Hello,

I filed a petition for an immigrant visa on behalf of my husband. Now I have to complete the affidavit of support...I have two questions:
1. We live in Germany and I have been working for a german company, now I am at home as we had a baby and I am taking care of it therefore I cannot give any income but I have assets enough, more then required. Can I only fill in the assets and leave the income blank ?
2. As I am German and American citizen and I have only been working in Germany I did not know I have to file a US tax return. Can anyone tell me how to fill out the 1040 ? The system is quite different and most of the questions do not apply to my case. e.g. my husband doesn't have a SSN yet. They told me I have to file for the last 6 years ???!!! Is it sufficient if I only fill in my income and the income taxes I paid ? I did not have any other income besides my salary...

Thanks in advance for your help

Flea

1. I would include salary information as well, however you can call/email the NVC to double check this.
2. If you want to take the hassle out of filling your foreign tax return 1040, why not get a company like H&R Block to do it for you?, it doesnt cost a lot and this way you know that it has been done properly, after all you dont want anything to delay your case !!

Goodluck to you both on the rest of your journey !!

Thanks, but the thing is, I am living in Germany, this company you recommended is in the US right ?
I do not know who can help me here in Germany...Unfortunately the IRS is moving from the consulate in Berlin to Frankfurt at the moment so there is nobody I can reach in the consulate at this moment..

Flea,

1. I would enter zero rather than leave a blank space.

2. Call or e-mail the IRS International Customer Service Site in Philadelphia. Or contact the American Chamber of Commerce, or perhaps the American Citizen Services unit of the consular section, for a list of US tax preparers in Germany, if there are any. There might well be.

Yodrak

I'm going through the same thing just now, but in the UK. I didn't realise I had to be filing taxes in the USA. My income is not enough to meet poverty lines either but I still need to file taxes.

However, if you have made less than the minium filing requirement, you won't need to file.
Here's a chart from the embassy in London

http://www.usembassy.org.uk/irs/irswho.htm

I've been told to file as married person filing seperately, even though my husband won't file and doesn't have a SSN.
I only made more than the $3,200 minimum one of the three years, so I am only filing for that one year.

You might need to file 1040 and 2555. The 2555 is the foreign exclusion form, which states that you do not need to pay US taxes.

Have you seen
www.irs.gov
You can download the forms from there and there are instructions and faqs too.

Thanks for your reply ! I managed to reach somebody from the consulate in Frankfurt and they were really helpful. It is easier then it looks like. They told me to file seperately and instead of putting the SSN of my husband to write NRA...I have a question to you: Are you using your income to fullfill the income requirements or assets only ?
I am working for a german company and I guess they only count income earned in or for the US, right ?

Regards
Flea

Good I'm glad you managed to get a hold of someone.

What does NRA stand for?

Yes, I believe they do only count US earned income. My income doesn't meet the requirements anyway. I'm using my dad as a joint sponsor.

We're currently going through the DCF- process in Germany, too (?), and when we filed the petition in Frankfurt we asked the lady at the window about the affidavid, because we had a similar situation: my husband (the USC) has lived in Germany for the last 2 years and therefore could not provide income from the US at the time being.
However, she said the income "of importance" would be his income at the day of the interview.
(I couldn't find anything in writing supporting this, so please, if this is wrong: correct!)

He will be employed in Germany until October 31st, start his job in the States on Nov. 1st and that's also the day of my interview . So we don't have to worry about this one anymore... one less thing
It's not an ideal date for us because he won't be able to get an employer's letter before Nov. 1st, but we have a detailed email conversation with his new HR rep stating his income and hope that that will do...

What else will we have to file with the affidavid of support? The last tax return, sure, but anything else?

Speaking of: I'm pretty sure that my husband had the American equivalent of a "Steuerberater" to do his taxes while he lived abroad and it never seemed to be a problem having someone in the US do it.

Good luck to all of you!

NRA= Non Resident Alien