I need correct interpretation of this RFE requirement

[Emerald 2020]

Hello all, my PD is January 02 2018.
Joint sponsor Form I-864 was filed with detailed 2016,2015 and 2014 tax returns, w2,1040, pay stubs etc. He is well qualified. My petitioner sponsor does not. And we added her form I-864 with the available returns paper work for 2016 tax return. She e-file. apparently 1040 was not there. Well I am a newbie I don't know and she doesn't either.
Now we have the RFE request below and the only thing being asked for has to do with my Petitioner sponsor return . I will appreciate an interpretation of the request below. "The most recent year" in that request,Is it 1040 for 2016,that is being asked for or 1040 for 2017?

Thank you.


"The petitioner sponsor on Form I-864,Affidavit of Support ,must submit a complete Federal income tax return submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),for the most recent tax year. If you are not required to file a. Federal Income tax return under US tax law,attach a written explanation of why you are not required to file. See "Filling Requirements"in the IRS Form 1040 Filling. instructions to determine whether you were required to file."

[MissTz1982]

Hello all, my PD is January 02 2018.
Joint sponsor Form I-864 was filed with detailed 2016,2015 and 2014 tax returns, w2,1040, pay stubs etc. He is well qualified. My petitioner sponsor does not. And we added her form I-864 with the available returns paper work for 2016 tax return. She e-file. apparently 1040 was not there. Well I am a newbie I don't know and she doesn't either.
Now we have the RFE request below and the only thing being asked for has to do with my Petitioner sponsor return . I will appreciate an interpretation of the request below. "The most recent year" in that request,Is it 1040 for 2016,that is being asked for or 1040 for 2017?

Thank you.


"The petitioner sponsor on Form I-864,Affidavit of Support ,must submit a complete Federal income tax return submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),for the most recent tax year. If you are not required to file a. Federal Income tax return under US tax law,attach a written explanation of why you are not required to file. See "Filling Requirements"in the IRS Form 1040 Filling. instructions to determine whether you were required to file."

They probably want the joint sponsor 2017 tax return since you sent 2016 as a recent one. Some that sent 2016 got a RFE some didn?t. It defends with the officer handling your case.

[Mellymoo]

They probably want the joint sponsor 2017 tax return since you sent 2016 as a recent one. Some that sent 2016 got a RFE some didn?t. It defends with the officer handling your case.

I had this same request in April. When we filed in October we had sent previous years taxes so we sent this years tax information; we had not yet filed taxes as it was before the deadline so we sent copies of his 1099 that we had and also pay stubs for the last 6 months. This was accepted and my case moved forwards.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Hello all, my PD is January 02 2018.
Joint sponsor Form I-864 was filed with detailed 2016,2015 and 2014 tax returns, w2,1040, pay stubs etc. He is well qualified. My petitioner sponsor does not. And we added her form I-864 with the available returns paper work for 2016 tax return. She e-file. apparently 1040 was not there. Well I am a newbie I don't know and she doesn't either.
Now we have the RFE request below and the only thing being asked for has to do with my Petitioner sponsor return . I will appreciate an interpretation of the request below. "The most recent year" in that request,Is it 1040 for 2016,that is being asked for or 1040 for 2017?

Thank you.


"The petitioner sponsor on Form I-864,Affidavit of Support ,must submit a complete Federal income tax return submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),for the most recent tax year. If you are not required to file a. Federal Income tax return under US tax law,attach a written explanation of why you are not required to file. See "Filling Requirements"in the IRS Form 1040 Filling. instructions to determine whether you were required to file."

Emerald2020,

from what I am reading here, it sounds like your petitioner/sponsor did not file a I-864. Your spouse is your (primary) sponsor in marriage-based adjustment of status cases. Even if your US citizen spouse/petitioner/sponsor does not make enough income to be your sponsor, he/she still has to fill out a I-864. If your spouse was not required to file taxes, then you have to submit a statement explaining why he/she was not required to file taxes. So if he/she did not work and made zero income, you state that. OR if he/she made less than the income threshold to not be required to file, then you would include the W2 that shows the low income and the statement explaining that the amount is below the threshold that requires you to file a federal tax return.

In 2017 for example, if you are under age 65 and single, you must file a tax return if you earn $10,400 or more, which is the sum of the 2017 standard deduction for a single taxpayer plus one exemption. So if you earned less than that, you do not have to file.

Sometimes it is easier to just file taxes even if you do not have to file. It is also beneficial to file even if you do not have to because if you are ever audited, the IRS can only audit so many previous years. Let's say 5. So if you clutter that with 4 low income federal tax returns, then they can only get you for 1 high income tax return - which is likely the one that triggered the audit.

Here is the link to the 1040 instructions that the RFE letter mentioned. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
Use charts A B C to determine if your spouse has to file. If the charts are too confusing. You can just create a free turbotax account and do the return there. It will tell you if your spouse has to file. Again, even if the income is low, it's best to just file. There are credits that your spouse can qualify for. The most recent tax year at this point is 2017 because tax season ended April 18th, 2018.

All the best.

[Emerald 2020]

Thank you all. I guess I have a better understanding right now.
2016 tax was filled, the petitioner did e-file, like I said the paper work of return we added with her affidavit of support was incomplete. And I didn't know when as much as I know now.
We have requested for 1040 for 2016 from IRS,as soon as we have it, we will send it with returns for 2017.
Thank you all.

[UScitizenFilingforspouse]

Thank you all. I guess I have a better understanding right now.
2016 tax was filled, the petitioner did e-file, like I said the paper work of return we added with her affidavit of support was incomplete. And I didn't know when as much as I know now.
We have requested for 1040 for 2016 from IRS,as soon as we have it, we will send it with returns for 2017.
Thank you all.

Glad to be of assistance! You can try to get transcripts from the IRS online. You just have to answer some identity verification questions. If you haven't moved around much, it tends to work for most people. Otherwise, you can call the IRS and ask them to fax the transcripts to you. They ask that you have direct access to the fax machine - as in, next to you, OR you can use an online fax service, the fax goes to your account's inbox with that fax service. You do want to turn this around as soon as you can. Sometimes files will just get set aside if you take too long to respond.

Keep asking questions anytime you are in doubt.

[Emerald 2020]

Glad to be of assistance! You can try to get transcripts from the IRS online. You just have to answer some identity verification questions. If you haven't moved around much, it tends to work for most people. Otherwise, you can call the IRS and ask them to fax the transcripts to you. They ask that you have direct access to the fax machine - as in, next to you, OR you can use an online fax service, the fax goes to your account's inbox with that fax service. You do want to turn this around as soon as you can. Sometimes files will just get set aside if you take too long to respond.

Keep asking questions anytime you are in doubt.

Thank you.