I've read the Instructions for Form 2555 and meet the eligibility for Foreign Income Exclusion, but still have some questions.
I will also say that I called the IRS at international rates and stayed on the phone 45 minutes and the woman I eventually talked to had absolutely no clue about this form.

Here's my questions, thanks in advance if you can help.
- another section says that my Standard Deduction is also affected, but I cannot find a good reference for that. Can anyone direct me to that? Also how is my IRA deduction affected? I'm not covered by a retirement plan at work.
- the Form 2555 has areas to break out one's wages, housing allowance, cost-of-living allowance, etc, but my employer lumps this all together on my W-2, even though my pay statements clearly break this out (salary, housing allowance, COLA), so should I put all my income in the first box or break it out for the IRS on the Form 2555?
Thank you again.

It is clear that you need professional help filing your return.

The Form 2555 can be intimidating for the first-time user.

Your standard deduction should NOT be affected by using Form 2555. The IRA deduction may be, because if your income is completely excluded, you may not show any earned income on which to based the IRA contribution. Besides, if the income is completely excluded, there is NO tax advantage to a traditional IRA.

You the breakout on your pay stubs to determine how the allocate the income on the W-2.

If you need professional help filing your return, email me at [email protected].