Contents
What Is the Foreign Tax Credit? ......
2
Who Can Take the Credit? ................
4
What Foreign Taxes Qualify for the
Credit? ..........................................
4
How To Figure the Credit ..................
8
Carryback and Carryover ..................
15
How To Claim the Credit ...................
17
Simple Example ..................................
18
Comprehensive Example ..................
18
How To Get More Information ..........
26
Index ....................................................
29
Important Change
Photographs of missing children.
The
Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner
with the National Center for Missing and Ex-
ploited Children. Photographs of missing
children selected by the Center may appear
in this publication on pages that would other-
wise be blank.
You can help bring these
children home by looking at the photographs
and calling 1800THELOST (1800843
5678) if you recognize a child.
Important Reminder
Exemption from foreign tax credit limit. If
your only foreign income is passive income
and the total of all your foreign taxes shown
on Forms 1099DIV, 1099INT, and similar
statements is not more than $300 ($600 if
married filing jointly), you can make an
election not to be subject to the foreign tax
credit limit. If you make this election, you can
claim a foreign tax credit without filing Form
1116, Foreign Tax Credit (Individual, Estate,
Trust, or Nonresident Alien Individual). See
How To Figure the Credit.
Change of address.
If your address
changes from the address shown on your last
return, use Form 8822, Change of Address,
to notify the Internal Revenue Service.
Introduction
If you paid or accrued foreign taxes to a for-
eign country on foreign source income and
are subject to U.S. tax on the same income,
you may be able to take either a credit or an
itemized deduction for those taxes. Taken as
a deduction, foreign income taxes reduce
your U.S. taxable income. Taken as a credit,
foreign income taxes reduce your U.S. tax li-
ability.
In most cases, it is to your advantage to
take foreign income taxes as a tax credit. The
major scope of this publication is the foreign
tax credit.
The publication discusses:
Who can take the credit,
Department
of the
Treasury
Internal
Revenue
Service
Publication 514
Cat. No. 15018A
Foreign Tax
Credit for
Individuals
For use in preparing
1999 Returns