Tax filing for permanent residents on way to citizenship

[hightbross]

I became a permanent resident of the U.S. on October 20th, 2015. After reading a lot of information from the IRS website, I found out that the same taxing rules of U.S. citizens apply to Lawful Permanent Residents, meaning that if my income was below a certain threshold, I didn't have to file, which it was. I was a student in 2015 and my income was $0. So I did not file a return for 2015.

In 2016 I started working and I'm over the threshold. This is why I am filing a return for 2016.

Surprisingly, when I was checking the USCIS form N400 (Application for Naturalization), I found on page 12 the following question:

"Have you EVER not filed a Federal, state, or local tax return since you became a lawful permanent resident?"

Since I did not file for 2015, I think I should answer this question with "Yes." But the IRS did not require me to file for 2015.

My question is: would it hurt my naturalization process in the future if I didn't file taxes for 2015? Should I file for 2015 now (even if my income for the couple of months I was in the U.S. was 0)?

Thank you.

[Eliana Chávez]

I became a permanent resident of the U.S. on October 20th, 2015. After reading a lot of information from the IRS website, I found out that the same taxing rules of U.S. citizens apply to Lawful Permanent Residents, meaning that if my income was below a certain threshold, I didn't have to file, which it was. I was a student in 2015 and my income was $0. So I did not file a return for 2015.

In 2016 I started working and I'm over the threshold. This is why I am filing a return for 2016.

Surprisingly, when I was checking the USCIS form N400 (Application for Naturalization), I found on page 12 the following question:

"Have you EVER not filed a Federal, state, or local tax return since you became a lawful permanent resident?"

Since I did not file for 2015, I think I should answer this question with "Yes." But the IRS did not require me to file for 2015.

My question is: would it hurt my naturalization process in the future if I didn't file taxes for 2015? Should I file for 2015 now (even if my income for the couple of months I was in the U.S. was 0)?

Thank you.

as far as I know you should report any income that you had/have what I don't understand why are you applying from citizenship if you became resident in 2015, either way you should contact a cpa and you can file your taxes for 2015 because if you were student who was supporting you? if it was your partner you should filed taxes with him/her even if you didn't work.

[hightbross]

as far as I know you should report any income that you had/have what I don't understand why are you applying from citizenship if you became resident in 2015, either way you should contact a cpa and you can file your taxes for 2015 because if you were student who was supporting you? if it was your partner you should filed taxes with him/her even if you didn't work.

I'm not yet applying for citizenship. I was checking the N400 by coincidence.
I was a student and had some money that I brought with me to the U.S., which was enough before I started working in 2016. I wasn't required to file taxes in 2015 under IRS law, but am worried about a conflict/misunderstanding between IRS and USCIS rules.

[newacct]

Your not filing tax returns when not required to file is perfectly fine. The question is how to interpret the question on the form, whether it means not filing when required to, or not filing in general (whether required to or not required to). Because it is ambiguous, it may be better to error on the side of caution and say yes, and in the explanation just explain that you weren't required to file for those years (citing the relevant years' Form 1040 instructions). If the answer is supposed to be no and you said yes, they will look at the explanation, realize that it doesn't apply, and just ignore it; there is no harm. But if the answer is supposed to be yes and you said no, that could be a lie.