I-864 Three Most Recent Tax Year Requirement

[Zan1 4]

Hi there,

 

My spouse and I are currently filling out our I-864 for my CR-1 visa (she's the sponsor, I'm the immigrant). As a bit of background, we've both been living together in Canada and then New Zealand for the past few years. We realise that because her income has not been US based for this time, she cannot sponsor me and so we've found a joint sponsor - her grandma who has filled out an I-864 and provided the required tax documents etc.

 

We are filling out the I-864 for my wife now and upon reaching Section 6, 23.a - 24.c realised that she didn't submit her taxes for the 2019 tax year. We have her tax returns for 2020 and 2018, but in the chaos of moving countries amongst other things 2019 was forgotten about. To solve this we were going to do the obvious thing and just file for 2019, however it's proving frustratingly difficult to get all of the required tax information for both Canada and New Zealand during that year in order to report it on the US tax return.

 

We already know that her US based income for the 2019 tax year doesn't meet the sponsorship requirements (or 2018 or 2020) which is why we have a joint sponsor. Will it be enough to provide her 2020 tax transcript, and the total income reported for 2020 and 2018 given that we are relying on a joint sponsor anyway? Or will it be absolutely required that all three tax years are there?

 

Thanks for your help!

[Zan1 4]

I don't think I can edit my post, but I've just learned some additional information.

 

My spouse was a graduate student during the 2019 tax year, earning a research stipend. Her income for that year was under the 12,000USD required in order to file taxes and so from what I understand, isn't required to file taxes for that year. I think this is a more valid explanation as to why we're missing the 2019 tax return than 'we forgot', even if it was a coincidence.

 

I think we'll list the income for 2020 and 2018, and put N/A for 2019 and provide evidence that her income was under the IRS required level for that year.

[pushbrk 12,897]

47 minutes ago, Zan1 said:

I don't think I can edit my post, but I've just learned some additional information.

 

My spouse was a graduate student during the 2019 tax year, earning a research stipend. Her income for that year was under the 12,000USD required in order to file taxes and so from what I understand, isn't required to file taxes for that year. I think this is a more valid explanation as to why we're missing the 2019 tax return than 'we forgot', even if it was a coincidence.

 

I think we'll list the income for 2020 and 2018, and put N/A for 2019 and provide evidence that her income was under the IRS required level for that year.

There's a box to check indicating not required to file.  You can also hand write in that section, "Income below filing threshold".