USC Expat with LPR wife? Should we file tax every year with no income?

[ivantran85 1]

I am an US citizen expat who live in vietnam, my wife is LPR. we're planning to return the US in the next 2 years and wait for 2 years and 9 month to apply for my wife US citizenship. 

During time abroad, we have no income, so should we file federal tax return anyway?

Because I've heard that N400 require the applicant the last 3 years of tax return, but since my wife only live the US 2 years, so she only has 2 year of tax return. Should it be a problem later on?

[Unlockable 7,314]

15 minutes ago, ivantran85 said:

I am an US citizen expat who live in vietnam, my wife is LPR. we're planning to return the US in the next 2 years and wait for 2 years and 9 month to apply for my wife US citizenship. 

During time abroad, we have no income, so should we file federal tax return anyway?

Because I've heard that N400 require the applicant the last 3 years of tax return, but since my wife only live the US 2 years, so she only has 2 year of tax return. Should it be a problem later on?

As an American citizen you are supposed to file taxes yearly regardless of where you live. If there is no income, you still file but you state that you had no income. So you will simply submit previous years tax return to get that resolved before applying for citizenship. But your wife being out of the US for so long may be an issue. Is her permanent resident still active? Because it can be considered abandoned is an LPR is out of the US too long.

[Liam2021 583]

Here the big concern: your wife as a LPR, how long she been out of U.S?

[ivantran85 1]

Yeah, I forgot to clarify. She has reentry permit, it lasts another 2 years. We will move back to the US when the reentry expired.

I've heard about 2 years and 1 day rule. So after coming back to the US, can we file N400 after 2 years and 1 day?

Or should we wait 2 years and 9 months to file N400?

 

I've looked into n400 tax question, For the part 2, question 7

Have you ever NOT file federal, state, local tax return since you become permanent resident?

Should I answer YES and include written explanation.

From 2017 to 2021, I did not file tax because i have no income.

 

Thank you so much for your support

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

The re-entry permit protects her green card, but it does not compensate for the lack of meeting the physical presence and continuous residence requirements.  You’d need to check that before she files for n400.

[Mollie09 1,543]

Both citizens and permanent residents need to file taxes every year regardless of where they live

[arken 4,197]

You are not required to file a return if you have zero income in a year. So simply say Yes to the question you mentioned and provide explanation. Having said that, filing for joint return even with no income would’ve bolstered your wife’s marriage based citizenship application.

[ivantran85 1]

41 minutes ago, arken said:

You are not required to file a return if you have zero income in a year. So simply say Yes to the question you mentioned and provide explanation. Having said that, filing for joint return even with no income would’ve bolstered your wife’s marriage based citizenship application.

So Should I file tax return for 2017 and 2018 now, because i dont have any income so i think i could file tax late with no problem?

thanks

[arken 4,197]

19 hours ago, ivantran85 said:

So Should I file tax return for 2017 and 2018 now, because i dont have any income so i think i could file tax late with no problem?

thanks

It’s up to you. There will ne no problem filing late as long as you don't owe IRS.