More tax question

[Bouhaliya 0]

Hi y'all!

The tax question downthread (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/292839-2009-tax-return-married-but-may-file-single-please-help/page__st__15__gopid__5133415#entry5133415) has raised a few questions of my own.

I actually have not filed for taxes since 2009, the year I left the US. I got married in Jan. 2010, which is also the same month I started school. I've been a full-time student in Canada, and what little income I've made here has been between $0 and $8,000/year (the $8000 only being from this year as I had a particularly "lucrative" year!). I don't have any dependents, and I don't own any assets back in the US (the one asset that I do technically own a share of is also co-owned by my grandparents, and they pay taxes on that). So I just didn't bother to file.

I've already been thinking about filing back taxes in case this decides to complicate things for us during the I-864. But, as Carlos' Wife points out, this raises questions over how to file. The best advice seemed to be to file as HOH and to file by hand, so that's probably what I'll do, but I also know that I won't owe anything, so is it really necessary to file at all?

Please advise

[yousufwalton 0]

irs guidelines say you are not required to file if your income is under 9600 for single and like 12 grand for HoH goes for domestic and expat filers

you can if you want to but you dont "have to"

[Bouhaliya 0]

irs guidelines say you are not required to file if your income is under 9600 for single and like 12 grand for HoH goes for domestic and expat filers

you can if you want to but you dont "have to"

Thanks for the reassurance. I think at this point, it'd be more hassle than it's worth to back file (that is, unless anyone can speak from experience to the contrary!).

Do you (or anyone else reading) happen to know how I approach this with the I-864? I know they request copies of tax returns for the last three years. Obviously, if I didn't file, I don't have those...

So, in that case, the I-864 states:

If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law because your income was too low, attach a written explanation. If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law for any other reason, attach a written explanation including evidence of the exemption and how you are subject to it.

Ok, so "evidence" would be... what? Pay stubs from my university since 2010? My husband's pay stubs to show that he earned more than me, and therefore he was the one supporting us financially while residing abroad? Further internet reading says that I may or may not have to provide a letter (statement of non-filing?) from the IRS confirming that I'm exempt (under IRS Tax Code, Title 26, if I'm reading correctly?)??? Ack, I feel like the more I read on the matter, the deeper I fall into the rabbit hole!

Anyways, sorry to dump all these questions onto this forum! I've always been confused by taxes and the like, and so this certainly isn't helping my anxiety over the I-864! Please, someone reassure me that this is manageable and it will go down without a hitch!

[Bouhaliya 0]

Thanks for the reassurance. I think at this point, it'd be more hassle than it's worth to back file (that is, unless anyone can speak from experience to the contrary!).

Do you (or anyone else reading) happen to know how I approach this with the I-864? I know they request copies of tax returns for the last three years. Obviously, if I didn't file, I don't have those...

So, in that case, the I-864 states:

If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law because your income was too low, attach a written explanation. If you were not required to file a Federal income tax return under U.S. tax law for any other reason, attach a written explanation including evidence of the exemption and how you are subject to it.

Ok, so "evidence" would be... what? Pay stubs from my university since 2010? My husband's pay stubs to show that he earned more than me, and therefore he was the one supporting us financially while residing abroad? Further internet reading says that I may or may not have to provide a letter (statement of non-filing?) from the IRS confirming that I'm exempt (under IRS Tax Code, Title 26, if I'm reading correctly?)??? Ack, I feel like the more I read on the matter, the deeper I fall into the rabbit hole!

Anyways, sorry to dump all these questions onto this forum! I've always been confused by taxes and the like, and so this certainly isn't helping my anxiety over the I-864! Please, someone reassure me that this is manageable and it will go down without a hitch!

Found this: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/282809-irs-filing-i-864no-return-filed-last-year/

Thought I'd share in case there are others in the same situation.

So, to summarize my findings (and please, anyone feel free to jump in here to add to/correct what I've found):

• If you did not file because you didn't make enough, as per the I-864's instructions, you have to write a letter explaining why you did not file.
  
• This letter should specifically reference the tax code under which you are exempt. My internet research has turned up the following (found at http://forum.diveintoamerica.com/archive/index.php?t-3607.html):
  
  1. Title 26, 6013(a)(1) states that married US Citizens with non-resident alien spouses will not be eligible to file a joint return. As a result, if required to file a return, they must file separately as as if they were an unmarried individual.
     
  2. Title 26, 1(d) provides married individuals with the election to file separately. Those filing separate returns will have certain rules regarding unmarried individuals applied to them, including...
     
  3. Title 26, 6012(a)(1)(A)(i), which states that individuals earning less than the exemption plus standard deduction are not required to file income tax returns.
     

  [*] You can also opt to "cover your bases" by requesting a Verification of Nonfiling (form 4506-T, found here http://www.irs.gov/p...-pdf/f4506t.pdf) from the IRS. This is not concrete proof that you did not need to file (so you will still need to show evidence that you are indeed exempt under Title 26), but it is further documentation that you can show the immigration officials that you did not file.

  [*] And here I'm just conjecturing, but to really play it safe, you should also provide whatever financial "proofs" you have that you are exempt under Title 26 (i.e. pay stubs, or tax returns from your resident country abroad, etc.).

Whew! So what do you guys think? Does that sound about right?

[Lynn/Saif 1]

Found this: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/282809-irs-filing-i-864no-return-filed-last-year/

Thought I'd share in case there are others in the same situation.

So, to summarize my findings (and please, anyone feel free to jump in here to add to/correct what I've found):

• If you did not file because you didn't make enough, as per the I-864's instructions, you have to write a letter explaining why you did not file.
  
• This letter should specifically reference the tax code under which you are exempt. My internet research has turned up the following (found at http://forum.diveintoamerica.com/archive/index.php?t-3607.html):
  
  1. Title 26, 6013(a)(1) states that married US Citizens with non-resident alien spouses will not be eligible to file a joint return. As a result, if required to file a return, they must file separately as as if they were an unmarried individual.
     
  2. Title 26, 1(d) provides married individuals with the election to file separately. Those filing separate returns will have certain rules regarding unmarried individuals applied to them, including...
     
  3. Title 26, 6012(a)(1)(A)(i), which states that individuals earning less than the exemption plus standard deduction are not required to file income tax returns.
     

  [*] You can also opt to "cover your bases" by requesting a Verification of Nonfiling (form 4506-T, found here http://www.irs.gov/p...-pdf/f4506t.pdf) from the IRS. This is not concrete proof that you did not need to file (so you will still need to show evidence that you are indeed exempt under Title 26), but it is further documentation that you can show the immigration officials that you did not file.

  [*] And here I'm just conjecturing, but to really play it safe, you should also provide whatever financial "proofs" you have that you are exempt under Title 26 (i.e. pay stubs, or tax returns from your resident country abroad, etc.).

Whew! So what do you guys think? Does that sound about right?

Hi y'all!

The tax question downthread (http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/292839-2009-tax-return-married-but-may-file-single-please-help/page__st__15__gopid__5133415#entry5133415) has raised a few questions of my own.

I actually have not filed for taxes since 2009, the year I left the US. I got married in Jan. 2010, which is also the same month I started school. I've been a full-time student in Canada, and what little income I've made here has been between $0 and $8,000/year (the $8000 only being from this year as I had a particularly "lucrative" year!). I don't have any dependents, and I don't own any assets back in the US (the one asset that I do technically own a share of is also co-owned by my grandparents, and they pay taxes on that). So I just didn't bother to file.

I've already been thinking about filing back taxes in case this decides to complicate things for us during the I-864. But, as Carlos' Wife points out, this raises questions over how to file. The best advice seemed to be to file as HOH and to file by hand, so that's probably what I'll do, but I also know that I won't owe anything, so is it really necessary to file at all?

Please advise

Unless he lives with you for more than 6 months file as Single!! Just had my taxes done 2 weeks ago and this is what H&R said

[Bouhaliya 0]

Unless he lives with you for more than 6 months file as Single!! Just had my taxes done 2 weeks ago and this is what H&R said

Ah, alas! We've been living together for nearly 2 and a half years! But I've been reading a bit and I'm pretty sure that I have sound evidence to prove that I'm just a poor graduate student and that the IRS has nothing to gain from me!

[GitmeOuttaHere 0]

My wife just filed 3 yrs worth of tax returns because she has not filed since 2007. She is the usc, but we have lived here in Canada and been married for almost 19yrs We felt the same way as it seems pointless to file when we have no US income, no w2's and cannot claim any deductions even though we have 3 kids. She had only ever filed in 2007 because of some sort of Obama rebate she got. We don't owe any US taxes, and have always done our Canadian taxes. So hopefully we can get transcripts to send in soon. We were glad to just do them and get them out of the way.

[Bouhaliya 0]

My wife just filed 3 yrs worth of tax returns because she has not filed since 2007. She is the usc, but we have lived here in Canada and been married for almost 19yrs We felt the same way as it seems pointless to file when we have no US income, no w2's and cannot claim any deductions even though we have 3 kids. She had only ever filed in 2007 because of some sort of Obama rebate she got. We don't owe any US taxes, and have always done our Canadian taxes. So hopefully we can get transcripts to send in soon. We were glad to just do them and get them out of the way.

Interesting. How long ago did she send them in (and when do you expect them back?) How did you/she go about beginning the process? Did you have to file by hand, or were you able to use a software? Or were you able to find US tax specialists (I'm in Canada too, so if that's an option, it might be worth investigating!)?

So many questions!

Good for you guys, though, getting all your tax ducks in a row! Fingers crossed it goes smoothly!