Messed up tax return

W

Wei13

New Member
In 2004 my accountant convinced me that I can file my tax return as the head of house hold and claim my girl friend as a dependent , I was stupid enough to believe her and agreed to it! Although, my girl friend was staying at my place and I was paying all her expenses (She was a student) - now that I look up the definition of dependent, it seems like you have to be related to the person to call him/her a dependent. I am so upset with myself for not doing enough research before agreeing to this. I am eligible to file for N-400 this year so do I have any options other than waiting till 2009 to file N-400

Any feed back is appreciated,
Wei
 
I might be ok ???

ahhh - may be i am being paraniod, now that i looked up IRS website for 1040 form instructions , it says , that i can claim :

Any other person (other than your spouse) who lived with you all year as a member of your household if your relationship did not violate local low.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf

(page 20)

as my dependent !! oh boy, tomorrow I am going to go talk to my accountant...but still any feedback is appreciated

sorry for jumping the gun - but I am so nervous about this whole deal...

wei
 
I don't see that this will have any impact on your N-400. You are trying to follow the law and pay all taxes owed, and thats all USCIS really cares about. Remember, the IOs are not tax experts - they are not going to scrutinize your returns to such murky depths...
 
Wei13 said:
In 2004 my accountant convinced me that I can file my tax return as the head of house hold and claim my girl friend as a dependent , I was stupid enough to believe her and agreed to it! Although, my girl friend was staying at my place and I was paying all her expenses (She was a student) - now that I look up the definition of dependent, it seems like you have to be related to the person to call him/her a dependent. I am so upset with myself for not doing enough research before agreeing to this. I am eligible to file for N-400 this year so do I have any options other than waiting till 2009 to file N-400

Any feed back is appreciated,
Wei
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boatbod is right..

But talk to a competent Tax advisor because you don't want to mess up with IRS.

Get this cleared up immediately. Most likey you will have to file an amended tax return and pay some penalties and fine. Do it.
 
You will have to answer, with a straight face, both on your application and during the interview, that you are current on your taxes. If there is a doubt in your mind you need to clear it the best you can. You cannot wobble either on the form or during the interview.

To put it in purspective, taxes are complex and the chances are everybody's tax returns may be off somewhere. But as long as you honestly believe that you filed them correctly (to the best of your knowledge), this is all anybody can ask from you.

From the tone of your notes it seems that you do not know if you filed correct tax returns. Resolve it before proceeding with N-400.

Good luck.
 
Your tax filing status is one of more common items the immigration officers check because it tells a lot of info about the applicant. Filing as a head of household is very unusual status for someone without a child, so expect the worst and be ready for some tough questioning. You might have to be able to justify your filing. Then again, they might not notice it at all, but you sure don't want to be caught unprepared.

I've seen a case in which the applicant was denied because of the similar issue. In his case, his status should've been "married filing separately" but he filed as "head of household" which IO determined was a fraud.
 
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It probably wouldn't hurt to get some documentation from your accountant that you did this on his advice and that there was no intent to defraud anyone.
 
equate, I quickly looked into the U.S. tax master guide. Sec. 152(d)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code appears to provide for some basis to claim a non-relative as part of your household. However, there is a million of other tests which need to be met to fit within that rule. As I said rules are complex and it is not hard to make an honest mistake. Wei13 just needs to make sure that he is comfortable with the position he took on his return or amend it appropriately (and pay any additional tax due) before he files N-400.

As for IO asking for tax returns, all I got as a question was whether I was current on my taxes (i.e. file on time and pay taxes as required). I seriously doubt that IO is qualified to determine if HH status for Wei13 is appropriate.
 
You are forgetting the fact that IO reviews countless number of tax return documents and they know what's normal and what's not. Anything that looks out of ordinary, they'll pick on it like a hawk diving on a prey.

Your case does not support your theory at all. They likely already reviewed your petition before you appear for the interview. It just means they did not find any irregular items on your returns and asked rather routine questions.

There have been a precedence of denials over tax return irregularities. It certainly does not guarentee that OP's petition would be scrutinized but it does show a cautious approach is required.
 
Wei13 said:
In 2004 my accountant convinced me that I can file my tax return as the head of house hold and claim my girl friend as a dependent , I was stupid enough to believe her and agreed to it! Although, my girl friend was staying at my place and I was paying all her expenses (She was a student) - now that I look up the definition of dependent, it seems like you have to be related to the person to call him/her a dependent. I am so upset with myself for not doing enough research before agreeing to this. I am eligible to file for N-400 this year so do I have any options other than waiting till 2009 to file N-400

Any feed back is appreciated,
Wei
Click to expand...

Guys: I don’t know if there are variations among states as to who qualifies as a dependent, but from my experience with the IRS, filing taxes returns as a head of household has strict regulations. The person whom you wanna claim must pass strict guidelines. For example, legal or biological relationships must be established. Marriage for example or legal custody may establish. Or parental relationship must be established if the dependent is under 21 and in school. The principal must have had provided financially more than six months for the claimed dependent in the previous year or the tax year; lease, school, records, other bills are required in order to prove eligibility. I was singled out for review in 2004, and I had to provide five different documents in order to clear with the IRS.

As far as I know, unless different laws apply, girlfriend does not qualify a dependent for the purposes of getting “the earned income credit”. There are other ways one can claim expenses spent on Gf while in school but this is not to claim as a head of household. Head of household has special requirement.

As far your case goes, I have seen a lot of people who claimed head of household by mistake and was caught by IRS. The ramifications were not bad. They had to repay the amount they took. There were no effects on their citizenship interview, and I haven’t heard anything relating to people being asked about their tax return.

My advice to you: you have two choices:

First option: you can go a head and file your citizenship application as though nothing have happened; if your accountant advised you to do so and IRS gave you the refund without question, you can assume that you broke no law. I don’t think that the interviewing officer will dig into your tax record to point where he will pin down that tiny problem and kill your application.
The second option; walk into your nearest IRS local office and ask for a review of your return of the year in question. If they determine, you should not have taken it, then return the amount you took. It is that simple…nothing to worry..good luck

Note the cases I saw were refugees: work based greencards might specially scrutinized
 
Wei13 said:
In 2004 my accountant convinced me that I can file my tax return as the head of house hold and claim my girl friend as a dependent , I was stupid enough to believe her and agreed to it! Although, my girl friend was staying at my place and I was paying all her expenses (She was a student) - now that I look up the definition of dependent, it seems like you have to be related to the person to call him/her a dependent. I am so upset with myself for not doing enough research before agreeing to this. I am eligible to file for N-400 this year so do I have any options other than waiting till 2009 to file N-400

Any feed back is appreciated,
Wei
Click to expand...

Your accountant was 100 billion % correct/right when he told you in 2004 that you could file your tax return as Head of Household and claim your girlfriend as a dependent. You have nothing to worry as far as IRS and INS are concerned. Go ahead and file for naturalization without any fear in such concern.
 
Not sure I agree. I would for sure clear up the tax issue before filing N-400. At my interview, the IO wanted tax transcripts and examined them pretty closely. You want a tax accountant (CPA) opinion on your "dependent's" status. I do not think she qualifies at all. (Non legal, non accountant opinions).
 
Thank you all

Thanks a bunch for all your feedback… My accountant is going to be back next week , and I going to ask her opinion on this mess, so seems like I have two options here :

1. File an amendment for the taxes
2. Wait till 2009 , this seems to the best and risk-less option

I am leaning towards the first option, but here is one more question. Does INS review our tax papers before we go for interview? If that is the case I am sure I am going to get questioned about it, even if I file an amendment. Additionally, I might still have to come up with an excuse for filing it the wrong way the first time.
To answer Michael's question, yes my accountant’s seal is on my tax returns. That brings the question, can I use copies of my taxes or should I specifically request transcripts from IRS ?
Thanks again, I really appreciate your opinions.
Wei-Hao
 
If she signed the return she probably had a good reason/explanation for the position. CPAs are not interested on signing off on fraudulent returns (they loose licence that way). Second, her signature demonstrates to anyone, including USCIS, that you did not make staff up and relied on a qualified accountant. I would suggest to wait for her, get a good explanation from the accountant as to the position you took and then file N-400 and be prepared to explain your position to USCIS if asked.
 
Since your question/concern is basically related to tax laws then it would have been better for you to have contacted a professional accountant first than posting it on this immigration site. Besides, you are going to talk with an accountant now anyway. Nevertheless, since you have already chosen to speak with an accountant on your situation then make sure to speak with at least 4-5 accountants than just one or two. Because it would be unwise to base your final decision on the opinion of just one or two professional even if they will be experts in their field because even experts also make mistakes sometimes.

Secondly, if you ever decide to amend your tax return for whatever reason for that year's tax return or any other year's, which you are allowed to do it anyway, yet still it would be completely nonsense for you to wait until 2009 to file N-400. Why? Because if you are eligible to file N-400 now or soon then there is no reason to wait until 2009 if you will amend your tax returns anyway. What important to INS is in this regard- [1] you filed REQUIRED tax retruns; [2] You have paid or made an arrangement with IRS to pay OWED taxes; [3] You didn't lie anything on your tax returns.

Thirdly, I knew what I was talking about when I told you earlier that your accountant was 100 billion % correct in 2004 when he told you that-[1] you could file tax-return as Head of Household; [2] and could claim your girlfriend as dependent on your return. I don't give my opinion if I'm not sure about it. And if I ever give wrong opinion which would never be intentional then I always try to correct myself. Thus, in your situation I'm darn sure what I'm talking about.

A lot of changes have occured recently in tax laws as to who could be claimed as a dependant, but do not forget that tax return in question here is of 2004 when tax laws/rules were slightly different than what they are now. As a matter of fact your girlfriend could still be qualified even in changed tax rules when when we talk about relationship test. Of course, there are other tests need to be met too in order to claim someone as a dependent but OP hasn't mentioned anything about other tests. Thus, my such opinion over here is just for relationship test as to whether or not OP was eligible to claim his girlfriend on his tax return in 2004. Thus, this is only issue I'm analyzing here. I cannot explain everything over here, but here is a link which answers specific to your situation. You can read that a girlfriend/boyfriend can be claimed as a dependent so long they live with you for an entire year.

http://taxes.about.com/od/dependents/a/Dependents_3.htm

Good luck...
 
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Two last questions...

Thanks again guys - I would appreciate, if you could shed some light on my two last question ( I promise I will keep my mouth shut after this : ) :

1. If you know whether, INS has already reviewed my tax returns before I go for the interview? ( I am filing based on five year residency after getting GC through employment) meaning will they already get my details from IRS and will ask about my tax returns only if they find my status to be questionable or are they seeing my tax papers for the first time when they interview me?
2. Can I use copies of the tax returns I have , or I should I specifically get transcripts from IRS? If this is the case i will have to file my amendments, if required, and then get transcripts of that too ( ? )

Thanks again guys for all your feedback guys, at least I am feeling much better about this

Wei-Hao
 
Wei13 said:
Thanks again guys - I would appreciate, if you could shed some light on my two last question ( I promise I will keep my mouth shut after this : ) :

1. If you know whether, INS has already reviewed my tax returns before I go for the interview? ( I am filing based on five year residency after getting GC through employment) meaning will they already get my details from IRS and will ask about my tax returns only if they find my status to be questionable or are they seeing my tax papers for the first time when they interview me?
2. Can I use copies of the tax returns I have , or I should I specifically get transcripts from IRS? If this is the case i will have to file my amendments, if required, and then get transcripts of that too ( ? )

Thanks again guys for all your feedback guys, at least I am feeling much better about this

Wei-Hao
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1. I doubt anyone can know for sure unless one works for USCIS. But the event can be speculated based on empirical evidences provided by many observers. Obviously, your application will be subjected to a preliminary review by a service center to see if all necessary documents are present before the priority date is generated. Then your interviewing officer will review your appplication in more detail sometime between the arrival of your file (from service center to district office) and the day of the interview.

2. Your own copies are normally sufficient but the transcripts are easy to obtain. Thus, you could have both. It is my understanding that filing amended return does not update your transcripts. Someone will have to verify that.

In your original post, I noticed that your girlfriend was a student and that you were paying her expenses while she was staying at your house. Sounds to me as if she could've been an international college student??
It is an important distiction to know as only US citizen or LPR are eligible to be a dependent.
 
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But, if you were acting under a professional's advice, and you had no intent to defraud anyone, then you should be OK, even if the advice was bogus. You are square with the IRS (you have filed, you have paid or made arrangements to pay) and, most importantly, your intent was to be honest, i.e., you are not lying.
 
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