please advice, missing evidence on citizenship interview

M

Mia321014

Registered Users (C)
Hello,
I thought I would post a thread since I'm really worried about my husband's citizenship case.

He had his interview on july 2nd. Everything was fine..the problem was that he was too honest maybe. On the n-400 application, he mentioned that he didn't do the 2005, and 2006 tax returns on time for the question "have you ever failed to file a required federal bla bla bla since you became a permanent resident". He wrote that he did those two on 2007 along with 2007. He included a copy of the irs tax transcripts of those years to show that he did them.

On the interview day, he passed the reading, writing, civics, english tests......but the officer told him that he didn't find the tax transcripts for those years and that he was missing evidence.....so he gave him 30 days to take all the papers so a decision can be made.

But he requested from 2003 to 2008......that's 6 years.......he was able to get the transcripts from 2004 to 2008, the last five years.....but on 2003..the machine says that there is no recod.

He was asked for the marriage certificate, but we thought at first, that it wasn't necessary since he's applying based on 5 years as a permanent resident not for being married to a u.s. citizen.

Now he's afraid that if he only sends from 2004 to 2008 (which that's what the IO should have asked for not 2003), that the application might be denied.

What do you think? Should I send only from 2004 on.....or what can i do about 2003....the irs has no record, the business that I did 2003 with has gone out of business...and the copy I had, was destroyed when I moved to a different house.

If the irs has no record, does that mean that I didn't file it....or that they destroyed it since it's been too long?
 
It is weird that IRS doesn't have any record, I got mine from 1996. IRS is pretty good on keeping record.
Just keep in mind that if you have not filed for that year, see accountant and try to file it now even if long time have past.
 
If you filed then IRS has the record. It might be necessary however to pay for record older than 5 years. I would go to my local IRS office and inquire.
 
I think you need to pay ($57 per tax year) to get prior year records (i.e, starting from 2003).
 
cpzinga said:
I think you need to pay ($57 per tax year) to get prior year records (i.e, starting from 2003).
Click to expand...


That's correct, to go back further you need to get a copy, not transcript, and they will charge $57. This is what i had to do. Pay the 57 and you will get the copy of the return for that year in question, go to the IRs website.
 
Just out of curiosity, how far back do they want to inquire about taxes. There are some people who don't always save them after 8 years, does the IO ask about this or are they only interested in the last five years?
 
Lacey said:
Just out of curiosity, how far back do they want to inquire about taxes. There are some people who don't always save them after 8 years, does the IO ask about this or are they only interested in the last five years?
Click to expand...


Its not actually required to show tax returns if you are applying for naturalisation based on 5 years residence. Based on 3 years - yes - I have read here that they are often requested.

People applying based on 5 years residence have them ready at interview just in case, like if there are questions on proofing your resident ties to the U.S. if you have had back to back 5 month trips abroad. then showing tax transcripts may help to show yoiu have ties here.

If your case is straighforward its unlikely they will ask for tax returns, but again its just in case people have them - like extra insurance!
 
I have not made any trips abroad in over five years and I do have my tax returns, both state and federal.
 
What happened in this case is that the applicant unnecessarily drew attention to the tax issue. Normally they wouldn't have been asked for 5 years of tax transcripts.

However, if you are married at the time of the interview, they will usually ask for the marriage certificate, even if it is the regular 5-year rule. For the 3-year marriage rule, they will ask for the marriage certificate plus additional documents to support a bona fide marriage, such as insurance policies and joint bank accounts.
 
barr1025 said:
Not so, got to pay if you want to go back more than four years.


http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc156.html
Click to expand...

The link you posted is for the exact copy of a previously filed and processed tax return and all attachments (including Form W-2).

One only need TAX Transcript and no fee for that.

One can file form Form 4506-T for 4 years TAX Transcript and can file second form 4506-T for other 4 years. my friend got for TAX Transcript 10 years and no fee. He sent three 4506-T Forms.

You can obtain a transcript by calling 800–829–1040 and following the prompts in the recorded message or by completing and mailing Form 4506-T (PDF), Request for Transcript of Tax Return, to the address listed in the instructions. Forms can be downloaded at www.irs.gov or ordered by calling 800–829–3676. Transcripts may also be mailed to a third party if you specify this on Form 4506-T, however, you must sign and date the form giving your consent for the disclosure.
 
ginnu said:
The link you posted is for the exact copy of a previously filed and processed tax return and all attachments (including Form W-2).

One only need TAX Transcript and no fee for that.

One can file form Form 4506-T for 4 years TAX Transcript and can file second form 4506-T for other 4 years. my friend got for TAX Transcript 10 years and no fee. He sent three 4506-T Forms.

You can obtain a transcript by calling 800–829–1040 and following the prompts in the recorded message or by completing and mailing Form 4506-T (PDF), Request for Transcript of Tax Return, to the address listed in the instructions. Forms can be downloaded at www.irs.gov or ordered by calling 800–829–3676. Transcripts may also be mailed to a third party if you specify this on Form 4506-T, however, you must sign and date the form giving your consent for the disclosure.
Click to expand...


I did exactly that at the time, but got a letter back saying they only go back 4 years for transcripts, and that if I wanted 2004, I would need to pay $57 for a tax copy. I called to the tax office in person - same result, so I paid the $57 for 2004.
 
Jackolantern said:
What happened in this case is that the applicant unnecessarily drew attention to the tax issue. Normally they wouldn't have been asked for 5 years of tax transcripts.

However, if you are married at the time of the interview, they will usually ask for the marriage certificate, even if it is the regular 5-year rule. For the 3-year marriage rule, they will ask for the marriage certificate plus additional documents to support a bona fide marriage, such as insurance policies and joint bank accounts.
Click to expand...

Sounds like they did call attention to the fact that they did not file taxes on time but since the applicant eventually did file those taxes, why even mention about it. Now what I don't understand since the taxes were filed for the year mentioned, why IRS has no record. I thought they kept everything for a lifetime on microfishe.
 
Thanks everybody for your answers. I really appreciate it.

I was worried but now I'm more relaxed since we have all the papers together. We just need to write a letter to the IO cause on the n-14 they gave him, it said all correspondence had to be directed to him.

We have the marriage certificate and we'll send it......the account transcripts from 2004 through 2008. and on 2003...he called the irs to speak to someone live and she said that he didn't file for 2003. We were wondering, why he didn't file.....and we found the w-2's.....on that year he didn't work much....only 2 months in which he earned about $1,500.00. She said he wasn't required to file since he earned very little income. She mentioned we could go to the irs website, forms and publications, previous years, select 2003, and go to publication 501. It says on table 1 that if you were single, less than 65, and earned less than about $8,000, you were not required to file an income tax return. He didn't file it since he was only going to get back about 150 dollars....and the tax preparer was going to charge him $100...so at that time he said, let the government keep the money instead of the tax preparer.

We were ignorant since we should have mentioned no to that question. Anyways he filed them. and it doesn't ask within a specific period of time. But well, hopefully someone else will learn from our mistakes.

we are going to explain all of this. Hopefully, the IO will understand our reasons for 2003..and we'll mail the w-'s also along with the social security earnings statement which matches the amount on the w-2's...

We'll pray lots....I don't want to pay another $600 to appeal.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You are in my thoughts. I just don't understand why they want to go back to 2003 since that is out of the five year period. Do you mind if ask that if both of you filed jointly? I mean that year if you did, it shouldn't matter. Nor for the other years.
 
We got married in 2007...so we filed jointly until 2008 tax return.....cause on 2007, the tax preparer said that we had to be married for at least 6 months of the year and since we got married on august 10..supostely we didn't qualify to file as married. So he filed single. We learned otherwise in 2008.....I know that he could have amended the 2007 return, and he was due another refund since as married, they take away less money....but we didn't want to mess with it anymore so we left it like that.
 
Six months, now I am wondering the same thing. We married in Oct but filed in April. I see that is six months but I hope they are not that picky. This is also over five years ago.
 
Later on, I learned that if you were married as of Dec 31, you must file married. So if you filed married for that year, you are fine even if you got married in oct.

It was a mistake the stupid tax preparer made basically. That's why for 2008, I did the income tax myself with taxact.com free of charge. Cause the tax preparer for 2007 charged us 400 dollars just to do it. and I thought I could do it myself and spend those 400 on something for us.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top