US citizen spouse/sponsor not filed US taxes for 5 years

[zelia913 0]

Hello all,

My husband (USC) has been living with me in Canada for the past 6 years and has not filed taxes in the US since the 2007 tax year. We only recently found out that he has been expected by the US to continue to file taxes there even without living there (apparently the US is one of only two countries in the world who expect that of their citizens abroad). Now we are planning to move to the US and he has filed the I-130 petition for an alien relative. He phoned his former tax guy in the States and explained that we are going to through the green card process (for me) and asked for guidance on what to do about filing and the tax guy said not to worry about it, don't bother. Anyone else have advice for us? I'm worried it's going to become a problem at some point in the process.

Thanks in advance!

[NigeriaorBust 4,087]

In most cases foreign income exclusions mean you owe nothing unless you are making a LOT. File the taxes, find someone that cares about it ( fire the old/current one )

[Ian H. 207]

You may want to read this. He may be able to file his taxes without penalty. And yes the US IS one of those countries, Uncle Sam can't keep his hands to himself.

http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Foreign-Earned-Income-Exclusion

Edited August 6, 2014 by Ian H.

[Hypnos 6,576]

He will need to file three years of back taxes.

Unless he was making over ~US$100,000 a year then he probably won't owe anything due to reciprocal tax treaties, but he will still need to file to be able to obtain an immigrant visa for you.

No filing back taxes = no visa.

Edited August 6, 2014 by Hypnos

[kzielu 1,149]

I'm worried it's going to become a problem at some point in the process.

Thanks in advance!

It will become a problem as soon as your both start reading about I-864 and its supporting documentation which is very next step after your I-130 gets approved....

Btw - that tax guy is real professional - advising to break the law...

[CowBoE 429]

Check this out.

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Filing-Past-Due-Tax-Returns

[hellostranger57 18]

Just out of curiosity though, what if a USC did not file taxes say...in 2011 but couple has a joint sponsor for i-864, will that be disregarded somehow?

[Dave&Roza 748]

Just out of curiosity though, what if a USC did not file taxes say...in 2011 but couple has a joint sponsor for i-864, will that be disregarded somehow?

The USC spouse is the primary sponsor and must submit all the same information as the joint sponsor. Since the USC spouse needs a joint sponsor the income is low and most do not need to file a tax return do show this low level of income. We have seen many, many, many cases here on VJ where the USC spouse does not include a tax return or a statement stating why they did not file and the USCIS sends out an RFE asking for a tax return and they come on here asking what to do. The easiest is to FILE a tax return each and every year up to the year you die no matter what your earned or where you live. Then you are covered for situations where another government agency wants to see your tax returns. You may actually get a refund due to some tax credit that is only available to those that file a tax return.

For your case of not filing in 2011, only the current year is needed for the USC sponsor with a joint sponsor. So as long as he filed in 2013, I would not worry about it.

Dave

[waka1 28]

My friend has never filed a tax return in his life. In the last four years he made @ $100,000 in the stock market day trading....taxed at 28%. About six months ago he got a demand letter from the IRS.

He went to the IRS for a sit-down interview, in the end all they did was to go for back taxes for the three years.

He was able to pay his back taxes owed, without paying penalties or interest , they did ask for their 28%

He does plan on filing for 2014

Good luck

[steve and tintin 1]

Hi yes i have a problem , me and my wife got married within 90 days august last year and when i filed my taxes ( turbo tax) it wouldent let me put her ss#down for some reason so i filed single and now trying to do AOS got a RFE about my taxes and income are we gonna get denied because of that and lose our $1070 im not sure on what to do or what i should have done could someone please help us ? Thank you

[NYjones 13]

It's such a relief to know that I am not alone here. My USC partner has never filed taxes in the US because he didn't live there most of his life. He was born there but left at about age 2 and just returned at age 23. The good thing this is that we haven't filed anything as yet, so he has time to get the back taxes in order even though he won't owe anything.

Goodluck zelia913!