Post Citizenship Interview Help

[skkgc]

Hi All,

Had interview at newark office few weeks back and the officer asked me to file amended taxes for last 6 years and come back for inteview in Mar'2012.

The problem is my wife(we got married in 2005) was outside USA after marriage(5yrs+) and I didn't apply for her ITIN or social sec# till 2008. So, till 2008, I filed taxes as single. In 2009, I applied for her ITIN and then onwards, till date , filed taxes as married.

Now the officer wants me to update the old taxes(2005 to 2008) to married status. Called the IRS and they are saying I can't file amended returns for period older than 3years.

Also, if I amend the taxes from 2005 to 2008, I will get back money from IRS.

What do you want me to do.
1)Should I setup a INFOPASS appointment and tell the officer about the same ?
2) Should I write a letter and attach the IRS publication showing that I can't file amended tax returns that are older than 3 yrs
3) Go ahead and file amended taxes for last 5 years and wait for rejection from IRS
4) Any other option ?????

Re-interview is on March' 5th, 2012

Thx.

 

[Jackolantern]

You should have filed as married-separately.

You can't file an amended return to collect refunds for returns filed more than 3 years ago, but I think you can amend old returns if the amendment causes you to owe more.

You definitely need to consult a tax attorney or accountant. You messed up once by doing it yourself, don't mess up again.

 

[skkgc]

Spoke to an accountant and he said go ahead and file an amended return and attach the BCIS letter asking u to amend ur taxes.
He said, most probably, they will reject it as its older than 3yrs.

But what about me taking an INFOPASS appointment or writing a letter to the officer telling him that IRS won't accept tax amendments older than 3 yrs ?

 

[Jackolantern]

But what about me taking an INFOPASS appointment or writing a letter to the officer telling him that IRS won't accept tax amendments older than 3 yrs ?

You can try, but you merely telling them that almost certainly won't work. They'll want something in writing from the IRS. And as far as I know, if you owe money they'll still accept amended returns older than 3 years. It's for refunds where the cutoff is 3 years. Filing as married-filing-separately in most cases results in a higher tax bill than filing single, so you'll probably owe money with the amended returns, and I expect they'll accept the amended returns with the payment you owe.

You should also discuss the option of filing as married-jointly. That probably would require reporting your wife's overseas income and applying whatever special rules that are applicable when one spouse is a US resident and the other is nonresident. But if you can file those returns jointly that may enable you to avoid owing money, since married-jointly usually results in a lower tax bill than married-separately.

So get the accountant to prepare the returns, and send the money you owe (if any) to the IRS plus interest and penalties as calculated by the accountant. Then take whatever document you get back from the IRS and submit that to USCIS. Unfortunately that probably won't all get done before the next interview date.

 

[Bobsmyth]

The problem is my wife(we got married in 2005) was outside USA after marriage(5yrs+) and I didn't apply for her ITIN or social sec# till 2008. So, till 2008, I filed taxes as single. In 2009, I applied for her ITIN and then onwards, till date , filed taxes as married.

.

What's the basis of the IO questioning you about your taxes? Filing taxes incorrectly (ie. filing married vs married separately) does not preclude you from naturalization in itself.

 

[skkgc]

Yeah thats what the IO is questioning me. IO has already sent a letter saying I passed the exam and need to file taxes with correct status and show a zero IRS due before March interview date or else citizenship denied.

What's the basis of the IO questioning you about your taxes? Filing taxes incorrectly (ie. filing married vs married separately) does not preclude you from naturalization in itself.

 

[baikal3]

What's the basis of the IO questioning you about your taxes? Filing taxes incorrectly (ie. filing married vs married separately) does not preclude you from naturalization in itself.

Apparently the IO suspects that the OP owes back taxes for 2005-2008. Presumably, the N-400 cannot be approved until the OP pays back any back taxes owed or works out a payment plan with the IRS (I assume that this is why one of the questions in N-400 asks if the applicant owes any back taxes).

However, I'd like to know how the issue of taxes came up in the interview in the first place. The OP says that his wife did not have an s.s.n. and only got an ITIN in 2008, which probably means that she is not a U.S. citizen the OP's N-400 application is not marriage-based. So it is not clear how the issue of those old tax returns came up at the interview.

 

[skkgc]

-IRS publication clearly states that I can't amend a tax return older than 3yrs unless its specifically asked for. Can I take the publication and show it to IO ?
-From 2009 onwards, I filed as married-jointly. Now, I plan to change the status to married-jointly for 2005-2008 period also because of which I will get money from IRS. I am worried about audit etc etc since I am troubling the IRS people. Unnecessary digging which I don't want since I want to get over with this citizenship stuff.

You can try, but you merely telling them that almost certainly won't work. They'll want something in writing from the IRS. And as far as I know, if you owe money they'll still accept amended returns older than 3 years. It's for refunds where the cutoff is 3 years. Filing as married-filing-separately in most cases results in a higher tax bill than filing single, so you'll probably owe money with the amended returns, and I expect they'll accept the amended returns with the payment you owe.

You should also discuss the option of filing as married-jointly. That probably would require reporting your wife's overseas income and applying whatever special rules that are applicable when one spouse is a US resident and the other is nonresident. But if you can file those returns jointly that may enable you to avoid owing money, since married-jointly usually results in a lower tax bill than married-separately.

So get the accountant to prepare the returns, and send the money you owe (if any) to the IRS plus interest and penalties as calculated by the accountant. Then take whatever document you get back from the IRS and submit that to USCIS. Unfortunately that probably won't all get done before the next interview date.

 

[skkgc]

I was outside the country for a period > 6months (1 trip) so I sent my tax docs with N-400 to show that I didn't break continuous residence requirement. Somehow IO saw and compared my tax doc's and found the discrepancy and didn't give me much chance to explain the discrepancy. IO started swearing at me using the F* word and was really rude. He told me to file the amended returns and come again.

Apparently the IO suspects that the OP owes back taxes for 2005-2008. Presumably, the N-400 cannot be approved until the OP pays back any back taxes owed or works out a payment plan with the IRS (I assume that this is why one of the questions in N-400 asks if the applicant owes any back taxes).

However, I'd like to know how the issue of taxes came up in the interview in the first place. The OP says that his wife did not have an s.s.n. and only got an ITIN in 2008, which probably means that she is not a U.S. citizen the OP's N-400 application is not marriage-based. So it is not clear how the issue of those old tax returns came up at the interview.

 

[Jackolantern]

What's the basis of the IO questioning you about your taxes? Filing taxes incorrectly (ie. filing married vs married separately) does not preclude you from naturalization in itself.

The error wasn't married vs. married separately; he incorrectly filed as single. Married-separately usually results in a higher tax bill than filing as single (all else being equal). And married-jointly would require including the wife's income, which in turn could have raised the tax bill.

So the incorrect filing status could have resulted in underpayment of tax for those years, and owing back taxes is a barrier to naturalization until paid or a payment plan has been arranged.