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