AOS Request for initial evidence (tax documentation)

[blackedge 0]

I received a Request for Initial Evidence (I-485) letter asking for the following:

- Submit all supporting tax documentation (W-2s, 1099s, and all supporting tax schedules) submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from the petitioner/sponsor on Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, for the most recent tax year.

- For the household member's income to be included in the household income, the household member's income must have been from a lawful source and earned while the household member was authorized to work in the United States.

- The household member on the petitioner/sponsor's Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, must submit the Federal Income Tax Return submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the most recent tax year. If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law, attach a written explanation and if applicable, evidence of the exemption and why you are subject to it.

- The household member on the petitioner/sponsor's Form I-864, Affidavit of Support/Form I-864A, Contract Between Sponsor and Household Member must submit all supporting tax documentation (W-2s, 1099s and all supporting tax schedules) submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the most recent tax year.

I thought I had assembled my AOS package correctly:

1. I had submitted my lawful wife's Form 1040's for the 3 most recent years and her most recent year's returns came from foreign employment. I attached the wage statement sent to her from the foreign employer along with Form 1040, which was exactly what she had filed to the IRS. I was shocked to see a request for Form 1099 as she did not have one.

2. I had zero U.S. income and used assets in U.S. investments to supplement my wife's income. I think the people processing the forms mistook it that I was trying to supplement her income with my U.S.-based income. Moreover, since I had submitted a W8-BEN form prior to making the investments, the correct taxes were withheld by the brokerage and no 1099-B was issued so I wasn't required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law.

Question:

For the above reasons, I don't have any of the statements/forms they want at all! Should I call up to explain, liquidate and transfer my assets to my wife's bank account so we meet the requirements, send her bank statements, then send a written explanation for the above situation? I'm so worried now because the letter warned that I needed to submit all the requested information or my AOS package would be denied - thanks for reading! ;_;

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Is your wife currently working?

[blackedge 0]

Is your wife currently working?

Yes, but she's runs a startup now, which is why I had to supplement her income.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Your questions are kind of wonky... Even with your long paragraph I can't get a picture of what you sent, what your current financial state is. I wonder if that is also reflected in what you sent to USCIS.

She needs a complete tax return for each year. What is complete varies from person to person. Doesn't she have foreign income exclusion?

Beyond that, what really matters is that she has current income now, and if she owns a business, then how can you prove she makes money? She is now self-employed which often creates a problem for multiple reasons. How did you prove she will make enough this year when she doesn't have a guaranteed salary?

As far as your assets, if you are making money on the assets, then I don't think you can't use that income to qualify because it is from a US-source but you are not authorized to "work" in the US. Why can't you use your base amount in assets to qualify, not the gains? Did you explain why you were not required to file a US-tax return?

You need to clearly spell out your financial situation or get a co-sponsor.

[blackedge 0]

Your questions are kind of wonky... Even with your long paragraph I can't get a picture of what you sent, what your current financial state is. I wonder if that is also reflected in what you sent to USCIS.

She needs a complete tax return for each year. What is complete varies from person to person. Doesn't she have foreign income exclusion?

Beyond that, what really matters is that she has current income now, and if she owns a business, then how can you prove she makes money? She is now self-employed which often creates a problem for multiple reasons. How did you prove she will make enough this year when she doesn't have a guaranteed salary?

As far as your assets, if you are making money on the assets, then I don't think you can't use that income to qualify because it is from a US-source but you are not authorized to "work" in the US. Why can't you use your base amount in assets to qualify, not the gains? Did you explain why you were not required to file a US-tax return?

You need to clearly spell out your financial situation or get a co-sponsor.

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond.

No, she doesn't have foreign income exclusion as she wasn't outside of the U.S. for longer than 330 days.

That's what I'm saying: I'm not using the gains on the investments to qualify, I'm using the base amount in assets! (And even though there are gains on the investments, I'm not using those to qualify and those gains are exempt from filing.) Which is why I was confused when they sent me a request for tax returns. Should I call the service center for clarification/assistance?

Edited July 3, 2013 by blackedge

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

The service center can't help you.

You say she worked abroad last year but she was not outside of the US? Surely she filed taxes abroad on that income? Then she should have a foreign income exclusion? Did you send in the tax transcript? This isn't adding up.

You didn't answer my question: Can you actually prove her current income? How short are you to qualify?

[blackedge 0]

The service center can't help you.

You say she worked abroad last year but she was not outside of the US? Surely she filed taxes abroad on that income? Then she should have a foreign income exclusion? Did you send in the tax transcript? This isn't adding up.

You didn't answer my question: Can you actually prove her current income? How short are you to qualify?

Yes, she worked abroad but not for longer than 330 days, so she filed taxes only in the U.S. I didn't send in the tax transcript, only Form 1040. This is a good suggestion - do you think it would be sufficient if I ordered one? Thanks so much.

I can't prove her income for the next year, which is why I chose to supplement her income with my base assets. Her income was above the poverty guideline, I'm just supplementing it with assets because of the reason you cited (in case they are worried it would not be persistent for the next year).

Does this clarify the situation? I'm sorry if it's unclear.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Yes, she worked abroad but not for longer than 330 days, so she filed taxes only in the U.S. I didn't send in the tax transcript, only Form 1040. This is a good suggestion - do you think it would be sufficient if I ordered one? Thanks so much.

I can't prove her income for the next year, which is why I chose to supplement her income with my base assets. Her income was above the poverty guideline, I'm just supplementing it with assets because of the reason you cited (in case they are worried it would not be persistent for the next year).

Does this clarify the situation? I'm sorry if it's unclear.

No, it doesn't really clarify and it makes me think you misunderstand the requirements.

"I can't prove her income for the next year." Next year?? You need to prove her income NOW. What is her CURRENT salary? It sounds like you can't prove it. It sounds like she works in a startup and who knows how much that will make. Maybe it will lose money. So your wife doesn't appear to be a suitable sponsor at all.

You said you were "supplementing" her income with your assets. Supplement means that she has some income and you are adding to it. But you can't quantify what her income is. It seems like she has no income and you want to qualify on your assets alone. I am confused why USCIS even knew about the gains you were making on the assets. You need 3X the amount in assets to qualify. So $60K in assets.

What did you show for assets? Somehow they think that it is income. Were you making $60K or more in gains? What did you show them?

Tax transcripts will solve the problem for issue #1. But the rest has to do with your assets and what you sent. If you could lay that out more clearly then people would be able to help better.

Edit: If you have your money in stocks or whatever, then you could lose all that money and have zero. So that sort of thing might not count. How are you distinguishing between base and gains when you could lose your base?

Edited July 3, 2013 by Harpa Timsah

[blackedge 0]

No, it doesn't really clarify and it makes me think you misunderstand the requirements.

"I can't prove her income for the next year." Next year?? You need to prove her income NOW. What is her CURRENT salary? It sounds like you can't prove it. It sounds like she works in a startup and who knows how much that will make. Maybe it will lose money. So your wife doesn't appear to be a suitable sponsor at all.

You said you were "supplementing" her income with your assets. Supplement means that she has some income and you are adding to it. But you can't quantify what her income is. It seems like she has no income and you want to qualify on your assets alone. I am confused why USCIS even knew about the gains you were making on the assets. You need 3X the amount in assets to qualify. So $60K in assets.

What did you show for assets? Somehow they think that it is income. Were you making $60K or more in gains? What did you show them?

Tax transcripts will solve the problem for issue #1. But the rest has to do with your assets and what you sent. If you could lay that out more clearly then people would be able to help better.

She worked at a large firm abroad then moved back to the U.S. to work on a startup. The income on her most recent tax return was from her previous employment.

Regarding the remaining issue: I sent them financial statements from the bank's brokerage, which included both assets and gains. These numbers are for cash capital, not market value of stocks. I wasn't making $60K in gains but I was close to that. I am guessing this adds to the confusion. I think a solution is to deposit cash in excess of the required amount into my wife's savings account, then send them a written explanation for the assets/gains/tax exemption in my I-485 package, as well as a statement for her savings account, in case they are unable to use the earlier piece of evidence.

Sounds good?

Thanks for your patience.

Edited July 3, 2013 by blackedge

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

She worked at a large firm abroad then moved back to the U.S. to work on a startup. The income on her most recent tax return was from her previous employment. So? If she changed jobs she CANNOT qualify based on her old employment. They go by current employment. So you have to prove her current employment, which it seems like you cannot do. You only need to send in old tax returns to show you aren't hiding from the IRS.

Regarding the remaining issue: I sent them financial statements from the bank's brokerage, which included both assets and gains. These numbers are for cash capital, not market value of stocks. I wasn't making $60K in gains but I was close to that. I am guessing this adds to the confusion. I think a solution is to deposit cash in excess of the required amount into my wife's savings account, then send them a written explanation for the assets/gains/tax exemption in my I-485 package, as well as a statement for her savings account, in case they are unable to use the earlier piece of evidence. This sounds better. I was going to say if you are making so much in gains surely you can put some aside in a fixed place, like a savings account. You need to pay taxes on the gains, though, I believe. I didn't follow your explanation of why you didn't need to file taxes. You might want to check with an accountant about it, since now you are US based.

Sounds good?

Thanks for your patience.

Answers in red. I wish someone else would chime in

[blackedge 0]

Answers in red. I wish someone else would chime in

Read them. I see, I think I had misunderstood the requirements. All right, my wife will order a full tax transcript from the IRS, I'll send my wife cash to supplement as assets, then call the service center up to confirm if this is OK before we send both wife's tax transcript and her bank account statement.

Yes, if you're a foreign citizen, you are tax-exempt for capital gains. I recall you need to pay taxes on gains above $96,XXX (forgot the last 3 digits), but in that case, the brokerage would withhold taxes for you and send you some form for it that doesn't constitute a tax filing - I think - I've never gone above $96,XXX so I don't know. All this is settled when you file form W-8BEN when opening an account.

Thanks a lot for your help! I'll keep this thread updated.

[SBB 74]

You say your wife is working at a startup. Does the startup pay her a salary? Will they give her a W2 at the end of the year? If the answer to those two questions is "yes", then you should provide a letter from her employer describing her position and the salary they pay her. You should send this in addition to her tax transcripts from previous years even though she isn't working for the same employer anymore.