Question about filing taxes

[guyfromky 1]

Me and my wife are about to file for AOS for her but the I-864 asks how much money I made in the last 3 years. Problem is, I don't remember how much money I made in 2016 because at times I was a temp worker and at other times I was a permanent employee at a certain company. I worked around 3 months at the one company as a temp worker then for a few months as a permanent worker. I don't recall recieving a w2 form from the hiring agency that placed me at that job as a temp (or if I recieved it it must have gotten accidentally thrown out somehow) and I can't find any paystubs (and I looked everywhere) from that time period. I'm going to see on monday if the hiring agency can help me, but if for some reason they can't is there any way at all that i can figure out how much money I made?

 

The issue is made worse by the face that for what reason I can't even remember I didn't file any taxes for 2016. I'd like to go back and file despite knowing there could be hefty penalties for not filing at the time. I know the taxes were taken from my paychecks already but still, I should've filed. Plus at that job before I worked various extra days and overtime at various times so it's impossible for me to simply count how much money I made. So if the hiring agency can't answer my question does anyone know what I can do to calculate my pay accurately for the I-864?

 

Any advice will be very appreciated.

[D-R-J 153]

Assuming you didn’t get paid in cash, maybe you can check your bank records for deposits?

[guyfromky 1]

5 minutes ago, D-R-J said:

Assuming you didn’t get paid in cash, maybe you can check your bank records for deposits?

It would show net profit and not gross profit. I'm assuming doing that wouldn't help.

[Crazy Cat 39,193]

50 minutes ago, guyfromky said:

Me and my wife are about to file for AOS for her but the I-864 asks how much money I made in the last 3 years. Problem is, I don't remember how much money I made in 2016 because at times I was a temp worker and at other times I was a permanent employee at a certain company. I worked around 3 months at the one company as a temp worker then for a few months as a permanent worker. I don't recall recieving a w2 form from the hiring agency that placed me at that job as a temp (or if I recieved it it must have gotten accidentally thrown out somehow) and I can't find any paystubs (and I looked everywhere) from that time period. I'm going to see on monday if the hiring agency can help me, but if for some reason they can't is there any way at all that i can figure out how much money I made?

 

The issue is made worse by the face that for what reason I can't even remember I didn't file any taxes for 2016. I'd like to go back and file despite knowing there could be hefty penalties for not filing at the time. I know the taxes were taken from my paychecks already but still, I should've filed. Plus at that job before I worked various extra days and overtime at various times so it's impossible for me to simply count how much money I made. So if the hiring agency can't answer my question does anyone know what I can do to calculate my pay accurately for the I-864?

 

Any advice will be very appreciated.

I would order a tax transcript.  If you filed taxes, it will indicate that.

[guyfromky 1]

7 minutes ago, missileman said:

I would order a tax transcript.  If you filed taxes, it will indicate that.

I didn't file for 2016, that's the problem.

[Crazy Cat 39,193]

9 minutes ago, guyfromky said:

I didn't file for 2016, that's the problem.

Maybe on Monday the hiring agency will have records....they should have records of how much they paid you and what they reported to the IRS....another idea would be to enter "Unknown" on the I-864......that may or may not cause them to generate an RFE.......then it might be tax attorney consultation time........just my thoughts.

[guyfromky 1]

Would putting "unknown" trigger a denial of AOS process?

[Crazy Cat 39,193]

2 minutes ago, guyfromky said:

Would putting "unknown" trigger a denial of AOS process?

Denial? I doubt it........it would be more likely to generate an RFE.  You might be required to get a qualified joint sponsor......

[guyfromky 1]

14 minutes ago, missileman said:

Denial? I doubt it........it would be more likely to generate an RFE.  You might be required to get a qualified joint sponsor......

I made enough money in 2018 and so far in 2019 I've already made more than enough. I might still need joint sponsor?

[D-R-J 153]

1 hour ago, guyfromky said:

It would show net profit and not gross profit. I'm assuming doing that wouldn't help.

If you can’t get any records from the agency I think you can calculate from deposits working backwards with a calculator like this: https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/grossup/.

[guyfromky 1]

7 minutes ago, D-R-J said:

If you can’t get any records from the agency I think you can calculate from deposits working backwards with a calculator like this: https://www.paycheckcity.com/calculator/grossup/.

I have no w2 for that time period, no paystubs, nothing to calculate with. I may or may not be able to get the paystubs from the hiring agency on Monday, if they still have them. And my deposits were put onto an old debit card that I no longer use. I tried to log in to the website mentioned on the back of the old card to see the deposits and it kept saying "error". I guess the old information for the card is no longer there. I guess I just have to hope the hiring agency still has the information and if they don't I'll try contacting the IRS to see if they have any info about it.

[geowrian 22,335]

7 hours ago, guyfromky said:

I didn't file for 2016, that's the problem.

Yup. You don't just need the income for 2016, you need to actually file taxes for 2016 as well to qualify as an I-864 sponsor (with or without a joint sponsor).

 

Firsts step would be to contact whoever paid you (the employers), then probably the agency, then the IRS directly. Hopefully at least 1 of them have the information necessary.

[WOODHIKER 30]

Set up an account at IRS.gov and request an Wage and Income (W&I) Transcript for 2016. It will list all of the forms issued to the IRS by third party payors that reported all of the wage and income attributable to you.  So, it will list all of your W2s and 1099s, that is assuming your employer reported your income to the IRS, and any other income you may have received ie. interest income.  Once you get your W&I transcript, you should have the information that you can use to file your 2016 income tax return.  Of course if there is income that was not reported to the IRS that you know that you received, you can use some of the other suggestions above to calculate that income.