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ResourcesVisa & Immigration LawUS Immigration LawI-864 Affidavit of Support: Tax Returns Versus Tax Transcripts

I-864 Affidavit of Support: Tax Returns Versus Tax Transcripts

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests we are going to be talking about the I-864: specifically we are talking about the issue of tax return copies versus tax transcripts.

First of all those who are unaware of what the I-864 is, just briefly it is an Affidavit of Support for someone who is sponsoring an immigrant spouse to the United States. In the context of the K-1 Visa it's an I-134 Affidavit of Support which there are videos on this channel which go into detail as to what the I-864 is or the I-134.  There's another video specifically on this topic with specific respect to the I-134. But what we are talking about here is tax transcript tax transcripts versus tax returns. 

Generally speaking the Consular Officer adjudicating a visa application wants to go ahead and not only see an Affidavit of Support signed by an individual that is an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident sponsor of a fiancée or spouse coming to the United States but they also want to see evidence that shows that that individual makes the requisite amount of money to go ahead and sponsor that intending immigrant.

Most of the time, the best evidence is evidence of income and copies of income tax returns generally are sufficient to meet the evidentiary requirements associated with the I-864 Affidavit of Support. That being said, in some cases a tax transcript is requested. I have seen this happen where you have tax returns that are just filled out by hand and sort of signed self-submitted. Oftentimes I think that the Consular Officer basically just wants to sort of ensure that that individual actually did file their return and for that reason they may request a tax transcript. In certain instances I have also filed tax transcripts sort of prospectively with the intention of forestalling a request for tax returns or tax transcripts just sort of knowing that I had an individual who did fill out the tax returns by hand and knowing there was a possibility of that might get asked for we went ahead, we had the time, we just went ahead and requested tax transcript text transcripts anyway.

So the thing to take away from this video is there are two options and oftentimes people ask “What are tax transcripts?”  Well you can actually write or contact the IRS, Internal Revenue Service, and request a transcript of the year previous or any previous tax year that you file the tax returns and they basically send back pretty much what it sounds like, it is just sort of a breakdown of your filing and that is sufficient for use with a Consular officer at a US Embassy or US Consulate I should say specifically here in Bangkok it has always proven to be sufficient In association with an I-864 Affidavit of Support.

In most cases copies of file tax returns will be sufficient but I have seen circumstances where transcripts were subsequently requested and so in some cases it might be beneficial to sort of forestall that request and go ahead and get a tax transcript just sort of preemptively in order to again just sort of head off getting a request for it later on down the road.