back taxes?

[SCruzinSC]

What do you all know about the importance of filing previous owed taxes as a part of the I130 and I601 process? My husband came in 2000 and didn't file taxes the first two years he was here (he didn't know he was supposed to). We've filed a joint return ever since we've been married in 2002. My lawyer advised us to get that in order, but I'm a little worried that it's going to cost a lot since we'll have all the late fees and interest.

[y14gemini]

Hi, I don't have an exact answer for you but I do know that he needs to rememdy the issue (maybe you can contact the IRS or an accountant) but if you have taxes that the 2 of you filed together, I think that is what they are looking at. And I believe they want the past 3 years.

[jeialeigh]

We too face the back taxes issue... Hubby has filed tax returns since 2003 and we were faced with a 4k tax bill for 2003 which we filed in 2004. So, if possible, I would say wait til he's back to file the back taxes, since you'll likely owe a good bit. That's been our approach. We sent the most recent tax returns for the last 3 years with our I-864 (we filed jointly) and I'm making copies of all the returns we've ever filed, joint or separate, to take with us to the interview. Just in case!