Affidavit of Support Tax Question

[Tommi 0]

Hi there, we are filing out the affidavit of supporting and wondering if we should provide 3 years of tax return or only one. The sponsor is self-employed and his tax returns as following:

2017: 21k

2016: 11k

2015: 15k

 

The reason for the dip on 2016 is due to purchase of vehicle. We are not sure in this case we should only provide the latest year return. Thank you all!

[KeratNY 76]

Purchase of a vehicle should not affect a person's income (pre-deduction). You should provide all three anyway. Also 21k is not enough to sponsor a fiancee/spouse so I am not sure it is enough to sponsor a student but it could be

[geowrian 22,338]

18 minutes ago, KeratNY said:

Purchase of a vehicle should not affect a person's income (pre-deduction). You should provide all three anyway. Also 21k is not enough to sponsor a fiancee/spouse so I am not sure it is enough to sponsor a student but it could be

If the vehicle was a business expense, it can be deducted as such. The drawback is it does impact one's AGI, which is what they will look at for I-864/public charge purposes of a self-employed individual.

For instance, if somebody spends $50k in business expenses and the business brings in $60k in revenue, their income is only $10k not the $60k in revenue. One cannot reasonably claim that they both used that money to operate a business and that it is available for their own purposes (or to support an individual).

 

Technically $21k is enough to sponsor an intending immigrant, assuming there are no other household members (https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-864p.pdf). However, it's very borderline and I wouldn't be too surprised if they want to see sufficient liquid assets in addition to income (or have a joint sponsor ready to go).

Edited May 15, 2018 by geowrian

[KeratNY 76]

1 minute ago, geowrian said:

If the vehicle was a business expense, it can be deducted as such. The drawback is it does impact one's AGI, which is what they will look at for I-864/public charge purposes of a self-employed individual.

For instance, if somebody spends $50k in business expenses and the business brings in $60k in revenue, their income is only $10k not the $60k in revenue. One cannot reasonably claim that they both used that money to operate a business and that it is available for their own purposes (or to support an individual).

 

I did say pre-deduction, but I respect the more nuanced and thorough answer you provided vs mine

[Tommi 0]

Thanks everyone for your inputs. Yes the vehicle purchase was part of business expenses and was deducted before tax. In this case, should we still provide all 3 year tax returns?

 

For current income, we are providing letter from the contracted business confirming income of the current years with invoices. Should we still provide additional asset proof (checking account) even though the we meet the poverty line? I read on the form it says we would not need to. Thank you again

[killadocg23 88]

8 hours ago, Tommi said:

Thanks everyone for your inputs. Yes the vehicle purchase was part of business expenses and was deducted before tax. In this case, should we still provide all 3 year tax returns?

 

For current income, we are providing letter from the contracted business confirming income of the current years with invoices. Should we still provide additional asset proof (checking account) even though the we meet the poverty line? I read on the form it says we would not need to. Thank you again

IT says only the most recent is needed. That will be enough

[geowrian 22,338]

9 hours ago, Tommi said:

Thanks everyone for your inputs. Yes the vehicle purchase was part of business expenses and was deducted before tax. In this case, should we still provide all 3 year tax returns?

 

For current income, we are providing letter from the contracted business confirming income of the current years with invoices. Should we still provide additional asset proof (checking account) even though the we meet the poverty line? I read on the form it says we would not need to. Thank you again

I personally think only providing the most recent year is a stronger case, although it's still very borderline. For self-employed individuals, tax returns are the primary source of evidence for current income. Business contracts and such fore the current year are revenue-generating sources, but they are not considered income until listed on the tax returns. I would suggest providing evidence of assets as well.

[pinkpaws 5]

We provided lastest tax return +  last 3 years W2 and got through fine.