Submitting "Unaccepted" 2012 tax return for I-864?

[G & V 3]

I submitted our married filing jointly tax return way back in March, along with form w7 to get an ITIN for my wife. We followed all the instructions exactly but the IRS denied the ITIN application twice (taking them 6 weeks each time). We submitted a certified copy of her passport, actual postal id card, and birth certificate and I still haven't received any of these back.

I'm extremely upset at the IRS right now. What makes it worse is we should be receiving the initial packet from the NVC any day now (we received NOA2 a little over a month ago) and I'll need to submit the I-864 with tax returns. I have tax transcripts from 2010 and 2011, but what's the best course of action for 2012? I'm thinking I will now file as married filing separately instead and revise to married filing jointly later when she has a SSN (because the difference in return amount is pretty substantial). If I do this, for the I-864 do I just submit a full copy of of my 2012 federal taxes that I send to the IRS? Is it okay to send it to NVC while it is still processing at the IRS?

[Darnell 8,478]

I would chase this down with the IRS, at the moment.

I could not reach the ITIN unit in Austin, directly, but I was able to talk to some senior person who DID talk with the ITIN unit in Austin ...

[AP & VP 2]

You're not alone - This is exaclty my situation at the moment. I filed married filing jointly and provided all docs for my husband's ITIN. So far, I received one letter (early may) which stated that i need to provide additional documentation. It's been a month and a half over this and have not heard back anything....My current 2012 TR is still pending IRS acceptance.

With respect to re-filing - You cannot re-file as married filing seperately. I went to the local IRS office as well as called the IRS dept and they both gave me the same information. Once i file as MFJ i cannot refile as MFS. There is a checklist out there on IRS.GOV about refiling..(i'll try to post it here online that they use to determine if we can qualify to change the filing status or not).

The only thing at this point I was told to do is wait and let IRS reject the ITIN application themselves and re-work my application as MFS (given that any additional documentation i supplied did not meet/satisfy their requirements)

As far as NVC goes : I am going to attach the TR i filed along with all supporting documents and send it to NVC. If i get an RFC - well..i'll just figure out a solution when the time comes or hope that one of my many friends here from visajourney may help provide a better solution

With the AOS packet - i will provide a letter of employment, 2011-2009 transcrips, & paystubs.

My advice to all future filers...please file as MFS or file an extention and save yourself some stress

[G & V 3]

Thanks both for the advice, I'm still trying to get this resolved. Here's my more recent experiences with this (i.e. my rant).

I would chase this down with the IRS, at the moment.

I could not reach the ITIN unit in Austin, directly, but I was able to talk to some senior person who DID talk with the ITIN unit in Austin ...

July 1st I called (800-829-1040).

They told me about the second rejection and that they mailed it out to me on June 27. I never got anything.

Past two days, I've been trying to get a hold of them again and the automated system always says it's too busy and hangs up on me.

Finally today a little before 4:00pm I call the more direct ITIN number (800-908-9982) which I probably should have been doing in the first place. They told me that it was rejected because I never followed up with additional ID (which I did send). They also said they mailed it out to me on July 3, not June 27 and it would take 7-10 business days to arrive. I think the IRS has major issues with receiving and sending mail. I've never had anything lost in the mail and have never known it to take so long to send some pieces of paper within the country. Well, I guess we're not getting my wife's ID card back, or the official copy of her BC.

I asked if my case can be escalated and she says she can forward me to a tax law representative. The system estimated 30 minute wait time. I waited for 65 minutes (1 hour, 43 minutes on the call total) and never got an answer. I had to leave so I hung up. Awesome.

You're not alone - This is exaclty my situation at the moment. I filed married filing jointly and provided all docs for my husband's ITIN. So far, I received one letter (early may) which stated that i need to provide additional documentation. It's been a month and a half over this and have not heard back anything....My current 2012 TR is still pending IRS acceptance.

With respect to re-filing - You cannot re-file as married filing seperately. I went to the local IRS office as well as called the IRS dept and they both gave me the same information. Once i file as MFJ i cannot refile as MFS. There is a checklist out there on IRS.GOV about refiling..(i'll try to post it here online that they use to determine if we can qualify to change the filing status or not).

The only thing at this point I was told to do is wait and let IRS reject the ITIN application themselves and re-work my application as MFS (given that any additional documentation i supplied did not meet/satisfy their requirements)

As far as NVC goes : I am going to attach the TR i filed along with all supporting documents and send it to NVC. If i get an RFC - well..i'll just figure out a solution when the time comes or hope that one of my many friends here from visajourney may help provide a better solution

With the AOS packet - i will provide a letter of employment, 2011-2009 transcrips, & paystubs.

My advice to all future filers...please file as MFS or file an extention and save yourself some stress

I would give the same advice. Using an acceptance agent would probably have been the better idea in hindsight. At the time, I didn't even know about this since it's only listed on some other page on the irs site, not in the w7 instructions.

As soon as I receive the notice in the mail which they said would give me options for my next steps, I'll probably just refile my taxes as MFS and send that to NVC when we get the notice.