RFE Confusion: Income/poverty guidelines

[mallafri76 1,012]

Sorry to hear you got checklist. They really need to work on the NVC phase as it seems A LOT of people get checklists in this phase. Hope it works out for.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Sorry to hear you got checklist. They really need to work on the NVC phase as it seems A LOT of people get checklists in this phase. Hope it works out for.

They're not at NVC. The immigrant is already in the US and doing Adjustment of Status from a K-1

The I-864 is checklisted/RFE'd a lot though. I'm not sure if it's possible to make it simpler while still fulfilling its purpose.

[mallafri76 1,012]

They're not at NVC. The immigrant is already in the US and doing Adjustment of Status from a K-1

The I-864 is checklisted/RFE'd a lot though. I'm not sure if it's possible to make it simpler while still fulfilling its purpose.

Oh, thanks. ? I guess that means the US government needs to work on all parts of the immigration process because there seem to be a lot of checklists, left, right and center.

[Pheebs1201 269]

Yeah that's what I'm saying but she was rude and annoying and we didn't want to argue with her . My husband asked if he can talk to an officer about the problem ( I was on the line the same time too ) and she said I'm officer Sir ! They won't let you to talk to the officer who is working on your case to figure out the problem. I don't know. Hope yours will be solve soon XoX

Eugh, what a nightmare! These people need to realise how much they're messing people's lives up... thanks so much xxx

There is a requirement to submit the latest tax return. Many people don't seem to understand what that includes. If you don't send that properly, they do not consider your income or other proofs. They don't look at your stuff if the tax return submission is incomplete. They send an RFE ticked1) send a tax return, 2) you don't qualify, and sometimes 3) get a joint sponsor. You may not lack proof of enough income at all. It may be only that your tax return wasn't complete so they put on the brakes right there and sent you that generic RFE. Fix the tax return and it fixes the problem.

So a review about the tax return submission--

A W2 alone doesn't work. If you send a W2, they expect a tax return for the same year.

There are two ways to provide proper tax submission.

1) a tax return transcript from the IRS. There are other transcripts. Get the tax RETURN transcript. Nothing goes with it. The I-864 instructions say do not send a W2 if you send a tax transcript.

2) a photocopy of your entire tax return + W2 or 1099.

(Employees get a W2 wage statement. If you are a contractor, your wages might be on a 1099)

The photocopy of your tax return could be from very simple to many pages depending on your personal taxes. Some of the common things you might have are--

Form 1040 or 1040A or 1040EZ

Schedule A -Itemized Deductions

Schedule B - interest and Dividends

Schedule C -Profit or Loss from a Business

Schedule D -capital Gains and Losses

Form 2555- Foreign Income Exclusion

Form 8965 - Health coverage Exemptions

Not everybody has the same forms, but it must be a photocopy of every form and schedule in your tax return PLUS the W2 or 1099.

Thanks for this really comprehensive info! I was sure Dan had included his latest tax transcript from IRS but looking at this list is making me doubtful. Going to thoroughly analyse the situation this weekend!

Edited April 8, 2015 by Pheebs1201

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

Thanks for this really comprehensive info! I was sure Dan had included his latest tax transcript from IRS but looking at this list is making me doubtful. Going to thoroughly analyse the situation this weekend!

A tax transcript is much shorter because it's every form all run together with the pertinent information shown line after line, mostly single spaced. Example of a transcript http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/89685168.png

Not sure if 2014 transcripts are ready yet. Maybe with e-filing they are available quickly.

[N-o-l-a 7,167]

Not sure if 2014 transcripts are ready yet. Maybe with e-filing they are available quickly.

For most people who've received their refunds, yes, they are ready for viewing/printing online. For us unfortunate folks who are stuck in error resolution because of obamacare 1095a forms, then no, many of them are not ready.

OP - my first thoughts lined up with Nich-Nick's about not sending in proper previous year's tax documentation.

[Nich-Nick 3,353]

For most people who've received their refunds, yes, they are ready for viewing/printing online. For us unfortunate folks who are stuck in error resolution because of obamacare 1095a forms, then no, many of them are not ready.

OP - my first thoughts lined up with Nich-Nick's about not sending in proper previous year's tax documentation.

Thanks. I didn't know how quick they were. Haven't needed one in a while. I just submitted my e-file last night and authorization to take money out of my bank account for payment. Ouch! Was not in any hurry since we owe several thousand. No clue how the whole Obamacare things will play out. I guess we will find out. My TurboTax even said something about "Thanks for getting through this first year Health care issue with us."

I have seen others resolve RFEs with the right tax submission. They really ought to make those RFEs say something easy like

[x] your tax return documentation is incomplete so you won't qualify as a sponsor until you fix that.

[x] we haven't looked at your optional proofs of income yet so for now we just say it isn't enough to worry you.

[TheAff 5]

Hey Pheebs - did you get any further in trying to resolve this?

We also received an RFE for AoS - they only asked for proof of income to meet 125% of the poverty guideline, nothing about tax returns though. We initially submitted a letter from her work that listed her salary (65k) and position etc. We also submitted recent pay stubs and deposit records from her bank showing well over 50k in savings. I'm not sure why any of this wasn't accepted - her previous tax returns meet the requirements too, even when she was working part-time. It was nothing to do with not submitting the correct tax records as they would have asked for that in the RFE.

Anyway, we had the head of her law firm and the hiring partner both write letters on the firms letterhead detailing her salary, her future potential raises, her future (good) employment prospects, as well as company benefits and her 401k profit-sharing account that the firm manages. We also had the bank manager of our local branch detail everything from average balances, deposits, and account age and pull up 12 months of statements. I'm hoping that this is adequate as we really have no idea what else we could submit. We were surprised at receiving an RFE in the first place.

[Pheebs1201 269]

Hey Pheebs - did you get any further in trying to resolve this?

We also received an RFE for AoS - they only asked for proof of income to meet 125% of the poverty guideline, nothing about tax returns though. We initially submitted a letter from her work that listed her salary (65k) and position etc. We also submitted recent pay stubs and deposit records from her bank showing well over 50k in savings. I'm not sure why any of this wasn't accepted - her previous tax returns meet the requirements too, even when she was working part-time. It was nothing to do with not submitting the correct tax records as they would have asked for that in the RFE.

Anyway, we had the head of her law firm and the hiring partner both write letters on the firms letterhead detailing her salary, her future potential raises, her future (good) employment prospects, as well as company benefits and her 401k profit-sharing account that the firm manages. We also had the bank manager of our local branch detail everything from average balances, deposits, and account age and pull up 12 months of statements. I'm hoping that this is adequate as we really have no idea what else we could submit. We were surprised at receiving an RFE in the first place.

Not yet, still trying to get together documents from a co-sponsor (even though we are beyond the income requirements) as we are hoping this will solve it