I-864 question

[Gabriel01 0]

Hey just a quick question about the I-864 form. It says to send a copy of your most recent tax return, where my husband does not meet the poverty line requirement in 2009 (due to a family emergency) but will in 2010. Will it be denied if he did not meet the 2009 requirments (when we filed for the K-1, he made it for 2008) or should we just wait for the 2010 one?

[jkelly07 120]

hi you send what you have , the year you do not have write a letter and explain to them why you don't have it, or if you can get a co sponser that should help

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Hey just a quick question about the I-864 form. It says to send a copy of your most recent tax return, where my husband does not meet the poverty line requirement in 2009 (due to a family emergency) but will in 2010. Will it be denied if he did not meet the 2009 requirments (when we filed for the K-1, he made it for 2008) or should we just wait for the 2010 one?

You still include the 2009 tax return as it's the most recent but if his 2009 income doesn't meet the requirements but his CURRENT income does, then he will need to include a letter from his employer (stating date employed since, amount paid (if this is a yearly amount, or amount paid to date), position etc on company letterhead) and then also include around 3 months pay stubs. There are some instructions in the I-864 instructions about this exact thing.

hi you send what you have , the year you do not have write a letter and explain to them why you don't have it, or if you can get a co sponser that should help

No offence but wrong advice. The OP DOES have the 2009 return and obviously doesn't have the 2010 one because it's not file-able until Jan 2011.. i.e. at the end of the 2010 financial year... :S

Edited November 18, 2010 by Vanessa&Tony

[Bob g 11]

Hey just a quick question about the I-864 form. It says to send a copy of your most recent tax return, where my husband does not meet the poverty line requirement in 2009 (due to a family emergency) but will in 2010. Will it be denied if he did not meet the 2009 requirments (when we filed for the K-1, he made it for 2008) or should we just wait for the 2010 one?

With 2010 near the end, you could wait a few weeks and have your 2010 tax rturn along with 2009, and 2008 returns, and a letter of employment for January 2011. This would show a good 3 year income average.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

With 2010 near the end, you could wait a few weeks and have your 2010 tax rturn along with 2009, and 2008 returns, and a letter of employment for January 2011. This would show a good 3 year income average.

The OP wouldn't need to wait "a few weeks". it's currently 6 weeks (or so) until the end of the year. Then the OP needs to get all their W2's in order, get to an accountant and get their taxes filed and then they're good to go. Could end up being around 3 months.

The average income over 3 years isn't relevant. When I filed I did 09, 08 and 07. During 08 and 07 my husband was a student, during part of 09 he was also a student so his income was barely over the threshold for 09. We had absolutely no issues.

There is no need to complicate matters. The OP simply needs some paystubs and a letter from the employer to prove CURRENT income and it will be fine.

[SonoranSongbird 3]

Yeah, I don't think waiting to file your 2010 return is a good idea either. The reality is most of the forms you need to be able to file your 2010 return (W2s, 1099s) won't be available until late January at the eariest.

What Tony and Vanessa posted is the right advice (for the reasons they gave). The only thing I would add to that is you may want to include not only his 2009 return but also the 2008 and (if available) 2007 returns. Although (as Tony and Vanessa said) it is NOT the average income that they look at, in your case this will help show that your husband's REGULAR income is not reflected by the 2009 return. You still need to provide current pay stubs and a letter from his employer and should mention in your cover letter (or somewhere) that he took time off to handle a family emergency which resulted in less income for 2009. We filed for AOS a little over 2 years ago, but if memory serves, the instructions only REQUIRE your most recent tax return, but they also say that you MAY send the last 3 years and any other documents that you believe will help prove that you meet the income requirements.