i-864 Affidavit of Support (no U.S. Tax forms) Japan

[geowrian 22,335]

5 hours ago, Gabor said:

You -likely- don't have to report and pay on your Japanese income in the us if that's from employment.

It has to be reported either way.

Assuming the FEIE exceeds his income, then there is no need to worry about the FTC ("double taxation"). There's no need to complicate matters when there is a simple way to exclude all the income.

If the income exceeds the eligible FEIE (~$100k/year), then things like the FTC can be beneficial.

At a more technical level, you cannot claim the FEIE (or FTC) unless you report the income (it's not automatically applied).

 

@OP

The petitioner must have filed taxes and reported the income for at least the 3 most recent tax years (unless their income is under the filing thresholds, which are the same both domestic and abroad). USCs and LPRs are taxed on worldwide income.

[Mr. Data 26]

Hi OP, I was in the exact same situation as you, just in China instead of Japan. I had been working in China for four years and hadn't been filing tax returns at all since I determined that my entire income was eligible for the foreign income tax inclusion by means of my passing the "bone fide resident" test. 

 

I consulted a tax lawyer in the U.S. and she said recommended that I just file returns for each of the years in question. Since I didn't own any taxes at all for those years, I wasn't subject to any fine or penalty for late filing. I filled out 1040 forms and 2555-EZ forms for each year, documenting my total income and clearly indicated that I had qualified for the exclusion and my gross adjusted income (i.e. taxable income) for each year was zero. I submitted the forms to the IRS and saved copies which I presented to the consulate as part of my Affidavit package. 

 

Because of this I did indeed need to find a joint sponsor, which I was fortunately able to do. My spouse told me they did check the forms carefully and ask her about it in her interview, but everything was deemed acceptable by the consular staff and our visa was issued. 

[nativeson 47]

@Kpone there are three things to take away from this thread:

• You need to file taxes regardless of whether you owe anything. The IRS has an amnesty program for expats who are behind in filing. If you need help with a tax filer PM me and I can recommend a service. They also handle FBAR/FATCA.
• Your US income in terms of I-864 will be zero for both yourself and your wife.
• If you and your wife's joint savings/assets are sufficient then you don't need a joint sponsor. If not then you'll need a sponsor.

Like you my US income is zero because I filed from Japan. However I was able to use cash and investment savings in part 7 'Assets to Supplement Income' and that was sufficient to get approved. Just use the instructions provided by USCIS: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/files/form/i-864instr.pdf 

 

Quote

you may submit evidence of the value of your assets, the sponsored immigrant’s assets, and/or assets of a household member that can be used, if necessary

 

Regarding DCF, my guess is they don't have many Japanese eager to lose their health care and deal with crime so the US embassy is not busy at the moment 🧐

 

[Kpone 0]

Wow, thank you all for your generous input! 

48 minutes ago, nativeson said:

Regarding DCF, my guess is they don't have many Japanese eager to lose their health care and deal with crime so the US embassy is not busy at the moment

Nativeson, is this a good or bad thing? Idle hands = ? 

At any rate, may I ask ballpark what your joint assets amounted to? PM me if you're willing  

 

To all, I'm planning on having a joint sponsor ready just in case. 

My next step is contacting the IRS. Two of my previous year's earnings in Japan were rather low as I had been relying on savings plus my wife's income. Is it necessary to provide previous three years of taxes, or is the previous year (2017-18) sufficient? 

 

Finally, I have found controdicting info about joint filer's required documents: Will copies of most recent tax return suffice, or does the joint sponsor need to also provide the past three years of tax returns? 

 

Thank you all for your great help! 

 

[aaron2020 11,651]

37 minutes ago, Kpone said:

Wow, thank you all for your generous input! 

Nativeson, is this a good or bad thing? Idle hands = ? 

At any rate, may I ask ballpark what your joint assets amounted to? PM me if you're willing  

 

To all, I'm planning on having a joint sponsor ready just in case. 

My next step is contacting the IRS. Two of my previous year's earnings in Japan were rather low as I had been relying on savings plus my wife's income. Is it necessary to provide previous three years of taxes, or is the previous year (2017-18) sufficient? 

 

Finally, I have found controdicting info about joint filer's required documents: Will copies of most recent tax return suffice, or does the joint sponsor need to also provide the past three years of tax returns? 

 

Thank you all for your great help! 

 

For the I-864, you MUST have filed tax returns for the last three years unless you have a legal excuse to not file a tax return.  The most recent tax return is insufficient.  

 

Distinguish between 1) having to file US tax returns for the last three years and reporting the income from those tax returns on the I-864 (providing information)  versus 2) having to provide the actual most recent tax return (the entire tax return sent to the IRS or a tax transcript).  It seems that you are confusing the two.  You and the Joint Sponsor would need to meet both of these requirements.  

Edited March 11, 2019 by aaron2020

[Mr. Data 26]

11 hours ago, Kpone said:

Wow, thank you all for your generous input! 

Nativeson, is this a good or bad thing? Idle hands = ? 

At any rate, may I ask ballpark what your joint assets amounted to? PM me if you're willing  

 

To all, I'm planning on having a joint sponsor ready just in case. 

My next step is contacting the IRS. Two of my previous year's earnings in Japan were rather low as I had been relying on savings plus my wife's income. Is it necessary to provide previous three years of taxes, or is the previous year (2017-18) sufficient? 

 

Finally, I have found controdicting info about joint filer's required documents: Will copies of most recent tax return suffice, or does the joint sponsor need to also provide the past three years of tax returns? 

 

Thank you all for your great help! 

 

If you have seen conflicting info, then rely on the official instructions for the Affadavit from USCIS's website. It is very clear that you need three  years of returns for both yourself and your joint sponsor. 

[Kpone 0]

Thank you to everyone who has replied! 

 

I realise that the past three years of tax returns are required for both myself and my sponsor.

I will be filing via the Streamlined Filing procedure with the IRS. 

My question is whether my sponsor (located in the U.S.) is required to submit 'official' copies of tax returns, or can it be a faxed/ scanned  printed out copies of 'official' tax returns? 

 

As it has been a while since I filed U.S. returns, I can't recall whether there are 'official', sealed documents. 

 

Any further help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!