patrick.net

Yes, if you are an American citizen, you must pay taxes here, end of story. Any foreign taxes that you pay should be creditable against your American taxes.

Depends on the country as far as I know.

An old employer use to relocate employees to India regularly, there are special tax considerations. I'd recommend you speak with your HR dept. and/or a CPA

Usually get you about 80K tax free, but you have to be outside the country for the majority of the year. Great if you're going to a tax free country. If you're going to germany and going to be taxed 50% anyways, you'll just get credits for taxes paid over there.

You have to be out of the country 330 days in 12 months to qualify for 92,900 foreign earned income exclusion. This is on earned income only. You can either take a tax credit or tax deduction. You really need an accountant who knows what he/she is doing for this stuff since it really depends on what country. There are so many ways to foul it up.

bob2356 says

You have to be out of the country 330 days in 12 months to qualify for 92,900 foreign earned income exclusion.

Yes, exactly. 6 months is not enough to establish residency generally. In addition and based on the facts you gave, if you are clearly going on a temporary job or on a project-basis, you generally don't qualify -- the engagement has to truly be open-ended and indefinite as to duration. Also, if you claim you are a non-resident to the host country, you are not eligible either.

Thanks bob and ct. That clears it up for me.