I too have not filed U.S. taxes for years 2021-2025 (split topic)

[WeightWise667 1]

On 11/3/2023 at 1:52 PM, Heavy-State said:

 

• Copy of my most recent Federal Income Tax Return;
  • I didn't have recent tax returns since I hadn't filed for the most recent year. So, I wrote an affidavit letter explaining my situation, and they were perfectly fine with it.

 

Firstly, amazing post!! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!

I wanted to ask you about the most recent year's tax return. I too have not filed U.S. taxes for years 2021-2025 since I have been living abroad and haven't had any income in the U.S. So, my question is as follows: Should I bother to quickly file for 2025 to meet this requirement or should I go about your route of writing an affidavit letter?

Was your situation similar to mine (I wonder if my reason for not filing is acceptable)? For the affidavit letter, did you use an official form or template? Did you have to get it notarized? 

Thanks again for your help and thanks in advance for your continued help!

[Boiler 48,438]

You are taxed on your world wide income 

[appleblossom 5,641]

1 hour ago, WeightWise667 said:

since I have been living abroad and haven't had any income in the U.S

 

Living abroad doesn't mean you don't have to file. What about income in the country you've been living in? 

[Ban Hammer 14,836]

the above 3 posts have been split from a year plus old topic.

[WeightWise667 1]

Yes, I understand the requirement to file with overseas income. My question is what to do in my present situation where I have not filed in regard to the tax return requirement for DCF with the embassy.

Can I also write an affidavit letter or must I file quickly before needing to submit i-864?

[rbv_shard 58]

1 hour ago, WeightWise667 said:

Yes, I understand the requirement to file with overseas income. My question is what to do in my present situation where I have not filed in regard to the tax return requirement for DCF with the embassy.

Can I also write an affidavit letter or must I file quickly before needing to submit i-864?

You don't need to write an affidavit letter, IRS will provide one through your personal IRS online portal.  Same place where you would get a transcript if you had filed.  Because you haven't filed, they provide an official certificate saying they haven't received your return for that year.

[appleblossom 5,641]

7 hours ago, WeightWise667 said:

Yes, I understand the requirement to file with overseas income. My question is what to do in my present situation where I have not filed in regard to the tax return requirement for DCF with the embassy.

Can I also write an affidavit letter or must I file quickly before needing to submit i-864?

It depends. If you weren’t required to file (worldwide income didn’t hit the threshold etc) then just a letter stating that would do the trick. 
 

If you should have filed but didn’t, then bring your tax affairs up to date before filing. 

[Crazy Cat 46,006]

7 hours ago, WeightWise667 said:

My question is what to do in my present situation where I have not filed in regard to the tax return requirement for DCF with the embassy.

As a petitioner (or sponsor), if your income was over the legal threshold for filing (regardless of where you resided), you must file for the last 3 years......If your income was not over the legal threshold for filing, you can indicate that on the I-864 or you can write a letter stating why you were not required to file.  Having no US income is not a valid reason if you had qualifying income anywhere in the world.

Edited yesterday at 12:25 PM by Crazy Cat

[JeanneAdil 7,425]

At this point if u have already done DFC or are in the NVC phase,  2024 tax returns are needed

2025 are not needed until after 15th of April / right now only draft forms are available and IRS says not to use them or follow the instructions

https://www.irs.gov/draft-tax-forms

usually we have the formal forms by end of January (same as when employers have to send W2's)

 

u need to file both of those and u can use foreign income exclusion by filing form 2555 with those taxes

The maximum foreign earned income exclusion amounts are $130,000 for tax year 2025 and $126,500 for tax year 2024

 

your income on the AOS is 0 as u had no US income and a joint sponsor is needed 

 

the letter from iRS is form 4506-T from IRS 

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/transcript-types-for-individuals-and-ways-to-order-them

 

some countries have recprocal tax treaties saying the following

Under these same treaties, residents or citizens of the United States are taxed at a reduced rate, or are exempt from foreign taxes, on certain items of income they receive from sources within foreign countries. Most income tax treaties contain what is known as a "saving clause" which prevents a citizen or resident of the United States from using the provisions of a tax treaty in order to avoid taxation of U.S. source income.

 

but you have not stated the country u live in so impossible for us to help there 

use the following tax treaty site

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/international-businesses/united-states-income-tax-treaties-a-to-z

 

and please fill out a timeline on your portal

[Heavy-State 16]

17 hours ago, WeightWise667 said:

 

Firstly, amazing post!! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!

I wanted to ask you about the most recent year's tax return. I too have not filed U.S. taxes for years 2021-2025 since I have been living abroad and haven't had any income in the U.S. So, my question is as follows: Should I bother to quickly file for 2025 to meet this requirement or should I go about your route of writing an affidavit letter?

Was your situation similar to mine (I wonder if my reason for not filing is acceptable)? For the affidavit letter, did you use an official form or template? Did you have to get it notarized? 

Thanks again for your help and thanks in advance for your continued help!

I’m so glad my post was of help to you! I totally understand what you’re asking, and I agree with the other commenters, it really depends on whether you were required to file based on your worldwide income, not whether it was U.S. income.

 

In my case, I didn’t file because I didn’t have to (under the filing threshold), and that’s why it went smoothly. I brought the IRS Verification of Nonfiling Letter, and I also included a simple signed/dated explanation letter/affidavit. No notarization.

 

If you did meet the filing requirement for any of those years, then I’d recommend getting your taxes filed and fully up to date and having everything ready before submitting the I-864 / going through DCF, it’ll save you headaches later for sure.

 

Hope that helps, and wishing you a smooth DCF process!

[S2N 625]

17 hours ago, WeightWise667 said:

 

Firstly, amazing post!! Thank you for taking the time to share your experience!

I wanted to ask you about the most recent year's tax return. I too have not filed U.S. taxes for years 2021-2025 since I have been living abroad and haven't had any income in the U.S. So, my question is as follows: Should I bother to quickly file for 2025 to meet this requirement or should I go about your route of writing an affidavit letter?

Was your situation similar to mine (I wonder if my reason for not filing is acceptable)? For the affidavit letter, did you use an official form or template? Did you have to get it notarized? 

Thanks again for your help and thanks in advance for your continued help!

 

I’m assuming married filing separately as filing status since you’re likely claiming the foreign earned income exclusion and will owe nothing.

 

On this assumption, just use freetaxusa.com’s prior year software (here) to do 2022, 2023, and 2024. You will need to do a paper return for 2022, and because your spouse presumably doesn’t have an SSN and you’re already filing paper for 2022, you might as well do it paper for 2023 and 2024 as well as it’ll be easier (and might be required for 2023.) For the years you are married you will select “Married Filing Separately” and write in “NRA” (for non-resident alien) in the spot where it asks for SSN/ITIN. Mail these in (using the registered mail service of your country; not courier) to the the addresses listed on the IRS website that best describe your situation. This all need to be mailed (not courier) separately.
 

Take a photocopy of all signed returns and proof of mailing you received from the foreign mail service.

 

Depending on timing, rinse and repeat for 2025.
 

I would also suggest doing 2021 and any missing within the last 7 years for other reasons, but your last three years until tax filing opens up in a few weeks is what’s needed for immediate immigration purposes.

 

Also I ordinarily would not recommend paper returns or MFS, but given your situation it’s the absolute quickest way to get it done unless you want to pay a certified acceptance agent to handle it for you, which would be costly and time consuming.

 

If you don’t qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion your best bet is to talk to a certified acceptance since multi-jurisdictional taxes not covered by FEIE it become really complicated really fast.

 

Disclaimer that is neither tax or legal advice and if you’re uncomfortable following the instructions on Free Tax USA you should consult a competent tax advisor licensed to practice before the IRS (this goes for any other tax software of your choice; not endorsing FTUSA, but they are usually considered the least scammy tax software.)

[S2N 625]

7 minutes ago, Heavy-State said:

In my case, I didn’t file because I didn’t have to (under the filing threshold), and that’s why it went smoothly. I brought the IRS Verification of Nonfiling Letter, and I also included a simple signed/dated explanation letter/affidavit. No notarization.

Noting while this is technically true if under the filing threshold, it is almost always better to file anyway as the FEIE would wipe the tax liability to zero. It has benefits outside of immigration and if a consular official isn’t familiar with the filing limits (it happens), it saves time explaining it to them.

 

There’s virtually no reason to not file a return if you have the time. Even if the income is zero, someone can just write in $1 in interest and file.

Edited yesterday at 03:04 PM by S2N