Could I blank out the SSN on the tax forms?

[bigslugandlittleslug]

Since my USC and our co-sponsor are gonna mail me the I-134 and all the documents, I am thinking of blank out sensitive information, such as SSN, in case they got lost in the mail.

 

Are the supporting documents still valid and accepted if I cross out the SSN number of the co-sponsor? Of course I am not asking them cross out anything on the form, just the supporting docs.

 

Thank you, everyone! Good luck on your interviews.

[Kyle]

That's fine. Both my co-sponsor and I redacted our social security numbers from our tax forms. No problems or questions arose by us doing that.

Edited December 2, 2009 by Kyle (see edit history)

[bigslugandlittleslug]

That's fine. Both my co-sponsor and I redacted our social security numbers from our tax forms. No problems or questions arose by us doing that.

 

Thank you, Kyle. Are you in Wuhan? Till when?

[Kyle]

Yes. We'll be in China until March 1st. Our plane leaves on the 2nd. We may do some traveling (dates not yet set) and I think we're going to spend S.F. with Jingjing's parents. Other than that, we're busy packing (or at least we should be)

Edited December 3, 2009 by Kyle (see edit history)

[mmpv]

That's fine. Both my co-sponsor and I redacted our social security numbers from our tax forms. No problems or questions arose by us doing that.

 

You mean the "official" irs ones? BTW, just curious, why bother with this since they already have you and your co-sponser's SSN anyway? And if they did have a problem with the altered paperwork, wouldn't it cause more delays?

[Kyle]

I did not have my previous tax returns with me in China, nor my co-sponsor's for that matter - since I've been living here for over 5 years. I have them in my files in America. I had my father scan them as a PDF and send them as an email attachment. For obvious reasons, we redacted personal identification numbers. These were the tax returns that I submitted with our I-864 - yes, as the instructions state, they were copies.

 

why bother with this since they already have you and your co-sponser's SSN anyway

 

This is exactly why they won't have a problem with it. They already have his SSN on the I-864 itself, which was sent to us via registered Fedex. No where in the instructions does it state that you can't do this. They only require COPIES. Because they were copies, the forms were also left unsigned. Again, no problems arose doing it this way. They are interested in the financial data. The I-864 states before you sign it

 

I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that I prepared this affidavit of support at

the sponsor's request and that this affidavit of support is based on all information of which I have knowledge.

 

I'm assuming that this falls under any supporting documents that accompany the affidavit of support - previous tax returns.

Edited December 3, 2009 by Kyle (see edit history)

[mmpv]

 

This is exactly why they won't have a problem with it. No where in the instructions does it state that you can't do this. They only require COPIES. Because they were copies, the forms were also left unsigned. Again, no problems arose doing it this way. They are interested in the financial data. The I-864 states before you sign it

 

I certify under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States that I prepared this affidavit of support at

the sponsor's request and that this affidavit of support is based on all information of which I have knowledge.

 

I'm assuming that this falls under any supporting documents that accompany the affidavit of support - previous tax returns.

 

Yes, the instructions doesn't mention you can't alter the document copies, but I always am hesitant when dealing with the feds because I've been burned by them before. Then can be nit pickers if they want to be. Even if they don't mention that's something is not allowed does not necessarily translate to tacit approval. A lot of it depends on how the enforcer of the rules interprets them. Good to know that it worked out for you. It's probably a good idea because the less you expose to the outside world, the less you can be victimized. It wouldn't surprise me if the embassy doesn't have good record disposal procedures after hearing how IRS "takes care" of us.

 

BTW, I thought they preferred tax transcripts over a copy of the tax form? If doing copies are okay, then it will make my life easier because I am still waiting to get my copies from the IRS! Hope it arrives on schedule this time around.

 

Did you need W2's to back up your tax copies or were the tax forms enough?