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I live and work in the US on H1B visa with recent spouse on H4. I filed my 2012 state and federal return along with spouse's w7 forms and document copies as per filing instructions but never got anything back from IRS about the ITIN or the return. I did hear back from state(MD) that my wife's ITIN has been denied by IRS and they cannot give me tax exemption for married status (if I am decoding their letter correctly), they sent me refund as per single status. I've seen some similar unfortunate threads, I want to make sure I get my federal refund back this year (my w4 is still per single status). I have looked up IRS tax payer advocate but I don't know if they can help.

Is there anyway I can get my state and federal refund for 2012?

Has anyone been through something similar with IRS and ITINs?

Update: After getting passport copies certified by local IRS office and filing W7 along with return, I finally got 2013 and 2012 refund back in full.

Is it advisable to attempt take IRS to court on this, if at all possible?

user102008
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madballoonist
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1 Answers1

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Is there anyway I can get my state and federal refund for 2012?

Yes. You need to get your ITIN, and you'll get your refund. If you're afraid its going to go beyond the State or IRS statute of limitations for refunds (for Federal - 3 years), you should file a protective claim. Talk to a good EA/CPA about this. Here's a link to an article discussing protective claims while courts are working. Do not do that without a professional counsel.

Has anyone been through something similar with IRS and ITNIs?

The ITIN procedures has changed recently, so not many people has gone through the new procedures, and a lot of people are having troubles with them. My guess would be that you didn't send the original documents (your spouse's passport), but a copy. They only accept copies certified by the issuing agency (i.e.: the government unit that issued that passport).

Is it advisable to attempt take IRS to court on this, if at all possible?

No, because they're following the letter of the law, so there's nothing to take them to court for. You can claim that they're imposing unreasonable requirements for documentation, but it's quite a burden to prove that their regulations are unreasonable (although I personally believe they are - requiring people to send their original passports IMHO is not reasonable at all).

What you can do is talk to the taxpayer advocate, and you can also go to an IRS office that provides document verification services for ITIN applications to talk to a real person there.

littleadv
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