Major I-864 Confusion?

[sittingstill 0]

Hi all, my husband (the petitioner) and I (the beneficiary) are trying to figure out what supporting documents he needs to include for the I-864 packet. I have no debt and am not intending to list my assets since they are pretty insignificant and only mid 5 figures combined. My husband's income tax return transcript for 2019 is over 500% of the amount specified in the 2020 Poverty Guidelines for a family/household with 2 persons and he has been employed at the same company for 4.5 years to date.

 

Would simply a copy of his IRS Tax Return Transcript for 2019 do? Or is he expected to provide a recent employment letter (if so, would his promotion/pay raise letter from February 2020 do?), a W2, a Form 1099, etc.? 

 

The instructions for I-864 seem to be contradictory:

Page 8: 

Item Numbers 23.a. - 25. Federal Income Tax Return Information. You must provide either an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) transcript or a photocopy from your own records of your Federal individual income tax return for the most recent tax year. If you believe additional returns may help you to establish your ability to maintain sufficient income, you may submit transcripts or photocopies of your Federal individual income tax returns for the three most recent years.

You are not required to have the IRS certify the transcript or photocopy unless specifically instructed to do so by a Government official; a plain transcript or photocopy is acceptable.

Do not submit copies of your state income tax returns. Do not submit any tax returns that you filed with any foreign government unless you claim that you were not required to file a Federal individual income tax return with the United States Government and you wish to rely on the foreign return solely to establish the amount of your income that is not subject to tax in the United States.

If you provide a photocopy of your Federal individual income tax returns, you must include a copy of each and every Form W-2 and Form 1099 that relates to your returns. Do not include copies of these forms if you provide an IRS transcript of your Federal individual income tax returns rather than a photocopy unless you filed a joint income tax return with your spouse and are qualifying using only your income.

 

Page 16: Checklist
The following items must be submitted with Form I-864: For ALL sponsors:
A copy of your individual Federal income tax return, including W-2s for the most recent tax year, or a statement and/or evidence describing why you were not required to file. Also include a copy of each and every Form 1099, Schedule, and any other evidence of reported income. You may submit this information for the most recent three tax years, pay stubs from the most recent six months, and/or a letter from your employer if you believe any of these items will help you qualify.

[Lil bear 3,831]

You need documents that demonstrate 2 separate things

1. that the petitioner has filed taxes as required ,. Most recent tax transcript satisfies this 

2. that current income is above the required level. Submit a letter from the employer with current pay rate etc and pay slips covering the last 3-6 months 

[sittingstill 0]

16 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

You need documents that demonstrate 2 separate things

1. that the petitioner has filed taxes as required ,. Most recent tax transcript satisfies this 

2. that current income is above the required level. Submit a letter from the employer with current pay rate etc and pay slips covering the last 3-6 months 

"You may submit this information for the most recent three tax years, pay stubs from the most recent six months, and/or a letter from your employer if you believe any of these items will help you qualify."

 

Just wondering if the letter from employer and/or pay stubs from the most recent six months is necessary, why is the wording here on the instructions PDF a "may". If the may denotes that it is compulsory, would the income tax return (and not transcript) for most recent 3 tax years, along with the respective W-2s and 1099s not be necessary too?

[geowrian 22,335]

7 minutes ago, sittingstill said:

"You may submit this information for the most recent three tax years, pay stubs from the most recent six months, and/or a letter from your employer if you believe any of these items will help you qualify."

 

Just wondering if the letter from employer and/or pay stubs from the most recent six months is necessary, why is the wording here on the instructions PDF a "may". If the may denotes that it is compulsory, would the income tax return (and not transcript) for most recent 3 tax years, along with the respective W-2s and 1099s not be necessary too?

For an employee, tax returns show past income. This is considered as part of the totality of the circumstances.

To qualify for sponsorship, you must also show current income. This is where the pay stubs and/or employment letter come into play.

 

If somebody wants to provide the prior years returns because they think it will help paint a picture of stable or increasing income, they can. In most cases for an employee, it doesn't really matter IMHO...the numbers for the 3 years on the I-864 are sufficient.

 

Edit: The transcript OR a full copy o the return can be provided.

Edited August 7, 2020 by geowrian

[sittingstill 0]

10 minutes ago, geowrian said:

For an employee, tax returns show past income. This is considered as part of the totality of the circumstances.

To qualify for sponsorship, you must also show current income. This is where the pay stubs and/or employment letter come into play.

 

If somebody wants to provide the prior years returns because they think it will help paint a picture of stable or increasing income, they can. In most cases for an employee, it doesn't really matter IMHO...the numbers for the 3 years on the I-864 are sufficient.

 

Edit: The transcript OR a full copy o the return can be provided.

 

Thank you so much! This provided a lot more clarity. We have a Verification of Employment letter that was just generated dated 6 August 2020 showing employment at current company since February 2016 and also current annual salary. We will also include 2019's tax return transcript. I reckon that should suffice. 🙂

 

For those who are as stumped and confused as we were:

Ignore the clear contradiction in the I-864 instruction form provided on the USCIS website. Instead, the instructions on what supporting documents are needed and alternative supporting documents in case the transcript (new change in requirements/preference instated at the start of 2019) is not available can be more reliably found on this page:

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/the-immigrant-visa-process/step-5-collect-financial-evidence-and-other-supporting-documents.html