taxes, please help

marie_travel

Registered Users (C)
I have been married to a USC for 4.5 years and never filed for citizenship. I am a LPR with a 10 year green card. He has now decided to file for divorce. I want to apply for citizenship in SEP 2010, when I will be eligible under a 5 year rule. My husband and I got married in 2005 and I became a resident in DEC 2005. I just realized that I don't have tax papers for 2005. I do not know if my husband filed for 2005 or not. We are not on speaking terms. When I file for citizenship, I need 5 years of tax papers, I am now missing 1 year and only have papers for 2006, 2007, 2008 and this year. Will that deny my citizenship chances this year?? Will I have to wait another year before I can apply? Please help.
 
You can get old tax transcripts from the IRS. See their web site for details. Get transcripts for 2006-2008 also if all you have are just tax returns for those years.
 
I have been married to a USC for 4.5 years and never filed for citizenship. I am a LPR with a 10 year green card. He has now decided to file for divorce. I want to apply for citizenship in SEP 2010, when I will be eligible under a 5 year rule. My husband and I got married in 2005 and I became a resident in DEC 2005. I just realized that I don't have tax papers for 2005. I do not know if my husband filed for 2005 or not. We are not on speaking terms. When I file for citizenship, I need 5 years of tax papers, I am now missing 1 year and only have papers for 2006, 2007, 2008 and this year. Will that deny my citizenship chances this year?? Will I have to wait another year before I can apply? Please help.

In addition to what Jackolantern said, you most likely will not need tax transcripts at all if you will be filing under a 5-year rule. They are usually needed only for marriage-based (3-year rule) cases or if you had some >6 months trips abroad and there is a question about continuous residency requirement.
 
I don't think he filed jointly or even at all for 2005, so they would not exist. That is my worry. That I didn't file in 2005 because I didn't know that I had to.
 
In addition to what Jackolantern said, you most likely will not need tax transcripts at all if you will be filing under a 5-year rule.
However, sometimes they ask for them at the interview, and if you don't have them it will delay your case.
 
I don't think he filed jointly or even at all for 2005, so they would not exist.
If it was filed jointly, both you and he would have had to sign. So if you didn't sign it, you can be quite sure it wasn't filed jointly.
That is my worry. That I didn't file in 2005 because I didn't know that I had to.
What made you think you didn't have to? Is it because you as an individual had no US income in 2005? Were you present in the US in 2005, before December when you became a permanent resident? Did your husband have any income in 2005? Depending on your answers to those questions, it is possible that you did not have to file.
 
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Yes I had no income in 2005. I entered US on an immigrant visa in DEC 2005. I wasn't present before DEC 2005. My husband had income in 2005, so he probably filed, but not jointly. What do I do??
 
Get a transcript from the IRS for 2005. If there is nothing, then consult a tax attorney and file a return for 2005. If you had no income you should have penalties as long as you are the one volunteering to get all records straightened out.
 
If you had non-US income in 2005, you may have to file. See IRS publication 519, in particularly the section on Dual Status.
 
Get a transcript from the IRS for 2005. If there is nothing, then consult a tax attorney and file a return for 2005. If you had no income you should NOT have penalties as long as you are the one volunteering to get all records straightened out.
You omitted an important word.
 
also, you may want to check if your husband listed you in joint bank, investment accounts, income producing the property, estate/trust interests and anything in US/overseas that may create qualifying income for filing during year 2005.

Also, as fyi. You probably know this: the tax filing is not always triggered upon becoming LPR. If you resided in US before marriagevisa for the certain period of time, you could also have a filing requirement.

Collect this info, as jacklantern and alexMN suggested get a good tax attorney or CPA to consult.
 
I will call IRS tomorrow. How long does it take to receive the transcripts? Can they fax them? So the only way there would be something for 2005 is if he had filed jointly which I am not aware of because he was in Iraq at the time and I didn't sign anything. Can I still file for 2005? I thought you can only file for 3 years back.
 
However, sometimes they ask for them at the interview, and if you don't have them it will delay your case.

If they ask give them three years of tax returns (2006,2007,2008) and
that is enough at least for 5 year based applications. I doubt USCIS
will insist upon seeing more. Everything is possible but there is no need to always worry about unlikely scenarios otherwise life is misery no matter
what and no matter you get citizenship or not
 
If you are in a hurry, you can go to the nearest IRS office and can request for transcripts. They can print and give it to you immediately. Yours SS number and Govt issued photo id may be needed. It works something like current year(filed in 2010 and for the year 2009)) and 3 previous years (free of charge and print out may be available immediately).
As it is 2010 now, you may not get 2005 immediately. You can ask them whether it is available and request to be mailed to you (they may charge few $s). An helpful IRS person can get you everything what you are looking for.
 
I will call IRS tomorrow. How long does it take to receive the transcripts? Can they fax them? So the only way there would be something for 2005 is if he had filed jointly which I am not aware of because he was in Iraq at the time and I didn't sign anything.
Which means he didn't file jointly, because a joint return would require your signature (assuming he didn't forge your signature).

So he either filed as married-filing-separately for himself, or as single (which would have been mistaken), or didn't file at all for that year. Either way it means you might need to file a married-separately return for yourself, if you had any income in 2005 (whether it's US or foreign income).
 
If they ask give them three years of tax returns (2006,2007,2008) and
that is enough at least for 5 year based applications. I doubt USCIS
will insist upon seeing more. Everything is possible but there is no need to always worry about unlikely scenarios otherwise life is misery no matter
what and no matter you get citizenship or not
I agree it is unlikely USCIS would care about the 2005 return if they care about any of her returns at all. If her interview was this month I would say go to the interview and don't worry about it unless they actually ask for it. But the interview will be at least 10 months from now, so that gives plenty of time to clear up that stuff before the interview. It should be taken care of sooner or later anyway just to avoid trouble with the IRS.
 
I will call IRS tomorrow. How long does it take to receive the transcripts? Can they fax them? Can I still file for 2005? I thought you can only file for 3 years back.


I just called them today (1-800-829-1040).

If they send the transcripts by mail, it will take 2 weeks. But they can fax them if you want. Be ready to answer questions (social security, name, date of birth, address) of information on the last tax form you submitted.

They will send you transcripts from the last four years.

More info at:

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=110571,00.html
 
I called to have them faxed, but my fax machine broke down. So they will send them by mail. Again, there was no US nor foreign income for 2005. Since I have 8 months before I file for citizenship, I want to clear this up. How do I file for 2005 should that be required? Can I talk to IRS about that or would that be stupid? Can I tell them that I didn' file or will that get me in trouble?
 
I am not sure if there is a statute of limitation for federal taxes (I know for many states, statute of limitation is 3 years); in terms of who and how long IRS can go back to pursue for tax evasions/unpaid taxes.
if you are getting transcripts from 2006 on, 2006 transcript is for 2005. you should be able to see how taxes are filed for 2005. And also, when you request transcripts, it is IRS standard practice that one answer the question about how taxes are filed (married-jointly, single, etc). Since you arrived in US in 2005, tax returns filed in 2006 (for 2005) by your ex-spouse should have listed you as dependent (it doesn't matter when marriage occured in 2005; as long as you entered US legally with immigrant visa sponsered by your husband). Wait for tax transripts to arrive and contact IRS with any questions after you have an opportunity to review tax transcripts.
 
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