Non-filing Tax situation

[Dumpsta121 10]

I have been living abroad for about 5 years, with no income because I've been basically a stay-at-home husband. Because of that, I haven't been filing any tax returns. My mother is going to sponser my spouse, but I noticed that both she and I will need to submit our tax returns. If I petition the IRS for documents stating my non-filing status, but my mother has sufficient income to cover my spouse, will I run into any problems?

I'm not worried about things from the IRS side, everything is on the up and up, I just had zero income.

[NikLR 13,227]

Yes both your mother and yourself need to file an I-864 with supporting documents. So your supporting document is a letter stating why you didn't need to file a tax return and you shouldn't have any problems.

[Dumpsta121 10]

Ah, nice. I thought the supporting documents had to be tax returns of some sort. Thank you very much.

I'm looking into IRS Form 4506T, which provides you with verification of non-filing. Do you (or anyone else) know or have suggestions on whether that is necessary, or does a simple letter explaining my non-employment and lack of income suffice?

[NikLR 13,227]

Generally speaking I see that most people just include a letter and the relevant information from the IRS saying they didn't need to file. I wasn't aware there was a form verifying that you don't have to file! It might be a helpful thing to have. I'll let others chime in on this though.

[JRF 117]

I would recommend filing form 4506T - costs you nothing and prevents a delay in the event some sort of substantiation (independent) of your non-filing status is requested. My rule of thumb is if the cost is minimal (in this case free) and you have the time it's better to have more than less.

[slvrfx576 15]

irs form 4506T is a request for a tax return transcript. I never heard of a form that verifies that you are not required to file. I would think that if you used a 4506T to request a transcript for a year in which you did not file you might get a response that there is no return on file for that year, but I doubt that it would verify that there was no return required to be filed.

[Dumpsta121 10]

SLV, you are right. Thanks for that information. I think I misread some information on another site. So, I guess just a letter is enough. That makes me feel queasy, because if I get an RFE for my tax forms, I simply don't have any. I wish there was some way to prove a lack of income.

[NikLR 13,227]

Normally what I have seen is they simply request a letter again saying that you weren't required to file taxes. Just say "I was unemployed, did not make any income and was thus not required to file taxes."