Mixed stories about petitioner and affadavit of support,someone please clarify.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

We have copies of some of his checks and could estimate how much he made for the year.The issue was that we dont have a copy of all his checks and I thought we would need the, to file.So an estimate of his income is sufficient without proof when we fo to file ?

He doesn't need copies of the checks. Most people who are self-employed don't keep copies of the checks they receive. They maintain books to keep track of their revenues and expenses, and they have bank statements to corroborate their income claims. Even cash income can be corroborated with a bank statement as long as the money is deposited in the bank. It's called accounting. If your husband plans to continue working as a self-employed person then he needs to learn at least the basics. He doesn't necessarily need to take any courses or buy fancy software for this. He can read a book on the basic stuff that needs to be recorded, and put it in a spreadsheet or even buy ledger books and write everything down.

He should also check to see if the city, county, or state require him to have a license to operate as a promoter. In most cities, if you collect money for the sale of products or services then you need a business license. You also usually need to pay business taxes to the city, county, and/or state. Those taxes are usually paid on gross revenues without accounting for deductions, but they're also usually pretty small, like 1/10th of 1%.

Bear in mind that he isn't going to be required to prove anything to the IRS when he files his tax return. He'll only need the documentation if he gets audited by the IRS, and less than 5% of low to medium income self-employed people are audited. The IRS mainly goes after higher income taxpayers because, as the infamous bank robber Willie Sutton once said when asked why he robbed banks, "That's where the money is". If he does happen to get audited then the IRS will usually accept his claim that he was paid a certain amount of money on a certain date unless they have evidence to the contrary. Where they are absolute sticklers about documentation is for deductions. If he claims an expenditure as a business expense then he must have a receipt to prove it. Without a receipt the IRS will disallow the expense, which will increase his taxable income. Again, this is only an issue if he gets audited. If he isn't audited then the IRS won't ask to see any proof of his income or deductions.

Your husband should be able to get bank statements covering that period. He may also be able to get photostatic copies of the checks. Banks routinely photograph checks when they process them. With most banks, he should be able to collect whatever he needs online.

[HeatDeath 430]

Do we write a letter stating that the co sponsor will take on the full responsibility of supporting me or will they automatically assume it ? There are no long time benefits that come from not paying your taxes.Honestly though,he lost his job in 2009 and was unemployed in 2010.. He made extra cash here in there but I wouldnt call it employed.So for 2010 I could say just that.He only owes money for 2011 and tax season is not over yet.

It isn't really the cosponsor "taking the full burden of support", technically. What happens is if your primary sponsor [your husband]'s I-864 shows zero income, and your cosponsor's I-864 shows sufficient income, that's enough for them to say to themselves "Yes, this application meets the Affidavit of Support requirements". If you were to later become a public charge and receive means tested public benefits, they would still go after your husband first for the money - he is still on the hook. They would probably only go after your cosponsor next, after your husband proved he had no ability to pay by declaring bankruptcy.

The effect is the same though - with a cosponsor, they will approve the case, even if the primary sponsor's I-864 is manifestly unqualified. You don't need to write a letter pointing this out - they'll understand it implicitly just from looking at the two I-864s in the package.

Your letter explaining the missing tax returns does not need to unnecessarily reveal any personal info about your situation - the hows, whys, and circumstances of his unemployment. Our letter just said that my wife did not make sufficient income to file taxes for those two years, and that is why we only included the one tax return for her.

Remember though, as I said, every word you send them on every piece of paper, and every word you speak to them at an interview, or even on the phone, MUST be scrupulously, unimpeachably true, so choose your wording very, very carefully. If you say he had insufficient income to file, but he really did have sufficient income to file and merely chose not to, that is material misrepresentation, and would be a cancer in your immigration file just waiting to bubble up to the surface and send you on a one-way trip home. Never, ever, ever lie to USCIS about anything, no matter how small it is, and no matter how much it doesn't seem to be their business. They take material misrepresentation very very seriously.