This is only theoretical, as I don't even reach the maximum earned income exclusion. I am a permanent overseas resident, owning my own home. If I had enough foreign income to go over $82,400, could I claim some of my housing costs such as utilities as a foreign housing exclusion?
See page 20 of IRS Pub 54. It has an exhaustive list of what expenses qualify for the housing exclusion. Utilities are listed. Utilities do not include telephone or paid television subscriptions. Page 20 also explains how one computes the housing amount. You have to subtract the base amount from the qualified housing. In your case, the base amount is $36.12 times the number of qualified days. For a whole year, the base amount is $13,184.
The answer appears to be yes according to the information in IRS Publication 54, starting on page 20. Column III lists includible and non-includible housing expenses.
It is doubtful you could get any benefit from such costs. To begin with, you cannot include any costs of owning the home. So, mortgage interest, property tax, and depreciation are not allowed. Second, there are both floors and ceilings on the exclusion/deduction. The ancillary type expenses you are talking about are unlikely to exceed the floor. Probably not worth the effort to even try.
Lanny K. Williams, CPA Nawarat, Williams & Co., Ltd. Income Tax Services for Expatriate Americans
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