If IRS hasn't processed tax return, am I still fine to use tax return as financial evidence for I-864?

[ztiberiusd 38]

I sent my 2020 tax return on March 17th from New Zealand. I had to file via mail because I filed MFS as my wife is currently a Non-resident Alien (but hopefully not for much longer!). 

 

Unfortunately, the IRS has not yet received my return according to the "Where's My Refund?" tool on their website, so I can't apply for a tax transcript, also because I didn't file taxes in 2018 or 2019 as my income was below the threshold.  

 

If, by the time I send my I-864 form, the IRS still hasn't received my tax return, can I just submit my copies of  the 1040 and 2555 forms? I'm not as concerned about not having the transcript; I know they are preferred but if I can't get one I can't get one. My bigger concern is that they see that my tax return hasn't been received. Because obviously anyone can fill out tax information through TurboTax and not actually send the return... I guess I'm probably being paranoid but I just want to make sure we won't get an RFE. 

 

Also, I have two forms of income in NZ. I work part time, and I receive a "student allowance" from the government which is a program for students studying full-time in NZ. For my financial evidence, I plan to have my employer write a letter stating my dates of employment, wages paid and type of work performed. Would I need evidence of my student allowance also? If so, would a generic letter from the allowance provider stating my student allowance income suffice? 

 

Thanks.  

[ztiberiusd 38]

Also, are three years' worth of tax returns still required? I've read about needing three years' worth a lot in VJ threads, but on the NVC website I only see language referring to "the most recent tax year".

 

Would it still be necessary for me to explain why I didn't file in 2018 and 2019 or have they removed this requirement? 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

1 hour ago, ztiberiusd said:

Also, are three years' worth of tax returns still required? I've read about needing three years' worth a lot in VJ threads, but on the NVC website I only see language referring to "the most recent tax year".

 

Would it still be necessary for me to explain why I didn't file in 2018 and 2019 or have they removed this requirement? 

Most recent tax return, proof of current year income is required.

 

Hopefully your income is continuing from

the same company after you return to the US, otherwise you can be making a half mil a year in New Zealand and your income for purposes of immigration gets counted as (zero).

Edited May 18, 2021 by Nitas_man

[ztiberiusd 38]

10 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Most recent tax return, proof of current year income is required.

Cool, that's good to know. Thanks.

 

10 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Hopefully your income is continuing from the same company after you return to the US, otherwise you can be making a half mil a year in New Zealand and your income for purposes of immigration gets counted as (zero).

It most certainly won't be, hence why we have a joint sponsor lined up! 

[Nitas_man 3,100]

16 minutes ago, ztiberiusd said:

Cool, that's good to know. Thanks.

 

It most certainly won't be, hence why we have a joint sponsor lined up! 

Well, your income then on the I-864 should be entered as (zero).

 

You should have been able to file taxes online?  When you did file, you should have gotten a “return accepted” confirmation.  That confirmation clipped to a full copy of your filed return with copies of the basis you used to file (end of year statement, whatever they give you in NZ that tracks your income) as well as the basis for currency conversion suffices.

 

Attach your tax return, letter, and banking/pay records year to date and submit it.  
 

 

[ztiberiusd 38]

54 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

Well, your income then on the I-864 should be entered as (zero).

My income on the I-864 will be entered as zero, but they still want to see the tax return and evidence of income regardless. 

55 minutes ago, Nitas_man said:

You should have been able to file taxes online?  When you did file, you should have gotten a “return accepted” confirmation.  That confirmation clipped to a full copy of your filed return with copies of the basis you used to file (end of year statement, whatever they give you in NZ that tracks your income) as well as the basis for currency conversion suffices.

No, I was not able to e-file, at least not through TurboTax or any other (free) tax filing services I researched. When you are Married Filing Separately with a spouse who does not have an SSN or ITIN, you must print the return, fill out "NRA" under the spouses SSN, and paper file by mail. At least that's my understanding. Hence, no confirmation that it's been received or accepted. All I know is that I sent it on March 17th and haven't heard anything since, or found any evidence that the IRS has ever received it or opened it. 

 

I can log-in to the IRD (NZ equivalent of IRS) and see my YTD income, which is what I used as the basis for filing my US tax return, so I will do that. Thanks for the advice. 

 

 

[Chancy 6,241]

4 hours ago, ztiberiusd said:

Also, are three years' worth of tax returns still required? I've read about needing three years' worth a lot in VJ threads, but on the NVC website I only see language referring to "the most recent tax year".

 

Would it still be necessary for me to explain why I didn't file in 2018 and 2019 or have they removed this requirement? 

 

Only the tax return transcript or tax return + schedules from the most recent tax year is required to be submitted.  Those from the previous 2 years are optional.

 

But, you are still required to enter the total income figures from ALL 3 most recent years, OR to explain why you were not required to file taxes.

 

[Joe Kano 327]

I filed by mail in the USA by the filing date and US Dept. of Treasury endorsed my check and cashed it a few days after I mailed it in.  

 

It took almost one year for me to be able to get a tax transcript from the IRS, they just finally posted it on the IRS website this month.

 

I called the IRS back in October, December and March of 2021 and always got a line of nonsense and lies from them. I even had the agent in December tell me alot of things I was told by the IRS agent I talked to in October was a lie.  But one thing they all said was to not refile.

 

Well I refiled my 2019 in March of 2021 with a letter and copy of the endorsed check, and I finally see this week the IRS has my transcript.  

 

 

[ztiberiusd 38]

30 minutes ago, Chancy said:

 

Only the tax return transcript or tax return + schedules from the most recent tax year is required to be submitted.  Those from the previous 2 years are optional.

 

But, you are still required to enter the total income figures from ALL 3 most recent years, OR to explain why you were not required to file taxes.

 

That explains why I was getting confused. I'll be sure to write an accompanying letter explaining why I did not file in 2018 and 2019. Thanks!

[juninho10 42]

14 hours ago, ztiberiusd said:

My income on the I-864 will be entered as zero, but they still want to see the tax return and evidence of income regardless. 

No, I was not able to e-file, at least not through TurboTax or any other (free) tax filing services I researched. When you are Married Filing Separately with a spouse who does not have an SSN or ITIN, you must print the return, fill out "NRA" under the spouses SSN, and paper file by mail. At least that's my understanding. Hence, no confirmation that it's been received or accepted. All I know is that I sent it on March 17th and haven't heard anything since, or found any evidence that the IRS has ever received it or opened it. 

 

I can log-in to the IRD (NZ equivalent of IRS) and see my YTD income, which is what I used as the basis for filing my US tax return, so I will do that. Thanks for the advice. 

 

 

I was initially under the same impression, but it's simply not true that you have to file via paper. My wife is a US citizen and I don't have a SSN or ITIN as I'm still a foreign applicant. Believing this put my visa back about 6 months. We sent it by paper and never heard from the IRS 6 months later. We filed for 2020 a couple of months ago and the whole thing took about 1-week to process.

 

We used H&R Block and weren't able to file. Their chat FINALLY pointed me to the service for expats: https://www.hrblock.com/expat-tax-preparation/

 

It took 10 minutes. It cost $100 instead of the usual $0.

Edited May 18, 2021 by juninho10

[ztiberiusd 38]

1 hour ago, juninho10 said:

I was initially under the same impression, but it's simply not true that you have to file via paper. My wife is a US citizen and I don't have a SSN or ITIN as I'm still a foreign applicant. Believing this put my visa back about 6 months. 

Why/how did this put your visa back 6 months? 

[juninho10 42]

2 hours ago, ztiberiusd said:

Why/how did this put your visa back 6 months? 

I wasn’t able to send the financial documents without my wife’s tax return with I-864. The IRS are close to useless with paper tax returns and gave us nothing to work with in 6 months of waiting.

[ztiberiusd 38]

8 minutes ago, juninho10 said:

I wasn’t able to send the financial documents without my wife’s tax return with I-864. The IRS are close to useless with paper tax returns and gave us nothing to work with in 6 months of waiting.

Did you not have a copy of the paper tax return you could have sent? i.e. what I'm planning on doing. Or did you need some sort of confirmation from the IRS that the return was received? That's basically the whole purpose of this thread. If there will be an issue caused by the IRS not receiving the tax return then I may have to re-file online per your suggestion. 

[juninho10 42]

33 minutes ago, ztiberiusd said:

Did you not have a copy of the paper tax return you could have sent? i.e. what I'm planning on doing. Or did you need some sort of confirmation from the IRS that the return was received? That's basically the whole purpose of this thread. If there will be an issue caused by the IRS not receiving the tax return then I may have to re-file online per your suggestion. 

I was under the impression you needed the response/confirmation from the IRS for NVC, but don't quote me on that. I doubt you could send in a completed tax return form as, in theory, you could just throw that away after scanning it. They're looking for the IRS to have processed something.

 

Issue is they say not to file again if you've already filed by paper. We filed paper in July 2019 and they sent it back 4 months later with a rejection. It didn't have a 'wet' signature. Then we never heard about that return again.

Filed in February 2021 via that link. I was thrilled and furious at the same time at how easy it was. The first idiot on their chat recommended by wife just say she was 'single' on her application, which I believe is a federal crime. They then escalated to the second fella that sent us to the expat platform.

[ztiberiusd 38]

43 minutes ago, juninho10 said:

I was under the impression you needed the response/confirmation from the IRS for NVC, but don't quote me on that. I doubt you could send in a completed tax return form as, in theory, you could just throw that away after scanning it. They're looking for the IRS to have processed something.

Yeah, that was my logic exactly. Anyone can print a tax return and write anything on it but it doesn't indicate that the IRS has ever looked at it. I wonder if I could send the completed tax return with an explanation that it has not been processed by the IRS yet due to delays. I did file it on time and everything, so I feel like it's not totally my fault... but who knows. 

 

44 minutes ago, juninho10 said:

Issue is they say not to file again if you've already filed by paper. We filed paper in July 2019 and they sent it back 4 months later with a rejection. It didn't have a 'wet' signature. Then we never heard about that return again.

Mine does at least have a wet signature (although it may be pretty dry by the time they open the return... heh). I'll see if anyone else chimes in here with any more clarification on whether my tax return would be accepted by NVC or not. Otherwise I'll file with that link you posted, but I don't want to do anything to piss off the IRS either, such as double-filing.