N-400 Naturalization Interview

[jcrom 2]

Hello everybody. I have a problem with my taxes. I have always filed the taxes with my wife by separated way; unfortunately, my wife is a stubborn person who does not want to fill taxes together never. I have all the evidences, included my joint bank account, life insurance where it appears the beneficiary my wife; the lease with the both names, my car insurance with the 2 names on it; bills and a few financial joint bills with both names and of course, my certificate of marriage, too. My question is the following, is it very important the joint filled taxes for the interview? I've heard that they asked to the most of the people who is going to interview on the base of a 3 year marriage with a U.S. citizen; however, just a few people are asked in the interview about the taxes (less than 10% of the people), the most of the people are asked other question regarding with the person or application. What I know that filling taxes together is not obligation, it is obligation to fill taxes that is not the same situation. My interview is going to be in Philadelphia, PA, I don't know how tough are the interview officer for this issue. Any Comments? Recomendations, Advices? Thanks and bye,

[Kathryn41 3,205]

It is not necessarily 'jointly-filed taxes' that they need to see. What they need to see primarily is that you have filed taxes since this is an obligation of both Permanent Residents and citizens and you need to be current on your taxes to be eligible for citizenship. You file your taxes in a way that makes the best legal financial sense to your personal financial situation and for some people, that means filing individually. Your marriage status is still recorded on the tax return, and if required,you can always provide tax transcripts of both partners who have filed as married, filing independently showing they have both filed as married and listing the other as their spouse. The reason most people who file this way do so is because it is in their financial best interest to do so - they end up paying less taxes than if they filed jointly or they protect the other/family from certain tax liabilities, etc.

So, provide copies of your transcripts and have copies of your wife's at hand if requested to show them at the interview. I suspect they won't request to see them, but you can always be prepared. Good luck at the interview!

Edited April 10, 2010 by Kathryn41

[antda 13]

Hello everybody. I have a problem with my taxes. I have always filed the taxes with my wife by separated way; unfortunately, my wife is a stubborn person who does not want to fill taxes together never. I have all the evidences, included my joint bank account, life insurance where it appears the beneficiary my wife; the lease with the both names, my car insurance with the 2 names on it; bills and a few financial joint bills with both names and of course, my certificate of marriage, too. My question is the following, is it very important the joint filled taxes for the interview? I've heard that they asked to the most of the people who is going to interview on the base of a 3 year marriage with a U.S. citizen; however, just a few people are asked in the interview about the taxes (less than 10% of the people), the most of the people are asked other question regarding with the person or application. What I know that filling taxes together is not obligation, it is obligation to fill taxes that is not the same situation. My interview is going to be in Philadelphia, PA, I don't know how tough are the interview officer for this issue. Any Comments? Recomendations, Advices? Thanks and bye,

Jcrom-I don't know specifically about Philly, PA...but....

Well...If you didn't have any joint taxes for the Removal of Conditions, Adjustment of Status, and other stages of the immigration game...And they didn't give you any problems about it before (by the way, did they or any other government agency ever give you any problems about such before? And if they did give you any problems, how did you deal with such?...)

So...If you filed that way before, and they gave you no problems about it, then they more likely than not, wouldn't give you any problems at this stage of the game either...

If it makes you feel any better, when I went to my citizenship interview (in Buffalo, NY), they did ask about our 'unique' situation regarding our tax returns....

So I explained my 'unique' situation entirely. And they had no problems with that...

So if I were you, I would explain about yours and your wife's situation..

And bring both yours and your wife's tax returns and other evidence regarding that....

And hopefully they will undetstand there...

After all, you need to file in the best way of yours and your wife's best financial interests, not the USCIS'!

And if that means filing 'married but separate', and as long as it is legal, then so be it....

Hope this helps. Good luck on your journey too.

Ant

Edited April 10, 2010 by Ant+D+BabyA

[NickD 202]

Won't get into reasons why you can get a much lower tax rate by filing a joint return, did you ever do it both ways? Both my wife and I were married to nuts that didn't know the value of the buck, we have no problem in sharing our finances, both of us are frugal.

But the USCIS doesn't specify that you must file a joint return, just that they want to see the last three years of your tax returns, if filing separately, have to bring in both sets of tax returns.