Noorah101

You're lucky, in this case. You CAN change the past. IRS gives you a chance to correct errors you made on your taxes in the past. If I were you, I'd go ahead and start doing it, so you can show them at AOS that you WERE married since then, and are correcting it NOW.

See what I mean? It's not just the refund money. It shows at your AOS that you're rectifying the fact that you were married and filed wrong. I know you have plenty of other info, and your tax filings *probably* won't come into play, but it does raise the officer's eyebrows as to why you filed single when you claimed to have been married for 2 years already. You know??

Better safe than sorry.

Rene

Popsters

I think I'll do it for reassurance now that I know that USCIS will look at the tax situation mainly for income evaluation. I also know I have lots more to prove our marriage so the tax situation will probably not be an issue. But if I read right, it's always better to avoid a possible topic of discussion, it would also save a long explanation.

This is in short what I've understood about the whole discussion here, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

Noorah101

To be honest, I don't know how much weight the Officer will put on the taxes - whether it will be used mainly for income evaluation or for proof of marriage. It will depend on the Officer.

I think the whole point of it is...rectify whatever is wrong ASAP and be as well prepared as possible.

Rene

Popsters

My oh my... why is it that the seed of doubt can't seem to dissapear. I thought this tax issue wasn't a requirement but guess I'm back at square one.

Thanks anyways.

Noorah101

OK, look at it this way. You're probably not going to be denied just because you filed your taxes wrong. Just fix it so they don't think you did that on purpose, or that you actually WERE single at the time. Of course you'll have other evidence to back up that you WERE married at the time (like your marriage certificate).

All you can do it go in with what you've got and explain why it's not what it should be, if asked.

It's nothing to worry about.

Rene

Popsters

So I shoudln't worry about it? I'm guessing your advice is to fix past filings just in case but they wouldn't deny the application based only on the fact that I filed single since I have more evidence to present.

Noorah101

Right. Go as far as you can to fix it before the interview, though, so you'll have something to show if they ask.

Rene

Popsters

Thanks Rene, I'll try to fix it but I don't need to stress about it like crazy right?

shepslady

Even after we were married my husband filed his taxes as single because I was still back in NZ waiting for my visa. He was then told he should have filed them to include me so when I finally arrived here we applied for a TTIN for me, he then submitted an ammended tax form stating he didnt know he could have put me down etc. We got a lovely letter from IRS which included another check which was a bonus too. You could do the same I believe going back for the two years since youve been married. Worth looking into at least but please remember your wife must have a TTIN or SSN to do this.

Popsters

I'll look into fixing the problem but like I said many times, is this going to be a definitive obstacle in her AOS process? Rene said it wouldn't but what do you think???

Noorah101

I'm not an attorney, but my personal opinion is that you won't be DENIED based on ONLY your tax return mistake. If they the officer doesn't like what he/she sees, he/she will give you a chance to correct it and return the corrected forms. To my knowledge, it's not a basis for DENIAL.

Rene

Popsters

THANK YOU SO MUCH RENE! That's just what I wanted to clarify! Having a chance to fix things is important and we want to make things right. I will look into fixing past filings anyways.
BTW, during the first year of our marriage, one of my family members (USC) lived with us, he could submit a sworn notarized statement that we share our lives together (he told me so) but I don't know if this would be useful at all.

We helped him with a place to live while he finished school and got himself a job. That's why he told us he would help if required.