Not sure if foreign tax credit is applicable

[Burke]

if I enter 9/15/14 as end date, ProSeries tells me to file the return after that date. Thanks.

And you should do that. After all, you do not know if he will actually be there the required amount of time until that date arrives. If he is still in the other country, put "Continues" in that box. The other alternative is to file without the FIE, and then amend it later for the refund.

[Burke]

if I enter 9/15/14 as end date, ProSeries tells me to file the return after that date. Thanks.

And you should do that if that is the correct date to meet the 330 days. (See the previous post, looks like it should be 8/15/14.) After all, you do not know if he will actually be there the required amount of time until that date arrives. If he is still in the other country, put "Continues" in that box. The other alternative is to file without the FIE, and then amend it later for the refund.

[David1980]

And you should do that if that is the correct date to meet the 330 days. (See the previous post, looks like it should be 8/15/14.) After all, you do not know if he will actually be there the required amount of time until that date arrives. If he is still in the other country, put "Continues" in that box. The other alternative is to file without the FIE, and then amend it later for the refund.

"CONTINUE" for end date only works for bona fide residence test. And if the bona fide residence start date is not January 1 of the tax year or earlier (01/01/13 or earlier) the return can't be e-filed at least with CONTINUE for end date (reject F2555-005-01). Since for the bona fide residence test the period must include a complete calendar year I think they would have to wait until after 12/31/14 to file using that test since they can't include all of 2013.

With physical presence test the 12-month period is 12-months, no more. Thus there's no need for CONTINUE with physical presence test. If you know the start date you know the end date. The next year you would pick a new 12-month period. Where-as with bona fide residence test the period can be longer than 12-months, it just has to include a full calendar year.