I filled 2012 Single, but I am married! Please help, about to file for citizenship!!

[samanthajayne8 0]

Hi Vj friends!

Well last year my husband took control of doing our Taxes, and without telling me he filed me as single head of household. Apparently, he thought that as he had been working out of town for a little over 6 months it would be ok. Im feeling very overwhelmed, and I hired someone to look over my taxes, and indeed we filled wrong, and now owe about $3,000. I have not officially filed the amendment yet, through fear that I will look guilty once I apply for citizenship!

Can anyone give me some advice? Its been a long while since ive dealt with USCIS, but I find it all very intimidating!!

[Jeremy12095 8]

Well the only way you can claim Head of Household is if you have dependents to claim, otherwise you should have claimed Single. However in your case you are Married so you should have done Married filing joint with your husbands information on the tax return. Your best bet would be to hire a professional cpa or tax prep agency to amend your prior taxes to show the married filing joint and get on a payment plan with the irs. Then immigration will require proof of a payment plan and any payment receipts. The tax return is a good indicator of your relationship and proof of marriage if you are claiming the 3 year rule. However copies of tax returns aren't required if you look at the most recent N-400 instructions on the USCIs website. http://www.uscis.gov/n-400 (You still have to check if you have back due taxes at that point they will require proof of a payment plan)

I may have missed the tax return requirement when I read the new instructions but that doesn't mean the immigration officer doesn't reserve the right to ask you for any documents they see fit.

To be safe read the new instructions your self and check It out. Regardless I would fix it because you shouldn't have claimed HOH.

Edited March 6, 2014 by Jeremy12095

[novedsac 355]

Hi Vj friends!

Well last year my husband took control of doing our Taxes, and without telling me he filed me as single head of household. Apparently, he thought that as he had been working out of town for a little over 6 months it would be ok. Im feeling very overwhelmed, and I hired someone to look over my taxes, and indeed we filled wrong, and now owe about $3,000. I have not officially filed the amendment yet, through fear that I will look guilty once I apply for citizenship!

Can anyone give me some advice? Its been a long while since ive dealt with USCIS, but I find it all very intimidating!!

There is no such thing as 'single head of household'. It is either single, head of household, married joint or married separate.

If you're married, then you should file married joint. This puts you in a much better tax situation than head of household, so I'm not sure why you would be owing more than the head of household return - check that there aren't other errors (e.g., you cannot claim a spousal exemption when filing head of household, which you will be able to do if you file married joint; also phase out limits for deductions are higher for married joint than head of household). I would expect your tax liability to be reduced if filing married joint.

There is also nothing wrong with filing an amended tax return. File 1040X to amend your tax return. I don't believe you'll have any issue at all when applying for citizenship; if it ever comes up, just explain it like you have here, which is quite understandable. And … you'll look far less guilty with an amended return now than if the IRS finds the error and sends you a corrected return, which most likely will include hefty penalties and interest if, as you claim, you owe substantially more if you had filed with correct information.

Not sure what USCIS has to do with it … your taxes are filed with the IRS, though just as intimidating to some.

Edited March 7, 2014 by novedsac