why: so the government won’t be able to use your money for whatever the fuck they’re planning for the next 4 years.
as a traveler, none of my money has been funding Israel, for example.
one-step method: you basically fill out one extra tax form called FEIE while you’re doing your taxes, write down the dates you were outside of the country, and then since you aren’t in the country and are not receiving any services from the US, you don’t have to pay income tax up to a certain amount (it’s a little over 125k this year).
The federal government is well aware whenever a person enters the country and quite possibly for exiting.
yes, customs and border protection keeps records of legal entries and exits to and from the US.
why?
Everyone is coming up with elaborate schemes the government can use to determine if someone really was out of the country when they claimed to be.