Extraterritorial Income Exclusion

Instructions for Form 8873

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

(Rev. December 2010)

Extraterritorial Income Exclusion
Section references are to the Internal
Revenue Code unless otherwise noted.

Pre-Repeal ETI Exclusion
Rules

What’s New

Who Qualifies for the Exclusion

Future revisions of Form 8873. The IRS
will revise the December 2010 version of
Form 8873 only when necessary. Continue
to use the 2010 version of Form 8873 for tax
years beginning after 2009 until a new
revision is issued.

Eligible Taxpayers

General Instructions
Purpose of Form
Use this form to figure the amount of
extraterritorial income (defined below)
excluded from gross income for the tax year.
Attach the form to your income tax return.
Note. The amount figured on the form is
net of the disallowed deductions.

ETI Repeal
The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004
repealed the ETI exclusion provisions
generally for transactions after 2004, subject
to transition rules.

Transition Rule
Taxpayers may claim the ETI exclusion for
(a) transactions under a binding contract
that meets the requirements described in
Binding Contract Exception below or (b)
transactions before 2005. Also see
Pre-Repeal ETI Exclusion Rules below.

Binding Contract Exception
The Tax Increase Prevention and
Reconciliation Act of 2005 repealed the ETI
binding contract exception for tax years
beginning after May 17, 2006. For tax years
beginning before May 18, 2006, the
following rules apply: The taxpayer may
claim an ETI exclusion with respect to
transactions in the ordinary course of a
trade or business under a binding contract if
such contract is between the taxpayer and
an unrelated person (defined below) and
such contract was in effect on September
17, 2003, and at all times thereafter.
For these purposes, a binding contract
includes a purchase option, renewal option,
or replacement option that is included in
such contract and that is enforceable
against the seller or lessor. For this purpose,
a replacement option will be considered
enforceable against a lessor notwithstanding
the fact that a lessor retained approval of
the replacement lessee.
Unrelated person. An unrelated person is
a person that is not a related person as
defined in Qualifying Foreign Trade Property
on page 2.

Individuals, corporations (including S
corporations), partnerships, and other
pass-through entities are entitled to the
exclusion if they have extraterritorial income.
Special rule for DISCs. The extraterritorial
income exclusion does not apply to any
taxpayer for any tax year if, at any time
during the tax year, the taxpayer is a
member of a controlled group of
corporations (as defined in section
927(d)(4), as in effect before its repeal) of
which a DISC (Domestic International Sales
Corporation) is a member.

Eligible Transactions
Generally, the extraterritorial income
exclusion applies to taxpayers with respect
to transactions after September 30, 2000.
However, the exclusion does not apply to
any transaction in the ordinary course of a
trade or business involving a FSC (Foreign
Sales Corporation) that is under a binding
contract that is in effect on September 30,
2000, and at all times thereafter, and that is
between the FSC (or a person related to the
FSC) and a person other than a related
person.
Line 2 election. The taxpayer may elect to
apply the exclusion rules for the transactions
described above involving a FSC. To make
the election, check the box on line 2. See
the instructions for line 2 for more details.

page 2) only if it meets the foreign economic
process requirements (described below).
Foreign trading gross receipts are the
taxpayer’s gross receipts that are:
1. From the sale, exchange, or other
disposition of qualifying foreign trade
property;
2. From the lease or rental of qualifying
foreign trade property for use by the lessee
outside the United States;
3. For services that are related and
subsidiary to (a) any sale, exchange, or
other disposition of qualifying foreign trade
property by such taxpayer or (b) any lease
or rental of qualifying foreign trade property
for use by the lessee outside the United
States;
4. For engineering or architectural
services for construction projects located (or
proposed for location) outside the United
States; or
5. For the performance of managerial
services for a person other than a related
person connected with the production of
foreign trading gross receipts described in
items 1, 2, or 3 above. Item 5 does not apply
to a taxpayer for any tax year unless at least
50% of its foreign trading gross receipts
(determined without regard to this sentence)
for such tax year are derived from the
activities described in items 1, 2, or 3 above.

Extraterritorial income is the gross income of
the taxpayer attributable to foreign trading
gross receipts (defined below). The taxpayer
reports all of its extraterritorial income on its
tax return. It then uses Form 8873 to
calculate its exclusion from income for
extraterritorial income that is qualifying
foreign trade income.

Excluded receipts. Foreign trading gross
receipts do not include the receipts of a
taxpayer from a transaction if:
• The qualifying foreign trade property or
services are for ultimate use in the United
States;
• The qualifying foreign trade property or
services are for use by the United States or
any instrumentality of the United States and
such use is required by law or regulation;
• Such transaction is accomplished by a
subsidy granted by the government (or any
instrumentality) of the country or possession
in which the property is manufactured,
produced, grown, or extracted; or
• The taxpayer has elected to exclude the
receipts under section 942(a)(3). See the
instructions for line 1 for more details.

Qualifying Foreign
Trade Income

Foreign Economic
Process Requirements

Extraterritorial Income

Generally, qualifying foreign trade income is
the amount of gross income that, if
excluded, would result in a reduction of
taxable income by the greatest of:
• 15% of foreign trade income,
• 1.2% of foreign trading gross receipts, or
• 30% of foreign sale and leasing income.
See definitions below and on page 2.

Foreign Trading
Gross Receipts
A taxpayer is treated as having foreign
trading gross receipts (FTGR) derived from
certain activities in connection with
qualifying foreign trade property (defined on
Cat. No. 31661R

You are generally treated as having foreign
trading gross receipts from a transaction
only if certain economic processes take
place outside the United States with respect
to that transaction. However, see $5 million
gross receipts exception on page 2.
Generally, a transaction will qualify if two
requirements are met:
• Participation outside the United States in
the sales portion of the transaction and
• Satisfaction of either the 50% or the 85%
foreign direct cost test.
For purposes of determining whether
your gross receipts qualify as foreign trading
gross receipts, the foreign economic

process requirements are treated as
satisfied if any related person has met the
economic process requirements with
respect to the same qualifying foreign trade
property.
Participation outside the United States in
the sales portion of the transaction.
Generally, the foreign economic process
requirements are met for your gross receipts
derived from any transaction if you have (or
any person acting under a contract with you
has) participated outside the United States
in the solicitation (other than advertising),
negotiation, or the making of the contract
relating to the transaction.
50% foreign direct cost test. You meet
this test if the foreign direct costs you
incurred that are attributable to the
transaction equal or exceed 50% of the total
direct costs you incurred attributable to the
transaction.
Total direct costs are those costs for
any transaction that are attributable to the
following activities you (or any person acting
under a contract with you) performed at any
location with respect to qualifying foreign
trade property:
• Advertising and sales promotion,
• Processing of customer orders and
arranging for delivery,
• Transportation outside the United States
in connection with delivery to the customer,
• Determination and transmittal of a final
invoice or statement of account or the
receipt of payment, and
• Assumption of credit risk.
Foreign direct costs are the portion of
the total direct costs of any transaction
attributable to activities performed outside
the United States.
Alternative 85% foreign direct cost test.
You meet this test if, for any two of the
activities listed above, the foreign direct
costs equal or exceed 85% of the total direct
costs attributable to that activity.
If you incur no direct costs with respect
to any activity listed above, that activity is
not taken into account for purposes of
determining whether you have met either
the 50% or 85% foreign direct cost test.
$5 million gross receipts exception. The
foreign economic process requirements do
not apply to taxpayers whose foreign trading
gross receipts for the tax year are $5 million
or less. For tax years of less than 12
months, the test is determined on an
annualized basis. For purposes of the
exception, all related persons are treated as
one taxpayer and, therefore, only one $5
million limit applies.
In the case of a partnership, S
corporation, or other pass-through entity, the
limit applies to both the pass-through entity
and its partners, shareholders, or other
owners. The pass-through entity must
advise its partners, shareholders, or other
owners if and how the entity met the foreign
economic process requirements.

Qualifying Foreign
Trade Property
Generally, qualifying foreign trade property
is property that meets all three of the
following conditions.
• The property must be held primarily for
sale, lease, or rental, in the ordinary course
of a trade or business, for direct use,

consumption, or disposition outside the
United States and Puerto Rico.
• Not more than 50% of the fair market
value of the property can be attributable to
(a) articles manufactured, produced, grown,
or extracted outside the United States and
Puerto Rico and (b) direct costs of labor
performed outside the United States and
Puerto Rico.
• The property generally must be
manufactured, produced, grown, or
extracted within the United States and
Puerto Rico. However, property
manufactured, produced, grown, or
extracted outside the United States and
Puerto Rico is qualifying foreign trade
property if the property was manufactured,
produced, grown, or extracted by:
1. A domestic corporation,
2. An individual who is a citizen or
resident of the United States,
3. A foreign corporation that elects to be
treated as a domestic corporation under
section 943(e), or
4. A partnership or other pass-through
entity all of the partners or owners of which
are described in items 1, 2, or 3 above.
Excluded property. The following property
is excluded from the definition of qualifying
foreign trade property:
• Property with respect to which a related
person (defined below) has calculated its
exclusion using the 1.2% of foreign trading
gross receipts method,
• Property you lease or rent for use by any
related person,
• Certain intangibles described in section
943(a)(3)(B),
• Oil or gas (or any primary product of oil or
gas),
• Any log, cant, or similar form of
unprocessed softwood timber,
• Products the transfer of which is
prohibited or curtailed to carry out the policy
stated in paragraph (2)(C) of section 3 of
Public Law 96-72, The Export Administration
Act of 1979, and
• Property designated by an Executive
order of the President as in short supply
because the property is insufficient to meet
the requirements of the domestic economy
(beginning with the date specified in the
Executive order).
Related person. Generally, a person is
considered related to another person, for
purposes of the extraterritorial income
exclusion, if the persons are treated as a
single employer under section 52(a) or (b) or
section 414(m) or (o). For this purpose,
determinations under section 52(a) and (b)
are made without regard to section 1563(b).

Foreign Trade Income
Foreign trade income (FTI) is your taxable
income (determined without regard to the
extraterritorial income exclusion) attributable
to foreign trading gross receipts. See
section 941(b)(2) for special rules for
cooperatives.

Foreign Sale and Leasing
Income
Foreign sale and leasing income (FSLI) is
generally the amount of your foreign trade
income for a transaction that is:

-2-

• Properly allocable to activities that

constitute foreign economic processes
(described above),
• Derived by you from the lease or rental of
qualifying foreign trade property for use by
the lessee outside the United States, or
• Derived by you from the sale of qualifying
foreign trade property formerly leased or
rented for use by the lessee outside the
United States.
Only directly allocable expenses are
taken into account in figuring your foreign
sale and leasing income. Income properly
allocable to certain intangibles is excluded
from foreign sale and leasing income. See
sections 941(c)(2)(B) and 941(c)(3) for
special rules related to foreign sale and
leasing income.

Reporting of Transactions
Generally, you may report transactions
(including sale transactions and leasing
transactions) either on a transaction-bytransaction basis or on the basis of groups
of transactions based on product lines or
recognized industry or trade usage. See the
instructions for line 5c for rules concerning
grouping elections that may be made with
respect to transactions. However, you may
not group sales and leases together, and
you may not report foreign sale and leasing
income in column (b) of Part II of the form
on the basis of groups.

Specific Instructions
Part I–Elections and Other
Information
Line 1. Check the box if the taxpayer is
electing, under section 942(a)(3), to exclude
a portion of its gross receipts from treatment
under the extraterritorial income exclusion
provisions. Attach a schedule that lists the
transactions being omitted.
Note. A foreign tax credit may be available
for foreign taxes paid on the receipts the
taxpayer excludes from treatment under the
extraterritorial income exclusion provisions.
Line 2. Check the box if the taxpayer is
electing to apply the extraterritorial income
exclusion provisions to certain transactions
involving a FSC (see Eligible Transactions
on page 1).
Note. The extraterritorial income exclusion
provisions and the FSC provisions may not
be applied to the same transaction.
Attach a schedule listing those
transactions. Once the election is made with
respect to a transaction, the election applies
to the tax year for which it was made and all
later tax years. The election may be revoked
only with IRS consent. See Rev. Proc.
2001-37, 2001-1 C.B. 1327.
Line 3. Check the box if the taxpayer is an
“applicable foreign corporation” that elects to
be treated as a domestic corporation under
section 943(e). To be eligible, the foreign
corporation must waive the right to claim all
benefits granted to it by the United States
under any treaty. If the election is made, the
corporation will be treated as a domestic
corporation for all purposes of the Internal
Revenue Code. However, the corporation
may not elect to be an S corporation.

Instructions for Form 8873 (Rev. 12-2010)

An “applicable foreign corporation” is a
foreign corporation that:
1. Manufactures, produces, grows, or
extracts property in the ordinary course of
the corporation’s trade or business or
2. Substantially all of its gross receipts
are foreign trading gross receipts.
Once made, the election applies to the
tax year made and remains in effect for all
subsequent years unless revoked or
terminated. Any revocation or termination
applies to tax years beginning after the tax
year during which the election was made.
The election will automatically terminate if
the corporation fails to meet either of the
requirements listed above. If an election is
revoked by the corporation or is
automatically terminated, the corporation
(and any successor corporation) may not
elect to be a domestic corporation again for
5 tax years beginning with the first tax year
after the revocation or termination. See Rev.
Proc. 2001-37.
Effect of election. For purposes of
section 367, a foreign corporation that has
elected to be a domestic corporation is
generally treated as transferring, as of the
first day of the first tax year to which the
election applies, all of its assets to a
domestic corporation in an exchange under
section 354.
Exception for old earnings and profits
of certain corporations. If the exception
described in section 5(c)(3) of the FSC
Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion
Act of 2000 applies, attach a statement
indicating the basis for your entitlement, if
any, to that exception.
Effect of revocation or termination. If
a foreign corporation has elected to be a
domestic corporation and the election
ceases to apply for any subsequent tax
year, the corporation is treated as a
domestic corporation transferring, as of the
first day of the subsequent tax year to which
the election no longer applies, all of its
property to a foreign corporation in an
exchange under section 354.
Line 4. Before completing lines 4a and 4b,
see Foreign Economic Process
Requirements beginning on page 1.
Line 5a. Enter the six-digit code that best
describes the business activity for which the
form is being filed from the list of Principal
Business Activity Codes included in your tax
return instructions.
Line 5b. Enter your product or product line
that meets one of the two standards below.
• The product or product line based on the
North American Industry Classification
System (NAICS) or
• A recognized industry or trade usage.
Line 5c. Check the applicable box to
indicate the basis on which the amounts on
Form 8873 are determined using either the
transaction-by-transaction basis or an
election to group transactions. Use one of
the following formats.
(1) Transaction-by-transaction. If your
determination is based on each transaction
rather than an election to group
transactions, check box (1)(a), (1)(b), or
(1)(c), depending on your preferred
reporting format.
(a) Aggregate on Form 8873. If you
choose to aggregate your transactions on

Instructions for Form 8873 (Rev. 12-2010)

one or more Forms 8873, check box (1)(a)
of line 5c. Aggregate on one Form 8873
those transactions for which the same
method is applied, provided all the
transactions (other than foreign sale and
leasing income transactions) are included in
the same product or product line indicated
on line 5b. If a different method is applied to
some of the transactions in one or more of
the separate product lines, additional Forms
8873 must be filed.
Example. If you have no foreign sale
and leasing income and you apply the 15%
of foreign trade income method to all
transactions in three separate product lines,
you would file three aggregate Forms 8873.
However, if you use the 1.2% of foreign
trading gross receipts method for some of
the transactions in one of the product lines,
you would then file four aggregate Forms
8873.
Note. Taxpayers that check box (1)(a) of
line 5c may aggregate transactions on the
same Form 8873 only if they are applying
the same method (for example, 15% of FTI,
1.2% of FTGR, 30% of FSLI) to all
transactions reported on the form and the
transactions (other than foreign sale and
leasing income transactions) are included in
the same product or product line.

Note. If a grouping basis is elected,
aggregate reporting is not permitted.

(b) Aggregate on tabular schedule.
You may choose to aggregate your
transactions on a tabular schedule rather
than on Form 8873. To do so, file one Form
8873 entering only your name and
identifying number at the top of the form.
Also check box (1)(b) of line 5c. Attach a
tabular schedule to the partially completed
Form 8873 reporting all information as if a
separate form were filed for each aggregate
of transactions described in (1)(a) above.
Also see Format of tabular schedules below.
Note. To be eligible for either of the
aggregate reporting formats described in
(1)(a) or (b) above, you must maintain a
supporting schedule that contains all
information that would be reported if a
separate Form 8873 were filed for each
transaction. The supporting schedule should
not be filed with the Form 8873.

Part II–Foreign Trade
Income and Foreign Sale
and Leasing Income

(c) Tabular schedule of transactions.
Instead of aggregate reporting, you may
choose to report transactions on a tabular
schedule. File one Form 8873 entering only
your name and identifying number at the top
of the form. Also check box (1)(c) of line 5c.
Attach a tabular schedule to the partially
completed Form 8873 reporting all
information as if a separate Form 8873 were
filed for each transaction. Also, see Format
of tabular schedules below.
(2) Group of transactions. You may
elect to group transactions (other than
foreign sale and leasing income
transactions) by product or product line. The
grouping of transactions applies to all
transactions completed during the tax year
for that product or product line.
To make the election, complete one
Form 8873 entering only your name and
identifying number at the top of the form.
Also check box (2) of line 5c. Attach a
tabular schedule to the partially completed
Form 8873 reporting all information as if a
separate Form 8873 were filed for each
group of transactions. See Format of tabular
schedules below.

-3-

Attach Form 8873 to your tax return.
Once the election is made, grouping
redeterminations are permitted until one
year after the later of:
1. The due date of your timely filed
return (including extensions) or
2. In the event of an examination of your
return by the IRS, notification by the IRS of
such examination (provided you agree to
extend the statute of limitations for
assessment by 1 year).
Note. If your foreign trading gross receipts
are $5 million or less for the tax year, you
may file a separate Form 8873 for each
group of transactions instead of filing a
tabular schedule.
Format of tabular schedules. If a tabular
schedule is attached to Form 8873, the
schedule must:
• Be in spreadsheet or similar format,
• List your name and identifying number on
each numbered page,
• Be formatted in columns that correspond
to each line item of Form 8873, and
• Show totals in each column.

Lines 6 through 14. Enter your foreign
trading gross receipts identified on lines 6
through 14 using the rules outlined under
Foreign Trading Gross Receipts on page 1.
Line 14, column (b). Enter on this line only
the sum of those portions of the amounts on
lines 6, 9, 12, and 13, column (a), that are
attributable to foreign economic processes
(see definition beginning on page 1).
Because only foreign trading gross receipts
attributable to foreign economic processes
are included in line 14, column (b), the
amount entered on line 14, column (b), will
not necessarily equal the total of the foreign
trading gross receipts amounts entered on
lines 6, 9, 12, and 13, column (a).
Line 17. For lines 17a through 17h,
compute your cost of goods sold allocated
to your foreign trading gross receipts. See
the instructions for the tax return to which
this form is attached for basic rules for
determining cost of goods sold.
Line 19. Enter on line 19, column (a), the
deductions, other than those you included in
figuring your cost of goods sold, that are
allocable to the amount reported on line 15.
Enter on line 19, column (b), the
deductions, other than those you included in
figuring your cost of goods sold, that are
directly allocable to the amount reported on
line 16.
Note. Do not include your allocable portion
of general and administrative expenses on
line 19, column (b).
For both column (a) and column (b),
attach to Form 8873 a schedule listing these
amounts. See the instructions for the tax
return to which this form is attached for
basic rules for determining expenses.

Part III–Marginal Costing
Marginal costing is a method under which
only direct production costs of producing a
particular product or product line are taken
into account for purposes of computing your
qualifying foreign trade income. Complete
this section to see if you will benefit by using
marginal costing. If you do not wish to use
this method, skip Part III and complete Part
IV using the instructions below.

Part IV–Extraterritorial
Income Exclusion
Line 45. Generally, your qualifying foreign
trade income is based on the greatest of
lines 33, 36, 38, 42, or 44. Under the
alternative computation, however, you may
instead choose to enter on line 45 the
amount from any of those five lines (33, 36,
38, 42, or 44). For example, although line 42
may produce the greatest exclusion for you,
use of that line could eliminate or reduce the
exclusion for a related person because of
the limitation under section 941(a)(3) on the
use of the 1.2% of foreign trading gross
receipts method. Therefore, to maximize the
combined exclusion for you and that related
person, you may prefer to enter on line 45
the greatest of lines 33, 36, 38, or 44
(instead of the amount on line 42).
Line 50. If you had any operations in or
related to a country associated with carrying
out an international boycott or you
participated in or cooperated with an
international boycott, your extraterritorial
income exclusion may be reduced. See the
separate instructions for Form 5713,
International Boycott Report, for definitions
and other details and to find out if you are
required to file Form 5713. If you are
required to file Form 5713, also complete

Schedule A (Form 5713), International
Boycott Factor (Section 999(c)(1)), and
Schedule C (Form 5713), Tax Effect of the
International Boycott Provisions. Enter the
amount from Schedule C (Form 5713), line
6c, on Form 8873, line 50.
The exception from filing Form 5713
that generally applies to foreign
CAUTION
persons does not apply to a foreign
person that is claiming the extraterritorial
income exclusion.
Also include on line 50 the total of any
illegal bribes, kickbacks, or other payments
(within the meaning of section 162(c)) paid
by or on behalf of the taxpayer directly or
indirectly to government officials,
employees, or agents.
Line 52. Although the amount on line 52 is
an exclusion from income and not a
deduction, include it on the “Other
deductions” or “Other expenses” line of your
tax return or schedule.
If you are filing Schedule C (Form 1040),
enter “Extraterritorial income exclusion from
Form 8873” and the amount on a line in Part
V of Schedule C.
If you are filing Schedule E (Form 1040),
enter “Form 8873” and the amount on the
“Other” line under Expenses in Part I of
Schedule E.
For filers of Form 1120, include the
amount on the “Other deductions” line of
Form 1120 (line 26 of the 2010 Form 1120).

!

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We
ask for the information on this form to carry
out the Internal Revenue laws of the United
States. You are required to give us the
information. We need it to ensure that you
are complying with these laws and to allow

-4-

us to figure and collect the right amount of
tax.
You are not required to provide the
information requested on a form that is
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act
unless the form displays a valid OMB control
number. Books or records relating to a form
or its instructions must be retained as long
as their contents may become material in
the administration of any Internal Revenue
law. Generally, tax returns and return
information are confidential, as required by
section 6103.
The time needed to complete and file this
form will vary depending on individual
circumstances. The estimated time burden
for individual taxpayers filing this form is
approved under OMB control number
1545-0074 and is included in the estimates
shown in the instructions for their individual
income tax return. The estimated burden for
all other taxpayers who file this form is
shown below.

Recordkeeping . . . . . . .
Learning about the law
or the form . . . . . . . . . .
Preparing the form,
copying, assembling,
and sending the form to
the IRS . . . . . . . . . . . . .

21 hr., 3 min.
1 hr., 59 min.

2 hr., 25 min.

If you have comments concerning the
accuracy of these time estimates or
suggestions for making this form simpler, we
would be happy to hear from you. See the
instructions for the tax return with which this
form is filed.

Instructions for Form 8873 (Rev. 12-2010)