hi everyone welcome back i'm jackie and i'm here to help you pass your u.s citizenship interview
today i'm going to go over some of the most asked questions about taxes for the naturalization
process filing taxes is required by law and it shows you have good moral character which
is one of the requirements for naturalization in general an applicant who fails to file tax returns
fails to pay taxes or has overdue taxes may get his or her application denied
i'll go over some tips of what you can do if that's your situation okay let's start
have you ever called yourself a non-us resident on any federal or state tax form this is question 8
on your n400 application and is one of the questions a lot of applicants get confused about
first you need to understand what non-us resident means it just means someone who
doesn't live in the u.s if you called yourself a non-us resident on any tax form you might be
exempt from paying certain taxes however as a green card holder applying for citizenship
you need to spend most of the time living in the u.s as a result you can't claim yourself as a
non-us resident on any tax forms so the answer to the question have you ever called yourself a
non-us resident on any federal or state tax form should be no and if the officer asks why you don't
call yourself a non-us resident on a tax return you just need to say because i live in the u.s
do i need to bring tax documents to the naturalization interview
before your interview you will get an interview notice and will be asked to bring a list of
documents this is a very generic list and it does not ask you to bring tax documents
so why should you bring your tax transcripts to the interview question 7 in part 12 of the n400
asks have you ever not filed a federal state or local tax return since you became
a lawful permanent resident the irs tax transcripts are proof that you filed your taxes
it really depends on the officer whether he or she will ask you for them i've seen quite a few
applications that were not approved during the interview because the applicant didn't
bring their tax return transcripts the officer will usually send you an n14 notice
and you have to submit the tax transcripts within 30 days after you receive the notice this just
further delays the approval process so if you don't want to risk that bring them with you
even if you've already submitted them with the application what type of tax documents
should i bring if you take a look at the official uscis document checklist form m477
it asks you to submit one of the following documents during your application tax returns
irs certified copies of income tax forms or irs tax return transcripts even though it refers to
people applying through marriage it should still apply to people who apply through the five-year
eligibility i personally recommend submitting the irs tax return transcripts during your application
and bringing them with you to the interview just in case you can request these for free via the
irs website by mail or even by phone how many years of tax return transcripts should i bring
for applicants who applied through marriage bring the last three years
for applicants who applied through five-year eligibility bring the past five years again
i suggest to bring the tax return transcripts from the irs not your 10 40 tax returns a tax return
is what you send to the irs when you file your taxes every year a tax transcript is
the official confirmation document by the irs that you filed your taxes the irs will only provide the
tax returns transcripts for the current and three prior tax years so if you're applying
through five-year eligibility i suggest that you bring the tax returns for the missing years
can i file taxes separately from my spouse if you're filing the n-400 application through
marriage the uscis officers want to see documents to show that your marriage is real this includes
joint bank accounts mortgage statements rental agreement health insurance and joint tax returns
however it's okay to file taxes separately if you have a valid reason just make sure to have
documents during the interview to support the reason will my application get denied
if i don't file taxes it depends if you were required to file taxes and you didn't
it shows that you don't have good moral character and your application may get denied however there
are various valid reasons that an applicant doesn't need to file taxes and you will still
be able to pass the naturalization interview for example you're a dependent on someone's tax return
or your income is below the filing threshold keep in mind that even if you don't work you might have
taxable income your salary is just one source of income think about tips dividends interest
from your bank unemployment compensation or supplemental security income and just
because you don't have to pay taxes doesn't mean that you don't need to file tax returns
it's always a good idea to consult a certified tax accountant in advance before your n400 interview
if you meet the requirements of not filing taxes you still need to answer yes to question
7a on the n-400 application and provide a written explanation of why you didn't file
your taxes since you became a green card holder will my application get denied if i owe overdue
taxes ideally i would recommend you to pay overdue taxes off before the interview however i
understand that's not always possible sometimes a tax bill can take several years to pay off
due to your financial situation if that's the case you need to set up a payment plan with the irs
make sure to build a history of on-time payments for at least six months before the interview if
possible and last but not least bring proof of the agreed payment plan with the irs and proof
of payments to show that your account is current with the payments all right that's it do you have
any other tax questions leave me a comment and check out these videos take care everyone bye