I-864 Tax Returns / Transcript Questions! Help!

[jeffinjapan 0]

Hello all,

I have a few questions about I-864 item number 14.

I'm really confused, so I hope somebody can help!

A while back I realized that I needed to back file my taxes since I am living in Japan and hadn't filed taxes in the US in a long time. You can read that thread here.

Well I finally got my papers back from my accountant for the past three years.

In each bundle I have forms 1040X, 1040, 1116 and 2555. I believe this is my "tax return" but I'm not sure since I don't have the 1099 and W2 forms that the instructions mention...

Is this what I need to send?

Do I need to get the 1099 and W2 forms from my accountant? I imagine that they needed to fill those out, correct?

Am I better off just getting transcripts from the IRS?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! I'm really confused since I told the accountant what I needed, but not sure if I got what I asked for or not...

Thank you!!!

[Hypnos 6,576]

You can download transcripts for free from the IRS: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Get-Transcript

You're probably better off with those.

[elvenshadow 19]

Jeff, go with the transcripts. The only thing is that if you sent your forms by snail mail, they may take up to 8 weeks to appear. I filed my 2013 taxes May 1^st but there is still no full, proper 2013 transcript available. I got the 2012 and 2011 ones instantly with no problems though. I am hoping the 2013 one is ready before it is time for me to send the AOS packet. If you send those transcripts, you do not need to send anything else. If you absolutely cannot wait, you can send the 1040 and all of the other files you listed. As for your W2s, you only need them if you do not send the transcript. I didn’t know this until just today so I already went an translated mine into English (which was a pain). The Japanese equivalent of a W2 is源泉徴収票 (げんせんちょうしゅうひょう).

Also, it seems that if you have a joint sponsor, regardless of whether or not that person sends the transcript or the 1040 and all that other stuff, they need to send their W2s anyway, so be careful.

[jeffinjapan 0]

Thanks for the replies!!!

I am on the IRS homepage listed above and it has different types of transcripts...

I need the "return transcript," right?

The other choices are: record of account transcript, account transcript and wage and income transcript.

Do I only need the most recent year or the past three years of transcripts?

Thanks!!!

[elvenshadow 19]

Yes, you want the return transcript. You technically only need to send the most recent year, so 2013. You can also send 2012 and 2011. I would recommend doing so just in case they want it for whatever reason later on, it won’t cause delays.

Keep in mind that if you do not submit the 2012 and 2011 transcripts, you still need to write in the information from them on the actual I-864 in section 13.

One more thing, when filling out the I-864, be careful about the boxes that you check in regards to which forms you are sending. The way they word things is extremely confusing. I heard from someone that you should click BOTH boxes if you are sending all 3… but then I heard from someone else that you only click the 2^nd box if you are sending all 3. I am actually not quite clear on this myself but I THINK you click both boxes… maybe… Hopefully someone else can chime in on this one.

Edited May 23, 2014 by elvenshadow

[jeffinjapan 0]

One more thing, when filling out the I-864, be careful about the boxes that you check in regards to which forms you are sending. The way they word things is extremely confusing. I heard from someone that you should click BOTH boxes if you are sending all 3… but then I heard from someone else that you only click the 2^nd box if you are sending all 3. I am actually not quite clear on this myself but I THINK you click both boxes… maybe… Hopefully someone else can chime in on this one.

Ouch! That does seem confusing!!! Anybody know for sure???

[jeffinjapan 0]

I'm going to go with both boxes!!!

[elvenshadow 19]

Yea, it is both boxes.