2001 tax seemingly not filed, the year of illegal status.

[Soren]

I am in the process of applying for a citizenship.

I accidentally stumbled upon an old social security card letter which I this time carefully read it. 2001 social security benefit is missing for 2001 I do have 1999, 2000 and 2002 and forward)! It's possible I didn't file 2001 tax-maybe I did but I have to figure it out.

Hypothetically speaking if I didn't file, what I should do in my following situation.

1. I received GC through I-245 in 2005, due to my lapse of illegal immigration status for a few months.

2. I only needed to file taxes from 2003 (the year I applied for I-245) in terms of the law then for the INS US residence application because INS didn't acknowledge my status before 2003 as legal.

3. I have filed taxes every year since then (2003). I did from 1999 to the current except for the year 2001)

I-400 specifically asks "4. Since becoming a lawful permanent resident, have you ever failed to file a required Federal, State, or local tax return? I believe I have no problem with that.

But the trouble I am having is the next Question " 5. Do you owe any federal, State, or local taxes that are overdue?"

If I didn't file tax in 2001 when I should not have filed tax because of my illegal status then by the scope of INS, not IRS, will I have trouble getting a citizenship if I answer "No," on the question 5?

What do you think will happen?

 

[Bobsmyth]

I am in the process of applying for a citizenship.

I accidentally stumbled upon an old social security card letter which I this time carefully read it. 2001 social security benefit is missing for 2001 I do have 1999, 2000 and 2002 and forward)! It's possible I didn't file 2001 tax-maybe I did but I have to figure it out.

Hypothetically speaking if I didn't file, what I should do in my following situation.

1. I received GC through I-245 in 2005, due to my lapse of illegal immigration status for a few months.

2. I only needed to file taxes from 2003 (the year I applied for I-245) in terms of the law then for the INS US residence application because INS didn't acknowledge my status before 2003 as legal.

3. I have filed taxes every year since then (2003). I did from 1999 to the current except for the year 2001)

I-400 specifically asks "4. Since becoming a lawful permanent resident, have you ever failed to file a required Federal, State, or local tax return? I believe I have no problem with that.

But the trouble I am having is the next Question " 5. Do you owe any federal, State, or local taxes that are overdue?"

If I didn't file tax in 2001 when I should not have filed tax because of my illegal status then by the scope of INS, not IRS, will I have trouble getting a citizenship if I answer "No," on the question 5?
What do you think will happen?

Find out if you actually do owe any taxes for not filing in 2001 from IRS and go from there.

 

[hellodsco]

I know if I didn't file it, I must do it promtply. But there won't be no question/thread here if it is found filed.
I believe it's going to take for a while to figure it out.

Could you tell me what will happen on the basis of not having filed 2001 tax for the meantime?

 

[madh4]

Before you answer the question " have you failed to to file a required federal, state or local tax return???" find out if any tax is outstanding from IRS and State. If nothing is outstanding i feel you can presume you have filed the return for 2001 and answer accordingly. More over during your interview it is enough if you have last 5 years tax record with you.

During interview in most of the cases the tax records are not asked at all. Even if the question is asked and if you confirm that you have the records with you and when you attempt to show it, the IO is not interested to see it and goes to next question.

 

[Bobsmyth]

Before you answer the question " have you failed to to file a required federal, state or local tax return???" find out if any tax is outstanding from IRS and State. If nothing is outstanding i feel you can presume you have filed the return for 2001 and answer accordingly. More over during your interview it is enough if you have last 5 years tax record with you.

During interview in most of the cases the tax records are not asked at all. Even if the question is asked and if you confirm that you have the records with you and when you attempt to show it, the IO is not interested to see it and goes to next question.

The question is not whether OP was supposed to file in 2001 since he wasn't a legal resident at that time and the N-400 application only asks about not filing taxes since becoming LPR. However, the N-400 does ask if any taxes are overdue, regardless of the immigration status of the applicant at the time they were due.
In the OPs case he has been filing every year since becoming LPR and doesn't have any taxes overdue for that period. However, he 's not sure whether he filed in 2001 or not. In any case, as it stands now he would answer NO to both question 4 and 5 part 10 on N-400 as he never failed to file since becoming and LPR and he currently does not have any overdue taxes.
Even if the OP determines he never filed for 2001 but was supposed to due to income threshold limit, the potential taxes owed would not be considered overdue until he decided to retroactively file for 2001 and failed to pay the taxes for 2001 by the IRS due date. In other words, taxes don't become overdue until you pass the payment deadline date set by the IRS.
So how does this affect naturalization process? At this point it doesn't since the answer to both questions 4 and 5 is NO. Needless to say, it's best that he wait until after he naturalizes to file for 2001 (if he was supposed to), since doing it now would only cause further delays in the process.

 

[Jackolantern]

Unless you were working as an independent contractor, or not working at all, the lack of a Social Security record for 2001 is the result of your employer not sending the money to the Social Security Administration. It's not something that would have been resolved by filing income taxes.

If your employer withheld the Social Security money from your paycheck, and then kept the money for themselves instead of sending it to the government, it's the employer who owes it, and it's not your problem.

I accidentally stumbled upon an old social security card letter which I this time carefully read it. 2001 social security benefit is missing for 2001 I do have 1999, 2000 and 2002 and forward)!

What about your latest Social Security statement? Does it show anything for 2001?