A foreign tax home is the first condition for both the foreign earned income exclusion and the housing exclusion. You must also pass the bona fide residence test or the physical presence test.
If your work has no regular or main place of business, your tax home is your regular place of abode. That means where you actually live, in a real and substantial sense. Section 911 takes this meaning from Section 162(a)(2), the rule on travel expenses while away from home. In the US, the same meaning decides when a business trip takes you away from home, a condition for deducting its travel costs.
A job abroad does not give you a foreign tax home for any period your abode is in the United States. The one exception is service in a designated combat zone, in support of the US Armed Forces. A temporary stay in the US does not necessarily put your abode there. Neither does a US house, even one your spouse and children use.
The higher Form 8938 thresholds for people living abroad also need a foreign tax home, plus the residence or presence test. If your tax home and abode are outside the US and Puerto Rico on April 15, you get an automatic extension to June 15. Interest on unpaid tax still runs from April 15.
Sources
- 26 C.F.R. § 1.911-2, Qualified individuals
- 26 U.S.C. § 911, Citizens or residents of the United States living abroad
- 26 U.S.C. § 162, Trade or business expenses
- IRS, Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad
Reviewed and updated September 2026. General information, not advice for your situation.