Do I need to fill out I864A?

[aaron2020 11,651]

I filed my taxes as a dependant. I just meant they helped me with it as it was my first time. I know I have to file taxes, I just want to know if I have to send tax transcript etc..if it is not my income they will be looking at, as it is not sufficient. I only have my W2s from 2012 tax year as of right now.

Yes, you need to either 1) provide an explation why you were exempt from filing a US tax return, or 2) provide a copy of YOUR tax return or tax transcript.

Stop trying to reason why they want it.

You want the visa for your fiancé, then comply with the requirements.

As an older person, I want to give you this advice. Government requirements do not have to make sense. If you want something from the government, then comply with the requirements. Trying to reason with the government why the requirement should not apply to you is utter futility.

[aaron2020 11,651]

You need to figure out what was filed on your behalf from your parents.

There is no way to help you if you can't provide basic facts such as how you filed your taxes.

[QueenOfBlades 224]

We're in more or less exactly the same situation here so I have a couple of questions I want to ask on the back of what others have said here.

We're filling out our I-864 now and my husband hasn't filed taxes for the past 3 years, and is a dependent on mom's tax return (my sole joint sponsor). He hasn't had a job for 7 years and has had $0 earned income for that time. He has earned a bit of money from selling some things around the house, say around $2,000. Would that be classed as earned or unearned income? The IRS site says unearned is taxable interest/dividends etc, nothing about selling things like in a yard sale.

I am also assuming based on the posts I've seen here that we may need to expand our explanation letter. We'd simply put that he is a dependent on mom's tax return and has had no income and therefore didn't file taxes. Do we have to state the exact reasons why he is exempt, e.g - Unearned income was less than $1,000 for all 3 years and $0 earned income?

Edited February 6, 2014 by QueenOfBlades

[QueenOfBlades 224]

It won't let me edit that above post - he says technically the $2,000 was a gift from his mom and that if that's under $10,000 then he doesn't have to file taxes on it. He says he shouldn't have to file tax returns. Is this correct?

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

There is a lot of confusion about "being a dependent." That does not mean that the parents file a tax return for their kids. It means that the parents elect to take a tax exemption for saying that they provide for the child. In the US, people with larger families have less tax burden. A dependent who earns income (say, a teenager with an after school job) still needs to file taxes for themselves if they earn above the threshold. Even if they earn less than the threshold, they should file their own tax return to get their tax money back (which, if a person earns so little, they probably overpaid taxes). I, for instance, have filed my own taxes since I was 16 but I was still a dependent on my parents taxes until the limit (which is 24 or something).

So, QueenofBlades, selling stuff is earned income, but he is under the threshold. His being a dependent on his mom's taxes has nothing to do with his taxes. The reason he doesn't need to file taxes is that he doesn't have a job and earns less than the required amount.

[aaron2020 11,651]

We're in more or less exactly the same situation here so I have a couple of questions I want to ask on the back of what others have said here.

We're filling out our I-864 now and my husband hasn't filed taxes for the past 3 years, and is a dependent on mom's tax return (my sole joint sponsor). He hasn't had a job for 7 years and has had $0 earned income for that time. He has earned a bit of money from selling some things around the house, say around $2,000. Would that be classed as earned or unearned income? The IRS site says unearned is taxable interest/dividends etc, nothing about selling things like in a yard sale.

I am also assuming based on the posts I've seen here that we may need to expand our explanation letter. We'd simply put that he is a dependent on mom's tax return and has had no income and therefore didn't file taxes. Do we have to state the exact reasons why he is exempt, e.g - Unearned income was less than $1,000 for all 3 years and $0 earned income?

It's doubtful that your husband made significant profits from selling his stuff. He probably paid more for them when he bought the stuff than what he received for selling the stuff. Income = ($ from selling) - ($ paid to buy). His income is not the amount someone paid him for his stuff.

Don't get bogged down on the nature of the income.

Your husband is fine with a simple explanation that his income was below the level requiring him to file and that his mother claims him as a dependent. You do not need to go further by providing numbers.

[QueenOfBlades 224]

Thanks for the responses, we'll finish that all off today then. It's all very confusing to me and he doesn't know a terrible amount about it either.