.