Urgent ! Help needed with tax forms for self employed petitioner !!!

[Tisa 9]

Did he fill out a W-4 when he was hired there? Was it ever discussed that he would be paid 'under the table'? It does not seem he is actually a self-employed independent contractor, but was hired as an employee of the gym. The person that owns and runs the gym is the one wanting to evade taxes, so is paying him 'under the table'.

He still needs to file taxes on his own income, with or without the gym owner going the legal route. He also needs to find a new job with a better employer as soon as possible.

Having a co-sponsor will help him meet the sponsorship requirement for getting you the K-1 visa, but someone that is legally obligated to file taxes must do so before providing an affidavit of support. Even if he got away without filing the 2014 taxes for the I-134 and K-1 visa, he will not be that lucky once you are in the US, married and filing for AOS. AOS will require the I-864 and you either submit the most recent tax return or you provide a statement as to why you were not legally required to file. He is legally required to file, so he must.

See a CPA or at least a cheaper tax preparer about his options for filing.

It was never said that he would be paid under the table ! He would of never gotten the job otherwise. In fact he got told he would receive a form to file his taxes. When he began asking for it his boss finallt told hjm last night that he was not gonna get any kind of form from him.

So am I understanding it right that he still can file his taxes in the situation he is in ? Because he wants to file his taxes ! He never meant to do work under the table and had no reason to.

[san diego 407]

Is he a waiter? a waiter should receive a W2.

You should just be quiet.

What are you talking about?? Waiters receive W2 ONLY for actual paycheck. Tips have to be filed separately. Looking at your advices I am trying to figure out if you are trolling or really trying to mess up OP.

[ascertainLovE 165]

What are you talking about?? Waiters receive W2 ONLY for actual paycheck. Tips have to be filed separately. Looking at your advices I am trying to figure out if you are trolling or really trying to mess up OP.

next. everything I said turned out to be true. Moving on. the OP's fiance is not even a waiter so why are you talking about that?

[KayDeeCee 4,893]

It was never said that he would be paid under the table ! He would of never gotten the job otherwise. In fact he got told he would receive a form to file his taxes. When he began asking for it his boss finallt told hjm last night that he was not gonna get any kind of form from him.

So am I understanding it right that he still can file his taxes in the situation he is in ? Because he wants to file his taxes ! He never meant to do work under the table and had no reason to.

Yes. Have him take all the documented proof he has of how much income he received in 2014, and see an accountant/tax preparer to help him get his taxes filed.

[Tisa 9]

The gym *should,* if he's an Independent Contractor be providing him with a 1099-MISC, but he doesn't need that to file his taxes. He does need to know how much he's earned however and report ALL of it.

However, it really sounds more like the gym owner is intentionally mis-classifying his workers as Independent Contractors to avoid being liable for employer taxes.

It sounds like your fiance was perfectly happy not reporting his taxes until it caused an issue with this immigration, which I have a hard time feeling bad for.

I would seek the help of an accountant or even better a Certified Professional Accountant. (CPA)

You misunderstood something. My fiancé always paid his taxes wherever he worked and he was planning on doing the same thing for this year. Taxes are due now and now that he asked his boss for the form he learns that his boss his not willing to give it to him. He got told that he would get the form to pay his taxes. So he was never fine with not filing them because he simply didn't knew that he was not going to get the form.

Yes. Have him take all the documented proof he has of how much income he received in 2014, and see an accountant/tax preparer to help him get his taxes filed.

Thank you so much ! All he has as proof will be the receipts he gets from his bank when he cashes his checks. That's the problem. How is he going to prove his income without his boss providing that prove ?

[VOL 425]

They were supposed to be mailed out by Jan 31st, 2015.

[Tisa 9]

They were supposed to be mailed out by Jan 31st, 2015.

Thank you. I didn't know that so what do you guys think we should do now ?

My fiancé wants to see a cpa and do his taxes. I hope it will be enough to get approved

Edited March 13, 2015 by SarinaB

[Avery Cates 1,141]

What are you talking about?? Waiters receive W2 ONLY for actual paycheck. Tips have to be filed separately. Looking at your advices I am trying to figure out if you are trolling or really trying to mess up OP.

ALL wages, including tips, are reported on the W-2 the restaurant provides, unless the restaurant isn't reporting them correctly with each payroll to avoid their employer tax liability, however if they're not they're also likely in violation of tips to minimum requirements if they're paying their employees less than minimum by claiming a tipped employee credit.

Tipped employees can end up owing money at the end of the year because their hourly wage isn't enough to cover all the taxes for all declared tips, but they're not reported separately, they all go on the W-2. An employer should receive a signed tipped statement monthly from each employee as well, ideally.

[Avery Cates 1,141]

You misunderstood something. My fiancé always paid his taxes wherever he worked and he was planning on doing the same thing for this year. Taxes are due now and now that he asked his boss for the form he learns that his boss his not willing to give it to him. He got told that he would get the form to pay his taxes. So he was never fine with not filing them because he simply didn't knew that he was not going to get the form.

Thank you so much ! All he has as proof will be the receipts he gets from his bank when he cashes his checks. That's the problem. How is he going to prove his income without his boss providing that prove ?

Ok that's very well then. I hope your fiance has his pay stubs, especially his last one of the year, because they will be very helpful.

Have your fiance call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040. The IRS will ask for all his information, the employer's information, dates of employment, the year to date wages paid, and how much Federal Income Tax was withheld for the year. The IRS will then send a letter to the employer requesting that the employer provide a W-2 to him. If the employer does not, the IRS will issue a W-2 based on the information provided that I mentioned previously, and he can then use that form to file his taxes.

[Tisa 9]

There are several compounding issues here.

First, if you can find another qualifying sponsor, your visa processing will be fine,

so for now don't worry about this aspect...(though I will come back to this later)

Second, regardless of his work category, if he's paid for his work, he must file a tax.

You are only at the first step of a long visa & immigration processing, and his

tax filing status will come into play again and again, and there are legal and

financial complications for not paying the owed tax.

BTW, if he files as self-employed, he can get tax deductions on

many things like (car expenses, driving miles, job related purchases & expenses, etc.)

Third, there is a fine line between an employee vs. independent contractor

when dealing with small business. Small business owners want to call them

independent contractor and the worker want to be called employee.

This is because small business do not want to pay additional money

for his social security, unemployment insurance, and other benefits.

There are clear rules written on this distinction, but many small companies

do this illegally and in most situations, and when IRS gets involved,

they end up categorizing the worker as employee more often than not.

I know a close friend who went through this battle with IRS and lost.

Fourth, when your fiance files tax, it could back track to the small company

owner and get them in trouble also, but this is not your fiance's problem,

as IRS will determine if the owner cheated the tax.

Fifth, without the company's support, it'll be hard for your fiance to self

declare that he's an employee. So the easiest thing to do is to file a tax

and he can do that without the company issuing him the 1099. I have a

full time job in IT field, and I occasionally do side jobs, and though they

write me a company check, it's a nightmare to get them to issue a 1099,

so I just report them as income without 1099 and I've not had any problem for years.

Sixth, he should seek to get another job at a reputable place that handles

such tax related paperwork properly ASAP, so that he can start to maintain

clean records for future filing.

Seventh, based on other postings I've read, when someone earns sufficient

pay to sponsor, but it's in situations like this, where it's hard to get letter of

employment, show clear tax filing history, show clear pay stubs, etc.

they ask for more evidence. Therefore, even if he files tax, I think you may

still have risk of having to prove his income in more detail...which could become

challenging given the employee vs. independent contractor confusion.

In summary, I would do this...

1) Find a qualifying co-sponsor ASAP.

2) Seek tax accountant to file the tax (for simple single job situation, it should

only cost $200~$300).

3) See if can get a job as a full time employee, so that income/tax situation is clear

which will help with future filing as well, and so that he (and you later) can have

health insurance.

4) Lastly, it's good that you raised the question here, but don't just rely on this

short answers...while everyone is trying to answer your question, you can see

the confusion it's creating...and that's because how one interprets the situations

and the independent contractor & employee is a fine line...and often controversial.

Therefore, do 1), 2), 3) I mentioned above ASAP.

Very helpful answer !!! Thank you so much !!!

[Boiler 45,528]

No mention of any deductions. He has been paid cash, so he will have a lot to pay.

[PK and PK 13]

Thank you. I didn't know that so what do you guys think we should do now ?

My fiancé wants to see a cpa and do his taxes. I hope it will be enough to get approved

If I understand it correctly, your fiance could not file taxes just for 2014 but did so for the previous years? If so, just talk to a CPA about filing taxes.

Whether he is self employed or not is really not up to the employer. The IRS has a specific set of rules about who is self employed or not. The CPA

can help go through them. Worst case, if the employer is screwing him over, he can choose to be a whistle blower to the IRS and get a cut of what

they collect. For such cases, best to more to a new employer before this happens.

[Boiler 45,528]

Find it hard to believe he did not know he was being paid under the table, no deductions.

[Tisa 9]

Find it hard to believe he did not know he was being paid under the table, no deductions.

But it's the truth.

[nadia&sameer 12]

You might want to try having your fiancé ask his employer's accountant to just give him a screenshot of all payments made to him throughout the year. It's a small company and if they use QuickBooks or any similar software they could print it out very easily. They may be more willing to do that than the 1099 (or probably w2) that they should be giving him. Then your fiancé will have the exact amount he made and needs to report to the IRS.