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Bona fide residence requires intent to stay in the foreign country for an extended or indefinite stay, and that residence covers an entire tax year. It does not require a plan to live there for the rest of the missionary’s life, but the intended residence is on-going an indefinite.

Once a missionary establishes their tax home in a location during the first year of residency, that person is considered a Bona Fide Resident for subsequent tax years. 

If a missionary wishes to use the Bona Fide Resident test to establish residency in their first year of residence, they should may wish to consult a tax adviser. The intent may be demonstrated by factors that show the missionary has made a longer-term or indefinite commitment, though there are no specific factors which required in every case; interpretation is needed. Consult the IRS and a tax adviser for further guidance.  

Example: A missionary staff member without a husband or dependents arrives in France on November 1, 2015, planning to stay for four years. She rents an apartment with a one-year renewable lease, obtains a French driver’s license, and files taxes in France as a resident. She takes a two-week vacation annually back to the U.S., but otherwise lives in France until May 30, 2017, when for personal reasons she returns to the U.S. to live. She was a resident of France for all of 2016, and her compensation from November 1, 2015 until May 30, 2017 will qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion.

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