I-130 Tax return filed as SINGLE

[AMJ1 17]

Hello,

 

I am US Citizen. I applied I-130 for my husband.

PD is April 2018 Texas Service Center.

I was reading and preparing for the next step of the application while waiting for the next notice. For the AOS for my tax return I have been filing as Single and not Married. The reason I filed as Single is that my husband is not here in US and never been. I read that it is a RED FLAG and it could denied my application. 😫 Anybody has a same situation as mine?? Could someone enlighten me?? 😞 

[Roel 7,192]

You need to re-file and fix your taxes. 

 

Even if your husband would live on Mars or on other galaxy, you still need to file as Married. Since you know, you're married not single..

 

If someone on the street would ask you what your martial status is, would you tell them you're single, just because your husband is in other country? 

[AMJ1 17]

7 minutes ago, Roel said:

You need to re-file and fix your taxes. 

 

Even if your husband would live on Mars or on other galaxy, you still need to file as Married. Since you know, you're married not single..

 

If someone on the street would ask you what your martial status is, would you tell them you're single, just because your husband is in other country? 

Its not about asking me what my marital status because I always say I am MARRIED and I always know I am MARRIED! My point is when I filed for my tax return, since my husband is not here (no ssn or itin), the IRS guy who did my taxes says just file as Single for now and I can ammend when he comes here. 

[EandH0904 1,184]

23 minutes ago, AMJ1 said:

Hello,

 

I am US Citizen. I applied I-130 for my husband.

PD is April 2018 Texas Service Center.

I was reading and preparing for the next step of the application while waiting for the next notice. For the AOS for my tax return I have been filing as Single and not Married. The reason I filed as Single is that my husband is not here in US and never been. I read that it is a RED FLAG and it could denied my application. 😫 Anybody has a same situation as mine?? Could someone enlighten me?? 😞 

Were you married December 31, 2017? 

If you were then you should have filed your tax return for 2017 as married (either married - separate or married-joint with ITIN). Your timeline says you got married April 2018? If you got married in 2018 (not 2017) then you were OK to file the 2017 taxes as single, since you were presumably single on December 31, 2017. 

 

If you did get married in 2018 you will need to make sure that next year when you do your 2018 taxes you file married. We got an ITIN. It was super easy - took about  4 weeks. 

 

[EandH0904 1,184]

1 minute ago, AMJ1 said:

The IRS guy who did my taxes says just file as Single for now and I can ammend when he comes here. 

And you could amend it later - but your tax guy isn't concerned about your pending case with your husband, just about your taxes. Whereas you want as much proof as you can have for your case so filing married is the best way to do it. 

 

If you were married in 2017, you can amend it now - as he has no SSN you can do married/separate or you can file for an ITIN and do married/joint. Its your choice when you amend it but if you want the proof for the case, it's best to do it now. 

[Roel 7,192]

3 minutes ago, AMJ1 said:

Its not about asking me what my marital status because I always say I am MARRIED and I always know I am MARRIED! My point is when I filed for my tax return, since my husband is not here (no ssn or itin), the IRS guy who did my taxes says just file as Single for now and I can ammend when he comes here. 

Here in VJ we repeatedly seen how stupid IRS people are. Seriously. It was a bad advice. 

 

You file married separately. That's it. 

[AMJ1 17]

4 minutes ago, EandH0904 said:

And you could amend it later - but your tax guy isn't concerned about your pending case with your husband, just about your taxes. Whereas you want as much proof as you can have for your case so filing married is the best way to do it. 

 

If you were married in 2017, you can amend it now - as he has no SSN you can do married/separate or you can file for an ITIN and do married/joint. Its your choice when you amend it but if you want the proof for the case, it's best to do it now. 

I just thought the IRS guy know better. 😫 I read I do need to file 1040x to amend.  Thank you for your reply and information. I truly appreciated. 

[AMJ1 17]

16 minutes ago, Roel said:

Here in VJ we repeatedly seen how stupid IRS people are. Seriously. It was a bad advice. 

 

You file married separately. That's it. 

I should have done alot of research and ask more people about this matter. I thought the IRS guy know better. 😩 Will file to amend. Hope everything will be okay. 

[geowrian 22,337]

26 minutes ago, AMJ1 said:

Its not about asking me what my marital status because I always say I am MARRIED and I always know I am MARRIED! My point is when I filed for my tax return, since my husband is not here (no ssn or itin), the IRS guy who did my taxes says just file as Single for now and I can ammend when he comes here. 

If the guy was actually from the IRS and prepared your taxes as single, he could be in trouble. I know there's a rule about their own tax returns being cause to be fired, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something about being a preparer for others as well.

 

If the guy was just a normal tax preparer, then he screwed up. We see it pretty often here...yet we still have no idea how professionals can screw up something so basic. smh

The CO won't particularly care about your filing status for a visa, although it absolutely should be corrected. The sooner, the better.

You can file as MFS and write "NRA" as your spouse's SSN/ITIN. This is in the 1040 instructions.

[AMJ1 17]

13 minutes ago, geowrian said:

If the guy was actually from the IRS and prepared your taxes as single, he could be in trouble. I know there's a rule about their own tax returns being cause to be fired, but I wouldn't be surprised if there was something about being a preparer for others as well.

 

If the guy was just a normal tax preparer, then he screwed up. We see it pretty often here...yet we still have no idea how professionals can screw up something so basic. smh

The CO won't particularly care about your filing status for a visa, although it absolutely should be corrected. The sooner, the better.

You can file as MFS and write "NRA" as your spouse's SSN/ITIN. This is in the 1040 instructions.

I can’t believed I Iistened to that guy, I felt so tupid right now. 😢 Yes, that is my plan right now to file 1040 to amend. Any idea how long the process will take? Do you know anybody had the same issue as mine and got denied? 

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by AMJ1

[geowrian 22,337]

Just now, AMJ1 said:

I can’t believed I Iistened to that guy, I felt so tupid right now. 😢 Yes, that is my plan right now to file 1040 to amend. Any idea how long the process will take? Do you know anybody had the same issue as mine and got denied? 

I-130 tax filed as single

I know of nobody that was denied a visa due to an incorrectly filed tax return.

As for how long, you can fix and send anytime. I think it takes them the better part of a couple months to acknowledge it, but the amended return (1040X + W-2s/all schedules) can be used for the immigration process.

[j&ana 363]

you should get an ITIN number for your husband and amend your tax return  from single to married  filing jointly every year that you was married. It will give you the best tax benefits.

You are still in the early stages of the IR-1/CR-1 process and will not need the tax returns until your case is at the NVC 

[florida racer 73 200]

My CPA of over 30 years does both my corporate taxes and my personal taxes, he told me being as my wife is not in the country and that she does not have an ITIN, I cannot file as married, I filed as single.

 

Now, NVC has already reviewed my paperwork and we have an interview coming up, there was no question about it from NVC.

 

You can ammend your taxes afterwards, but me personally, I would listen to my CPA.

 

After my wife gets her, I will ammend the taxes and enjoy the refund, until then, I do not ever recall hearing of someone being denied because of the filing status on the taxes

 

 

Edited June 24, 2018 by florida racer 73

[WJC 1]

I did the exact same thing.  I was married in November 2017 and asked the person doing my taxes about it and they said to file single, but I did not even think about the repercussions on the AOS and the status.  When i realized it, I immediately contacted my tax preparer and they prepared an amended 1040X, which I signed and place in the mail to my spouse who needs to sign it and send it to a person in their home country that will request the ITIN number and file my taxes.  

 

The amended 1040X actually helped me gain a significant tax break and will give me a huge tax refund check, but I hear it will take a while to get and have it processed.  I hope that when my spouse goes to the embassy for the interview that this topic will not be questioned, but if it does he will have a copy of the amended return.  

 

I hope this information helps out.  Best of luck.

[geowrian 22,337]

4 minutes ago, florida racer 73 said:

My CPA of over 30 years does both my corporate taxes and my personal taxes, he told me being as my wife is not in the country and that she does not have an ITIN, I cannot file as married, I filed as single.

If he said you cannot file as married since your spouse is abroad and/or because they don't have an SSN or ITIN, then he was wrong. Many people do this fine (and properly), and the 1040 instructions describe how to do so (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf).