tax return for I-485

T

taym1

New Member
Hi all,
I filed my I-485 (EB-3, PD 07/2003, I-140 approved in 2006) in June 2007, and added my wife (who has her own H-1b working in the US) as a derivative beneficiary. We were married overseas in 2005 and were never registered in the US. We have been filing our tax as Singles even in April 2007, before I was able to file I-485. Now I'm worried that such filing status in the past will hurt my case when they review it.

My questions are:
- How important is filing status in tax returns for employment-based AOS with spouse?
- For the purpose of the green card application only, should I file amendments for tax years 2005 and 2006 as Married Filing Jointly to correct the situation?
- Does USCIS talk to the IRS as they do with FBI to do background check?


Thank you very much for your insight.
 
USCIS can check anything that is available to them, including tax transcripts which can be obtained from the IRS. It is not a standard procedure to check everybody with the IRS, but they can do it if they want to. If you are married and your spouse is obtaining a green card through you, it doesn't look good if you are filing as single.

You are supposed to file as married filing jointly or married filing separately (unless you were living separately and some other criteria). To avoid trouble with the IRS, you need to file an amended return for the years 2005 and 2006, regardless of whether USCIS knows about it.

The good news is that if both spouses have some significant income, married filing jointly usually works out to less tax than if you both file as single, so you probably will be able to get a big refund by filing the amended returns.
 
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Agree with Jackolantern.

Forgett the imigration side of it, from a financial point of view, if you are married, but filing taxes as single is not a wise thing to do. as married filing jointly you will have less tax liability. So, why are you giving uncle sam the extra money, when you could get the rebate by filing a joint return ?
 
One problem: If your incomes are nearly equal, you usually pay MORE tax as married filing jointly, compared to filing two returns as single. If you are supposed to pay more tax than what you paid for 2005 and 2006, it means penalties and interest will be owed, and the longer you wait the worse it gets.

But if you were living apart in 2005-2006, research the rules to find out if it would have been OK with the IRS to file as single (although if USCIS looks at your returns it would look better if you filed as married).
 
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I just had a flash of brilliance :) we should all have not filed taxes. That way if the government comes after us we can say they need to prove who we say we are and ask the FBI to complete namecheck.....joking
 
The US government should be glad that we all pay taxes and create jobs at USCIS. Don't forget the application fees from your h1, perm, lc, ap, ead, i140, i485 and all the annual renewals when our cases are still pending. BTW, are the application fees tax deductible?
 
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