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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?

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  • "they sent me refund as per single status." That seems bizarre. People who are married can never file in single status. They can use either married filing jointly or married filing separately (or in rare circumstances head of household). It seems weird that they would "change" your return to a completely incorrect filing status that you are not allowed to use.
    – user102008
    Commented Mar 26, 2014 at 8:18
  • i am in the same boat. My wife's itin is denied so 1) will they process my tax returns as single or tax returns would only be processed after itin is approved? 2) if they process my returns as single how do i file an amendment to process my tax as married after my wife's itin is approved. Any help is greatly appreciated.
    – Ankit Vora
    Commented Jul 14, 2015 at 15:49

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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.

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    You don't have to send the original passport -- you can go to the IRS tax assistance center with the W-7 and tax return and original passport, and submit the W-7 and tax return, and they will return the passport to you immediately. Anyway, it does not seem like the OP is having a problem with documentation; it sounds like the OP submitted the application fine, but it got stuck afterwards.
    – user102008
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 11:07
  • @user102008 technically you're right, but there have been reports, even on this site, that the IRS rejected copies even when certified by their own employees. Their point is to make issuing ITIN as difficult as possible without breaking the law.
    – littleadv
    Commented Jan 5, 2014 at 21:51

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