N-400 and back taxes

[hlynnf23 16]

My husband is applying for citizenship this week. We owe federal taxes and are on payments plans to pay them (2021, 2022 I was self employed and we had our W4’s wrong).  I (US Citizen) already owed significant federal taxes with my ex-husband (he was self-employed) which are also on payment plans, so when I go to show evidence that we are in compliance with the plans, it shows that the payments we have been making are going to the older taxes (ex: 2017 taxes) and nothing has gone to the more recent ones yet, but we are still in-compliance with the payment plan arrangements. Is this going to cause problems?  Should we figure out a way to pay the taxes that myself and my current husband owe before his interview?  

[Rocio0010 5,572]

Is he in a rush to apply for citizenship?

[hlynnf23 16]

It will take YEARS to get the back taxes from my ex-husband paid off with the payment plan (5+ more years) before even starting to pay ours, so we are not willing to wait that long.

We can look at options to pay the more recent taxes with a HELOC or loans if that is what we need to do. 
 

This would be the only thing that could hold him up from citizenship. 

[Rocio0010 5,572]

Back to your question, it might cause problems if he can't show compliance of payments towards the taxes he owes. I would definitely try to sort that out first prior to spending money on the N400. Being current on taxes is a key requirement to naturalize.

[JeanneAdil 6,239]

if all payments are going to 2017 taxes and not current 2021 and 2022,   u r not as u say "compliant to the terms to pay the more current taxes"

 

i would contact IRS local office to see if possible to combine into 1 payment plan for all taxes 

 

as it stands now he (and u) have a tax liability with payment plan that is not current

[hlynnf23 16]

4 minutes ago, JeanneAdil said:

if all payments are going to 2017 taxes and not current 2021 and 2022,   u r not as u say "compliant to the terms to pay the more current taxes"

 

i would contact IRS local office to see if possible to combine into 1 payment plan for all taxes 

 

as it stands now he (and u) have a tax liability with payment plan that is not current

The 2021 and 2021 are a part of the payment plan with the 2017 taxes, so yes we are compliant with the arrangement.  The transcripts for 2021 and 2022 say that we are on a payment plan and that it’s been accepted. Payments will also go to the older tax debt that is owed. 

 

I am also a federal employee so if I wasn’t compliant with the plan, I would lose my job. 

[hlynnf23 16]

2017, 2021 and 2022 tax debts are all part of one payment plan. The payments are taken from checking account automatically every month. 
 

The payments are going to the 2017 taxes because they are the oldest debt, so I can’t show that payments are made to the 2021 and 2022 even though they are a part of the same plan because 2017 isn’t paid off yet. 
 

[Rocio0010 5,572]

13 minutes ago, hlynnf23 said:

2017, 2021 and 2022 tax debts are all part of one payment plan. The payments are taken from checking account automatically every month. 
 

The payments are going to the 2017 taxes because they are the oldest debt, so I can’t show that payments are made to the 2021 and 2022 even though they are a part of the same plan because 2017 isn’t paid off yet. 
 

This might be too far off, but I would contact a CPA (not H&R, Liberty, etc) and see if they can help you draft an explanation for USCIS together with some documentation to back up your statement.

[hlynnf23 16]

2 minutes ago, Rocio0010 said:

This might be too far off, but I would contact a CPA (not H&R, Liberty, etc) and see if they can help you draft an explanation for USCIS together with some documentation to back up your statement.

It’s such a messy situation and unfortunately I can’t make my ex-husband try to help. He also owes me $13k in child support!

 

I have the documents from the IRS saying that the more recent taxes are part of the payment plan and that the monthly amount isn’t changing with adding them to it. And on the transcripts it says the 2021 and 2022 taxes were accepted into a payment plan. 
 

If I go to my IRS account it shows all the payments that have been coming out and it says they’ve been applied to the 2017 taxes. I was also thinking of going to an IRS field office seeing what they can provide to show that the payments plans are in compliance. 
 

Seems like the best choice is to just bite the bullet and pay it off ASAP. 

[Rocio0010 5,572]

4 minutes ago, hlynnf23 said:

He also owes me $13k in child support!

What a gem. So sorry for you and for your child.

 

4 minutes ago, hlynnf23 said:

I was also thinking of going to an IRS field office seeing what they can provide to show that the payments plans are in compliance. 

I would definitely do that!

 

Good luck. Keep us posted.