I haven't submitted 2017's taxes, will this complicate immigration?

[Jemera 15]

I have been kicking myself all morning because I did not get a proof of extension approval from the accountant nor did I request tax transcripts for the past two years in a timely fashion. This is going to delay submitting my AoS by at least a week, probably more. But I will just have to wait until Tuesday to make some calls and get the ball rolling again. This process is stressful and at times it can be overwhelming. The only thing you can do is tackle the problem at your earliest opportunity. The sooner you get started, the sooner you will be reunited with your loved one. Like others, I suggest finding an accountant as soon as you can because the alternative to doing your taxes is not completing this process.

[CEE53147 559]

OP,  You boggle my mind. If you cannot afford health insurance for yourself, how are you going to pay for your wife's. It is critical because she may become pregnant and have huge medical bills.

 

Your taxes are not complex in the scheme of things.  If you cannot figure them out, go to a tax professional. You really need to do so since you have a mess on your hands by not filing appropriately. A CPA or enrolled agent should be your choice and will likely cost a pretty penny.

[dawning 212]

28 minutes ago, JFox762 said:

Does Turbotax allow you to figure out "Community Property" issues? I have no idea how that applies seeing as my wife is a foreign spouse.

is Turbotax desktop the same as the online version?

In 2014 I filed 2013 tax year as married filing separately because my husband hadn't come to the US yet and did not have an SSN.  I used Turbo Tax and printed the returns to mail, writing NRA  by hand in the SSN spot.  My state of California also seemed to be a community property state and TT guided my through that part of the return.  It mostly had to do with providing information about my husband's income in the tax year, which was all in his home country.   I used the desktop version.

 

I hope that helps!

[JFox762 18]

CEE53147, we will likely end up enrolling in one of those Christian Healthshare ministries, in order to cover some basic healthcare issues as well as pregnancy. I wasn't really aware of how good those programs were until recently. 

With the raise I'm getting soon, and also the end of all these expensive immigration costs... we'll be able to afford the healthshare ministry. 

[pushbrk 12,233]

11 hours ago, JFox762 said:

My wife and I are at the NVC stage, and apparently we need to submit proof of income for Affidavit of Support. 
 

While you will need a complete copy of your 2017 tax return, including W2 form or a Tax Return Transcript, your statement above indicates you don't understand the difference between the required tax return information and actual evidence of current income.  You need both.  Evidence of your current income would be provided in terms of a copy of a current pay stub.  File your 2017 tax return.  Amend it later when your spouse has a Social Security number, but "evidence of income" is that pay stub, not your tax return.

[shumway1756 304]

2 hours ago, missileman said:

I'm not sure about Turbotax online version........I guess you could use it if it allows you to print your tax forms withouy transmitting them.

I can confirm that this is possible, I was able to do this. Turbo tax actually has some articles on this, they say to enter “999-88-9999” as the SSN, print it when finished, white it out and replace with NRA.

 

I did this with no issues (I did go the ITIN route, but same thing except I left the field blank to be filled in by the IRS processing center after they assigned the ITIN.)

 

This is very doable and not that expensive. OP should do this asap. Late payment penalties are growing by the day.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

If you do it online with Turbo Tax, they'll give you a bunch of possible exemptions for the healthcare penalty. If you don't meet any of them, then you'll pay the penalty. It does it all for you after you input information that should be easy for you to follow. We were exempted under code G last year and will be again this year.

 

Edit: I meant to clarify you'd do it with Turbo Tax then print it off to mail as others have said.

Edited September 2, 2018 by Ketsuban

[C&AH 104]

We had the same problem as well. In April, we filed jointly but in order to do so, we had to submit a W7 all done by mail. The ITIN request was rejected and the return not processed. That was after a 12 week wait,  which put us into July at which time we just got our NOA2 approval. So rather than reapply, I re-filed as married filing separately because we wanted to move the immigration process along. Had the W7 been approved and the return processed, we would have received a small return. Filing  as Head of Household (as a tax professional advised me to do) would have yielded a much larger return but I'm married and am not supposed to file that way despite what the tax pro said. Because of my filing as married filing separately, I now have the pleasure of owing the IRS 4x what the joint filing would have given us. On the other hand,  I now have a nice tax transcript just in time for NVC. The IRS accepted a small monthly installment plan and will probably consume our entire return next year to pay off the balance. But, hey, I'll gladly pay if it means getting my wife here smoothly. You have to decide what is more important to you.  Remember, being married to a foreign national-soon to be immigrant - comes with lots of sacrifices and taxes is one of them.  Best of luck to you on your journey. 

Edited September 2, 2018 by C&AH

[CEE53147 559]

5 hours ago, JFox762 said:

CEE53147, we will likely end up enrolling in one of those Christian Healthshare ministries, in order to cover some basic healthcare issues as well as pregnancy. I wasn't really aware of how good those programs were until recently. 

With the raise I'm getting soon, and also the end of all these expensive immigration costs... we'll be able to afford the healthshare ministry. 

 

I believe this is a poor choice. While it may cover basics OK, it is likely a catastrophic situation will destroy you financially.  For example, I was in the hospital (in a relatively low cost area) for 5 days of which only 2 were in the ICU.  The bill is early $50,000 and all of the bills are not in.  A premie infant with months in the NICU would run in the many $100,000s.  Look at the  cost with the credits on the health care exchange; you may be surprised at the final cost to you.

[JFox762 18]

2 hours ago, CEE53147 said:

 

I believe this is a poor choice. While it may cover basics OK, it is likely a catastrophic situation will destroy you financially.  For example, I was in the hospital (in a relatively low cost area) for 5 days of which only 2 were in the ICU.  The bill is early $50,000 and all of the bills are not in.  A premie infant with months in the NICU would run in the many $100,000s.  Look at the  cost with the credits on the health care exchange; you may be surprised at the final cost to you.

The concern there is that it is still up in the air whether or not accepting Obamacare subsidies would jeopardize our immigration status... considering that they are about to adopt new rules/re-interpret rules about what constitutes a "Public charge". 

Besides... since my company *DOES* provide affordable healthcare for the INDIVIDUAL (but not the family) we fall into that damnable "Family affordability glitch". In short, because my company provides "AFFORDABLE" individual plan... but not family plan, we are ineligible for a subsidies for any healthcare plans. 

Our only option, is a healthshare ministry. The plan I was looking into, can provide up to $1,000,000 of coverage, including pregnancy costs. 

ETA: Actually their highest plan, offers Unlimited. 

Edited September 3, 2018 by JFox762

[Echel0n 27]

1 hour ago, JFox762 said:

The concern there is that it is still up in the air whether or not accepting Obamacare subsidies would jeopardize our immigration status... considering that they are about to adopt new rules/re-interpret rules about what constitutes a "Public charge". 

Besides... since my company *DOES* provide affordable healthcare for the INDIVIDUAL (but not the family) we fall into that damnable "Family affordability glitch". In short, because my company provides "AFFORDABLE" individual plan... but not family plan, we are ineligible for a subsidies for any healthcare plans. 

Our only option, is a healthshare ministry. The plan I was looking into, can provide up to $1,000,000 of coverage, including pregnancy costs. 

ETA: Actually their highest plan, offers Unlimited. 

As a german here a typical german advice. Don't be cheap on your insurances or it will bite you in the ###. Germans usually pay about 40-50% of their income for social security, various insurances and taxes. And we have one of the best social/health systems in the world. As my preposters said - 1 accident or 1 severe infection and you are bancrupt in US without good insurance. People love to complain about Obamacare - but from my perspective it's the first step in the right direction. Might be not perfect but still. We used the online version of TurboTax and it was no problem at all since I have a SSN already - however I think it gave you the option to leave it empty. You definitely should file asap to avoid delays and trouble. Good luck! 

Edited September 3, 2018 by Ryan H
Reason for edit: to remove alternate spelling of profanity.

[JFox762 18]

35 minutes ago, Echel0n said:

As a german here a typical german advice. Don't be cheap on your insurances or it will bite you in the ###. Germans usually pay about 40-50% of their income for social security, various insurances and taxes. And we have one of the best social/health systems in the world. As my preposters said - 1 accident or 1 severe infection and you are bancrupt in US without good insurance. People love to complain about Obamacare - but from my perspective it's the first step in the right direction. Might be not perfect but still. We used the online version of TurboTax and it was no problem at all since I have a SSN already - however I think it gave you the option to leave it empty. You definitely should file asap to avoid delays and trouble. Good luck! 

Obamacare made ALL healthcare plans completely unaffordable for me. Lookup the "Family affordability glitch"... and you will see that Obamacare really didn't accomplish much other than hiking people's healthcare insurance costs. 

Only these Christian healthshare ministries, which are exempt from the more costly requirements (i.e. Pre-existing conditions) seem to have reasonable prices. 

Going for Conventional health insurance would cost us more than all of our disposable income.  Conventional plans are costing around $1200, with extremely high deductibles. 

Christian Healthshare Ministries has an option to cover just my wife, (I can get coverage through work, and any kids we have *MIGHT* be eligible for CHIP) for only about $150/mo and that covers up to a million or unlimited per incident. 

 

[geowrian 22,336]

Cheap plans, cheap coverage.

Insurance prices have been growing rapidly for years. Premiums are expected to jump again with the removal of the individual mandate. Healthcare and its insurance is expensive.

Either way, that's in the past now...filing (and paying, if applicable) taxes is a duty of every citizen, LPR, and resident alien.

[Echel0n 27]

2 hours ago, JFox762 said:

Obamacare made ALL healthcare plans completely unaffordable for me. Lookup the "Family affordability glitch"... and you will see that Obamacare really didn't accomplish much other than hiking people's healthcare insurance costs. 

Only these Christian healthshare ministries, which are exempt from the more costly requirements (i.e. Pre-existing conditions) seem to have reasonable prices. 

Going for Conventional health insurance would cost us more than all of our disposable income.  Conventional plans are costing around $1200, with extremely high deductibles. 

Christian Healthshare Ministries has an option to cover just my wife, (I can get coverage through work, and any kids we have *MIGHT* be eligible for CHIP) for only about $150/mo and that covers up to a million or unlimited per incident. 

 

Well its off topic but the problem why the prices are so high in us compared to Germany is that rich people do not need to pay more (health care, taxes etc.). In germany it's a social system. So rich people pay more so that poor people pay less or get it for free. But if you ask a US citizen if he would pay more taxes you always earn laughter. THAT is the problem. Not Obamacare or whatever. But thats just my unimportant individual opinion. In any way go file asap 👍and good luck. If you made it to NVC most of the frustrating waiting is over 🤗

[JFox762 18]

On 9/2/2018 at 11:26 PM, Echel0n said:

Well its off topic but the problem why the prices are so high in us compared to Germany is that rich people do not need to pay more (health care, taxes etc.). In germany it's a social system. So rich people pay more so that poor people pay less or get it for free. But if you ask a US citizen if he would pay more taxes you always earn laughter. THAT is the problem. Not Obamacare or whatever. But thats just my unimportant individual opinion. In any way go file asap 👍and good luck. If you made it to NVC most of the frustrating waiting is over 🤗

On the last note, I've hired a CPA. I'm trying to get in contact with my boss to get someone to cover my hours at work for the first few hours at work so I can sit down with the CPA. He sounded very knowledgable over the phone, and has prior experience working with people in the same situation as mine. He said we should be able to file jointly, get some money back, and it not take any longer than filing seperately. 

I'll know more about it tomorrow. 

Thing is, my wife still needs to wait until the 20th of September to receive her Thai Police clearance (she filed for it on the 20th of August, and they said it would take a whole month or so to be ready). So there is a good possibility this won't delay anything. FINGERS CROSSED!