I-864 and current years tax filing for Expats

[scampbel31]

My wife has her interview scheduled for next week and we have a question on the US tax situation. As an expat we get an automatic extension until June 15th to finish our taxes. Though as we were filling out the documents it said that we need to have the three most recent years taxes. I am in the process of working on the current years taxes that are due on June 15th. The reason why it is taking so long for us to file is because I am trying to file as married filing jointly and get an ITIN for my wife. As many of you know this process is manual and you need to send in information for it which would not make it possible for us to file before her interview. The other option I have is to file married filing separately and submit my taxes immediately. The taxes go up several thousand dollars so it is not an ideal situation if we can avoid it. The argument that my CPA made was that it takes 4-8 weeks for the IRS to process the returns and even if I submit MFS today it will still be in process. She suggested that I could provide the copy of the married filing jointly to them that we have complete along with the proof of the extension. She offered to write a letter that the return was fully completed and we were working on the ITIN. Lastly, she suggested also providing 2013 return which would meet the 3 year filed returns requirement.

 

As a side note I have also included my US bank accounts which are well above the poverty line.

 

Question is how strict are they on this IRS requirement and do they follow the rules of the IRS or is it a hard line where they say it must be filed no matter what? Any suggestions?

[Randy W]

My wife has her interview scheduled for next week and we have a question on the US tax situation. As an expat we get an automatic extension until June 15th to finish our taxes. Though as we were filling out the documents it said that we need to have the three most recent years taxes. I am in the process of working on the current years taxes that are due on June 15th. The reason why it is taking so long for us to file is because I am trying to file as married filing jointly and get an ITIN for my wife. As many of you know this process is manual and you need to send in information for it which would not make it possible for us to file before her interview. The other option I have is to file married filing separately and submit my taxes immediately. The taxes go up several thousand dollars so it is not an ideal situation if we can avoid it. The argument that my CPA made was that it takes 4-8 weeks for the IRS to process the returns and even if I submit MFS today it will still be in process. She suggested that I could provide the copy of the married filing jointly to them that we have complete along with the proof of the extension. She offered to write a letter that the return was fully completed and we were working on the ITIN. Lastly, she suggested also providing 2013 return which would meet the 3 year filed returns requirement.

 

As a side note I have also included my US bank accounts which are well above the poverty line.

 

Question is how strict are they on this IRS requirement and do they follow the rules of the IRS or is it a hard line where they say it must be filed no matter what? Any suggestions?

 

 

???

 

You seem to be saying you already HAVE copies of your 2016 return (or COULD have preliminary copies) . They do not need copies of the W-7 ITIN application.

 

After April 15 every year, they have been known to demand copies of the current tax return.

 

Be prepared, even if the copy is only preliminary. I'm not seeing a reason why you wouldn't be.

[Randy W]

PAYMENT on your taxes was due on April 15, so your tax return should already be pretty much in order.

 

The Consulate needs only a COPY - you FILE the tax return with the IRS.