Allen_Reed

USCIS does care if you file your taxes. They are not completely separate issues. USCIS requires that all sponsors (even those that don't qualify on their own) have filed their taxes. If you have not and were required to, then you cannot be a petitioner and your wife cannot immigrate to the US. They don't not care if they were filed late, though. File them now. You will also need to include receipts of filing since you are doing it right now and it will not check out in their system.

Thank you, I will include the receipts as well.

Allen,

You really have two issues here: the IRS issue and the immigration issue. As to the IRS issue, if you were on unemployment in 2010 and 2011 I would assume that you are not liable for any additional income taxes. You're only required to file a return if you owe taxes or you want to collect a refund of overpaid taxes. You didn't mention your 2012 return, but assuming that you got an extension your 2012 return will be due on or before October 15, 2013, and your 2012 return should be the tax return that you include with the I-864. So go ahead and get your tax returns filed. Make sure you keep copies of all of your returns, W-2s, and 1099s, because with the government shutdown affecting the IRS as well it may be many weeks before you could obtain a copy of a tax transcript.

As far as the immigration issue goes, USCIS is only looking at your financial status, and is using the tax information to determine your income. USCIS doesn't care and has no jurisdiction over whether you filed your tax returns late, it just wants to see the financial information. If you have a tax due balance with the IRS that is large enough, the IRS could file a Notice of Federal Tax Lien against you, but at most USCIS would deduct the amount on the lien from your annual income for purposes of calculating your financial position.

The bottom line is that you will probably still need a joint sponsor, but based on the information you've given the additional work that you'll need to do to get current on your tax returns should not cause you problems with the IRS (assuming that you do not owe any additional income tax) or USCIS.

Man, THANKS A LOT for that answer. I will likely owe for 2010 and 2011 (I owe for 2012 as I work as a contractor and have to file 1099's every year), but I figure that's something I will need to hash out with the IRS in their time, on their terms. I certainly haven't had a lein filed against me. I will likely owe less than $5,000 total. When I send off the stuff for this RFE, I will include my 1099's for the last three years, as well as my actual 1040's, so hopefully I won't need a transcript. I've been wanting to get this handled and immigration has become the kick in the pants I needed. I shall forge ahead and retain my optimism as best I can.

I'll just come out and say this: I have unfiled tax returns for 2011 and 2010.

My wife is from England and we are in the immigration nightmare currently. It's unbelievable, the tangled brush of bureaucracy. Currently, I have a good job, but I was on unemployment (in Texas) in 2010 and 2011, basically moving around a lot trying to find work. I am trying to get my late 1099 forms filed, so I used my mother as a joint sponsor on our I-864 file. She more than meets the requirements. I didn't realize that I still needed to file an I-864 in my own name, and we got a RFE (Request for Evidence) asking for my form. In the form, there is a tick box that says "I have filed a Federal tax return for each of the three most recent tax years. I have attached the require photocopy or transcript of my Federal tax return for only the most recent tax year."

So, I am going to rush to get my unfiled taxes taken care of, but my question is this: Will the fact that my taxes for the last three years are super late, or that I have an outstanding balance with the IRS, mean that our AOS petition will be denied? I don't know what I'd do if my wife were taken from me over something like this.

Thanks for your answers,

Allen