accsys wrote:
Also, if your doing work in Mexico and Canada AND being paid by companies in those countries AND paying income tax to those countries, that would be the only way you would qualify for a foreign income exclusion. If your income is from american companies while you are working for them online, you have no foreign income regardless of your location while earning that income unless you are paying foreign taxes on that income. Check out Form 2555 and its instructions and you will see what requirements exist.
Thanks. I did check it out and this is not the case. If you work for an American company and live abroad, you are eligible for the foreign income exclusion. Passing the physical residency test is the standard, not paying taxes elsewhere (I was surprised, too.) It's very common for digital nomads to wander around Europe for exactly this reason- no income taxes to anyone, perfectly legal.
