I-864 - Confusion on RFE for Tax Records

[Rocio0010 5,579]

4 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

I was thinking they see $30k claimed income and the tax return does not prove that. So they punch the “tax return RFE button“ which generates a letter meaning you didn’t document your income. But it is such a one-size-fits-all letter that you have no clue what they want. 

Perhaps you should submit an employer letter stating your job and annual salary of $30,000 along with whatever you decide about transcripts.  

Yup. They press that button whenever they see something that's a little bit off in the I-864. For example, my husband makes way above the poverty line, but because se sent the tax account transcripts, they sent us a RFE to get a joint sponsor. The funny thing is that account transcripts show even more information than return transcripts, but whatever. We replied by sending the return transcripts and that was it.

[Ayrton 965]

4 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

I was thinking they see $30k claimed income and the tax return does not prove that. So they punch the “tax return RFE button“ which generates a letter meaning you didn’t document your income. But it is such a one-size-fits-all letter that you have no clue what they want. 

Perhaps you should submit an employer letter stating your job and annual salary of $30,000 along with whatever you decide about transcripts.  

Current income can be different from what's showing in the return transcript. My husband's salary was 90k at the time we filed. But his adjusted gross income on the return transcript only showed 64k because of 401k.

 

So for question 20 we put 90k and for question 24, 64k. And there's no issue with that.

 

A tax return transcript won't show the full income before deductions.

Edited May 23, 2020 by Ayrton

[Wuozopo 4,293]

27 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

Current income can be different from what's showing in the return transcript. My husband's salary was 90k at the time we filed. But his adjusted gross income on the return transcript only showed 64k because of 401k.

 

So for question 20 we put 90k and for question 24, 64k. And there's no issue with that.

 

A tax return transcript won't show the full income before deductions.

USCIS looks at the 2019 Form 1040 Line 7b called TOTAL INCOME . The IRA deduction does not come off the tax return until Line 8a. It’s not Adjusted Gross Income (Line 8b) that qualifies one with a  2019 tax return. 
 

Line 7b Total Income is also the line you use to fill out question 24a,b. But the tax forms were different in 2017 so question 24c comes from Line 22 of the 1040 (or Line 4 if you file 1040EZ in 2017).

 

I think your $90k should be shown on your tax return on line 7b since the IRA deduction doesn’t come out until the next line. 

[AlbertVII 1]

Wow so many responses! 😮

 

Going to try to answer as many as I can...

4 hours ago, Villanelle said:

What matters is what you filled out on the 864 Part 6 #24 abc. Those numbers need to match exactly what was on your tax return. If they didnt then yes they will RFE for a tax return that shows the numbers you listed.

 

What did you send to prove current income? 

My numbers for Part 6 #24 abc matched my tax return transcripts. Double and triple checked and the numbers were correct. Aside from the tax transcripts I also did send about 3 months worth of recent pay stubs to show I still receive stable income (even during this Covid crisis)

 

4 hours ago, ra0010 said:

Hi there! When we sent our application back in October we sent the tax ACCOUNT transcripts, so we got a RFE. But I read that you sent the tax return transcripts so that's not the issue. 

I think the RFE they sent you might be a generic letter that they have when they see that the info on the tax return doesn't match what you wrote as your annual income. Even though it's really not much money, if you are $600 below the poverty line then you should either include assets or have a joibt sponsor.

 

The Issue isn’t that my income is low - I used 30k as an example in an earlier post as I didn’t want to state my actual income (sorry for any confusion)  - but I am definitely well over the 125% threshold. Based on my current income it was mentioned earlier I don’t need to submit the last of tax transcripts - although I did submit it initially with the thought process in mind to back up what I wrote down in the I-864.

 

2 hours ago, Sanella&Dylan said:

Hi there! 

I also got an RFE for the Tax papers on my husbands I864. Mine was pretty easy to respond to because they asked for the W2 of the previous tax year and the 1040. I send a copy of the whole package he received from the IRS while filing for taxes. 

They did state this; 
1. Submit all supporting tax documentation (W-2s, 1099s, form 2555, and all supporting tax schedules) submitted to the IRS for most recent tax year. The petitioning sponsor must submit all supporting tax documentation for the most recent tax year. We sent the W-2 since its the only thing he has, we never owned a house or he has never worked abroad.
2. The petitioning sponsor on Form I-864 Affidavit of Support must submit a complete Federal income tax return submitted to the IRS for most recent tax year. If you submit a transcript, it must be a Tax Return Transcript from the IRS. If you were not required to file a federal income tax return under U.S. tax law, attach a written explanation of why you are not required to file. See ""filling requirements"" in the IRS form 1040. We added the 1040 and all the forms attached.

 

My husband makes way over the 125% but we added the same forms to the package as I had with me on the K1 interview for the past 3 years. I think those were the transcript. I already sent it back after a few days of receiving the RFE.

 

I hope y'all will make It work as well with the forms! 

Yep - in this case all I got back for the RFE is #2 for what you listed. Nothing specific like you got for #1. Most of the documentation I provided initially to USCIS looks to be complete minus the $600 discrepancy from my annual income vs my return transcript that could be the reason for the RFE. But the RFE request is pretty vague if that is exactly what they’re asking for.

 

And thank you  I’m hoping all works out well too.

 

1 hour ago, Ayrton said:

Current income can be different from what's showing in the return transcript. My husband's salary was 90k at the time we filed. But his adjusted gross income on the return transcript only showed 64k because of 401k.

 

So for question 20 we put 90k and for question 24, 64k. And there's no issue with that.

 

A tax return transcript won't show the full income before deductions.

Interesting. Based on that - it’s possible then that maybe annual income vs tax return transcript info doesn’t throw red flags?

 

...

 

I appreciate everyone’s feedback and responses on all this. I’m left with some interesting choices.  

 

I could resubmit the tax transcript informations as is back to them with some clarifying information in case they did lose my information when it was sent over. Although if that wasn’t what they wanted that adds risk towards them rejecting the case.

 

I could resubmit tax transcript details with additional addendums to my I-864 with a letter from my employer to back up the claim that my annual salary is indeed what I wrote down in the I-864. Along with the transcripts again. I don’t see much risk in this although in case the discrepancy is a big deal could it be possible I’d be opening a can of worms if I pointed out a different mistake if that wasn’t what they were looking at to begin with? (Not discrediting this suggestion here - just keeping an open mind)

 

Or option C - go with the tax returns, 1040s and W-2s and send those over that the RFE ‘loosely’ suggests and hope that is more of what they wanted instead of the transcripts. 

 

I might have to dig a little deeper and get in touch with USCIS to ask them to clarify a bit more if it’s possible. I’ll keep everyone posted on this. 

 

Thank you again for the kind assistance on this it helps to get additional (or several) opinions for this one. 

[Villanelle 4,122]

They are not going to provide you with any additional information. Not on the phone,  nor in person.  USCIS can not give advice on how to fill out forms. They can only repeat to you what was written in the RFE word for word. 

 

The RFE system for the 864 is silly. It only gives generic RFEs. No way to know exactly what triggered them to send it. So people here can speculate but that's about it. 

 

Paperwork can be misplaced or overlooked. That's the hardest to determine. 

 

Repeating what was already posted you want to make sure you sent the proper transcript. You can resend the same transcripts OR send tax returns but if you send the returns make sure you include everything you used to file. For some this includes 1099s or other alternative tax paperwork. (Schedules,worksheets) and not just W2s.

 

Then make sure all your numbers are correct and household size was calculated correctly.  Your RFE said no tax docs right and not doesn't meet guidelines? If so  it's most likely a problem of the wrong tax documents sent or they were misplaced.  Again the numbers listed on the 864 need to match the returns. 

 

You are in a  tough spot because they accepted the filing and RFEd you so if they don't like your RFE response they will deny and you will have to pay to file again.  New policy says they could've rejected your filing and sent it back with out taking payment. They have been active in doing this so it leans towards them misplacing or overlooking.  Your package goes to the mail room first and they would reject it if the 864 was not complete. Seems like they didn't and passed it along and the next stop didn't see your tax transcripts and RFEd you. 

 

Please update us on what you decide to respond with and the outcome. 

 

Best of luck for a speedy process. 

 

[Ayrton 965]

8 hours ago, Wuozopo said:

USCIS looks at the 2019 Form 1040 Line 7b called TOTAL INCOME . The IRA deduction does not come off the tax return until Line 8a. It’s not Adjusted Gross Income (Line 8b) that qualifies one with a  2019 tax return. 
 

Line 7b Total Income is also the line you use to fill out question 24a,b. But the tax forms were different in 2017 so question 24c comes from Line 22 of the 1040 (or Line 4 if you file 1040EZ in 2017).

 

I think your $90k should be shown on your tax return on line 7b since the IRA deduction doesn’t come out until the next line. 

USCIS wants Current Annual Income to determine if someone meets the poverty line. That's what you answer in questions 7 to 20.

 

 

You can see that there's no mention of tax return in this question. Because this income will most likely not be there if part of your income is not taxable. Current Annual Income is the Income before any deductions. It's all the taxable and non taxable income. It's the the sponsor salary, or hourly rate * hours/week * 52.

 

Total Income in the 1040 will only show the taxable income. If you have 401k, like my husband did, the 401k is not reported as income in the 1040, so his total income is gonna show a lower value than his salary. You shouldn't use Total Income (or adjusted gross income) to answer questions 7 to 20 for the reason I mentioned before. And that's why they say you can send pay stubs or a Employment letter to verify this number because those are gonna show the income before non taxable deductions.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

4 minutes ago, Ayrton said:

USCIS wants Current Annual Income to determine if someone meets the poverty line. That's what you answer in questions 7 to 20.

Yes I understand that. And IF the tax return Line 7b doesn’t prove this amount, then an employer letter or 6 months of pay stubs is suggested by USCIS as a way to prove it. My point to @AlbertVII was that he submitted only tax info and that did not support his claim on “My Current Annual Household Income.” He submitted no additional evidence to show where his self-reported income came from.
 

I think we agree that question 20 doesn’t have to exactly match the tax return, but needs some additional documentation if it is a higher amount than the tax return shows. And I misread your post and what you were explaining.