I-864 / AOS questions - rouding income to nearest dollar and joint income of co-sponsors

[Jamie & Izzy 98]

Hi everyone, I have a couple questions about form I-864 for the AOS packet:

First, I have seen some people getting checklists from the NVC because they have rounded their annual income amounts for the last three years to the nearest dollar (Part 6, Numbers 13a-13c). I presume in those cases, they must have sent in tax forms with W-2s instead of the tax transcripts? I have the transcripts, and they are all automatically rounded to the nearest dollar, so I can't see how we can be expected to be any more exact than that.

Also, the current individual annual income (Part 5, Number 5) is also inherently an estimation - do they really require cents to be indicated for that as well? I can't be more precise than within a few hundred dollars (there may be overtime, I may have to take a bit of leave without pay to go to Morocco for the interview, etc.), much less down to the last cent.

My other issue is that my parents are filing as joint sponsors. They live in the same house as me, so they have each filled out an I-864a (though I am not their dependent for tax purposes). Their income and assets are all held jointly, and they file their taxes jointly as a married couple. So each I-864a lists their full joint income and assets. On my I-864, i have listed them both in the section for other household members (Part 6, Numbers 6a-6c and 7a-7c). I put their joint income under my father's name in 6c, and under my mother's name in 7c, I wrote "same as 6c". I also included a brief explanation in my cover letter, indicating that they have joint income and assets. Is there anything about the way I did it that might trigger a checklist, or has someone else in a similar situation found a better way?

Thanks!

-Jamie

[PallasAthena 101]

I don't know the bit about the joint sponsors, but what I can tell you after looking at my I-864 is that I rounded up to the nearest dollar. I read on VJ and I believe in the instructions, to not use cents. I submitted tax transcripts for all three years plus W-2s. When my accountant filed taxes, he rounds them up to the nearest dollar, too, since those are the instructions on the tax form and so they appear that way on the tax transcripts.

I was approved without any checklists.

[pushbrk 13,167]

I doubt you've actually seen an RFE for rounding. You may have seen MANY RFE's for the figures not matching the tax returns but the problem was NOT "rounding".

[ufo 3]

I don't know the bit about the joint sponsors, but what I can tell you after looking at my I-864 is that I rounded up to the nearest dollar. I read on VJ and I believe in the instructions, to not use cents. I submitted tax transcripts for all three years plus W-2s. When my accountant filed taxes, he rounds them up to the nearest dollar, too, since those are the instructions on the tax form and so they appear that way on the tax transcripts.

I was approved without any checklists.

In part 6, no5, did you write the whole number or you actually wrote cents too?

I wrote the whole number and now I am getting anxiously worried . I don't want to get a checklist just for rounding error.

[Ian H. 207]

The government doesn't like cents, it makes things more complicated.

50 cents or more is $1, 49 cents or less is $0, i.e. $9.50 is $10 and $9.49 is $9.

Therefore, on the I-864 for the tax years the amount you go by is what is on your taxes/transcripts because this is the amount they go by. When they ask for current income, this is income that is expected to be received, you round to the nearest dollar. You can't estimate your current income to the last cent and they don't expect that. I agree with the other poster, people that received a checklist had something else wrong.

For your parents, do they make enough without combining their income with yours? Because it may just be easier for one parent to file an I-864 and the other an I-864A. If that's not possible and they both are doing an I-864A then you may have to figure out who's income is whose. What exactly is their income from that it's not possible to separate who's money is whose?

It doesn't matter that they file jointly. If they each receive a pension or social security, they should each receive their own amounts. If they receive one check with both of their names, then what I would do is split it in half on the form, so that when you add it up, it doesn't seem as if they make double the amount. Could you clarify further what exactly they plan to use as income/assets in order to meet the requirement?