N-400 document requirements - 3-year tax transcript?

[Wingnutfish 18]

So, my wife (LPR) and I (USC) are preparing to submit the N-400 application, and I'm pretty confused about the one part of the required documents checklist:

 

Quote

 

If you are applying for naturalization on the basis of marriage to a U.S. citizen, send the following 4 items:

 

...

 

4. Documents referring to your and your spouse:

 a. Tax returns, bank accounts, leases, mortgages, or birth certificates of children; or

 b. Internal Revenue Service (IRS)-certified copies of the income tax forms that you both filed for the past 3 years; or

 c. An IRS tax return transcript for the last 3 years

 

 

The tax transcript would be a piece of cake. Only one problem: Lots people who have only been a green card holder for 3 years haven't yet filed 3 years of taxes. My wife was only allowed to move to the U.S. and become an LPR in November 14, meaning she wasn't liable for US taxes in 2014 (unless she had worked in the US during those last two months, which she didn't). So our first joint tax return was of course 2015. That means we only have the 2015 and 2016 tax returns.

 

So what are we supposed to do? Is part (a) trying to say that we should instead send in those two tax returns with addition evidence such as shared bank accounts? And if so, can I use IRS transcripts instead of the actual returns?

 

Thanks in advance!

[Suss&Camm 2,213]

31 minutes ago, Wingnutfish said:

So, my wife (LPR) and I (USC) are preparing to submit the N-400 application, and I'm pretty confused about the one part of the required documents checklist:

 

 

The tax transcript would be a piece of cake. Only one problem: Lots people who have only been a green card holder for 3 years haven't yet filed 3 years of taxes. My wife was only allowed to move to the U.S. and become an LPR in November 14, meaning she wasn't liable for US taxes in 2014 (unless she had worked in the US during those last two months, which she didn't). So our first joint tax return was of course 2015. That means we only have the 2015 and 2016 tax returns.

 

So what are we supposed to do? Is part (a) trying to say that we should instead send in those two tax returns with addition evidence such as shared bank accounts? And if so, can I use IRS transcripts instead of the actual returns?

 

Thanks in advance!

You can only supply what you have - if you have 2 you send 2 - send along a short explanation as to why if you want to. I also want to say that she didn't have to have worked in the US for you to have filed jointly for 2014. She could have reported her foreign earned income as well.

[aleful 1,905]

hi

 

plus, by the time you have your interview, you will have 2017 taxes done

 

you can take all taxes and proof of bona fide marriage to the interview

 

 

[Russ&Caro 1,549]

You might consider re-doing your 2014 taxes. It might seem like a pain in the you-know-what but it might also end up being a windfall for you. If your wife arrived in Nov 2014, then you, as a couple, qualified to file a joint return. Nine times out of ten, filing jointly as a married couple results in a lower tax bill. I believe me and my wife saved around $1,500 by filing jointly instead of separately in her first partial year of residency in the US.

 

But as Suss&Camm mention, you're only required to file what you have, and if it's just 2 years then it's just 2 years.

[Wingnutfish 18]

No, I researched very carefully back when doing the 2014 taxes, and it would have cost us a lot more to file jointly: She had a fair amount of income outside the US that year, which wasn't taxable here because she wasn't a US resident yet. Filing jointly would have required us to make a statement saying that we were treating her as a resident for the whole year, thus making her income from Taiwan taxable in the US. She of course wasn't withholding US taxes while working in Taiwan, so that would have meant we would owe hundreds of dollars more in taxes for the year.

 

Thanks for the advice though. So do we need to provide the tax stuff when mailing in the N-400 and also bring it to the interview?

Edited October 24, 2017 by Wingnutfish

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

On 10/17/2017 at 3:13 PM, Wingnutfish said:

So, my wife (LPR) and I (USC) are preparing to submit the N-400 application, and I'm pretty confused about the one part of the required documents checklist:

 

 

The tax transcript would be a piece of cake. Only one problem: Lots people who have only been a green card holder for 3 years haven't yet filed 3 years of taxes. My wife was only allowed to move to the U.S. and become an LPR in November 14, meaning she wasn't liable for US taxes in 2014 (unless she had worked in the US during those last two months, which she didn't). So our first joint tax return was of course 2015. That means we only have the 2015 and 2016 tax returns.

 

So what are we supposed to do? Is part (a) trying to say that we should instead send in those two tax returns with addition evidence such as shared bank accounts? And if so, can I use IRS transcripts instead of the actual returns?

 

Thanks in advance!

on the IRS green card test - If your wife became an LPR during 2014 then she should have had a tax return filed for 2014, as non resident for the first part of the year and as resident for the period from November on - even if she wasn’t required to pay taxes she should have filed a return. 

 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/alien-residency-green-card-test

You are a resident, for U.S. federal tax purposes, if you are a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States at any time during the calendar year. This is known as the "green card" test.

...If you meet the green card test at anytime during the calendar year, but do not meet the substantial presence test for that year, your residency starting date is the first day on which you are present in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident.

 

 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/taxation-of-dual-status-aliens 

Resident Alien at End of Year

You must file Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, if you are a dual-status taxpayer who becomes a resident during the year and who is a U.S. resident on the last day of the tax year. Write "Dual-Status Return" across the top of the return. ...

 

 

Edited October 25, 2017 by SusieQQQ

[Wingnutfish 18]

On 10/24/2017 at 5:29 PM, SusieQQQ said:

You are a resident, for U.S. federal tax purposes, if you are a Lawful Permanent Resident of the United States at any time during the calendar year. This is known as the "green card" test.

...If you meet the green card test at anytime during the calendar year, but do not meet the substantial presence test for that year, your residency starting date is the first day on which you are present in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident.

Yes, this is our situation. She meets the green card test but not the substantial presence test, since we didn't move to the US until November, which is when she became an LPR (and she was completely absent from the country the previous year, and only here for 40 days the year before that).

 

On 10/24/2017 at 5:29 PM, SusieQQQ said:

You must file Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, if you are a dual-status taxpayer who becomes a resident during the year and who is a U.S. resident on the last day of the tax year.

I had read this to mean, "If you are required to file taxes, the form you must use is Form 1040". My wife had no US income prior to becoming an LPR, and no income at all after she became one. And zero income normally means you're not required to file. These guys came to the same conclusion, so I'm not crazy, but there's amazingly little information online clarifying this. I would expect that if it was required even with zero income, there would be warnings all over the place reminding you of that.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

1 hour ago, Wingnutfish said:

Yes, this is our situation. She meets the green card test but not the substantial presence test, since we didn't move to the US until November, which is when she became an LPR (and she was completely absent from the country the previous year, and only here for 40 days the year before that).

 

 

If you meet the GC test you are required to file - even if you don’t meet the substantial presence test and have earned zero income in your time as resident in that year. 

 

There is something else we found on the irs site clarifying that, and our tax guy agreed. This was a few years ago so  I don’t have it easily to hand right now. We have a tax return filed for 5 days of our first year at zero income to show when we need our 5 years of tax transcripts... 

that link you quoted has a lot of “I guess” in the answer?! Not something I’d personally rely on.

Edited October 26, 2017 by SusieQQQ

[Wingnutfish 18]

Yeah, just frustrating that there doesn't seem to be anything reliable about it either way online. I guess she could just file it now. That way, she could also just answer "NO" to "have you ever NOT filed taxes", I assume, which could make things simpler. Hopefully they'll be okay with us sending in the N-400 with two years of joint tax transcripts plus photocopies of her recently filed first year return.