Trump admin wants to require tax filers to disclose citizenship status to IRS
Federal Officials Propose Adding Citizenship Question to Tax Returns
The Trump administration has proposed a new requirement that would force every taxpayer to certify their citizenship or immigration status on the federal income tax return, under penalty of law. The change would appear on the draft 1040 form for the 2026 tax year, which the IRS released in late August. The form includes a question asking whether the filer, and a spouse if filing jointly, is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or an alien lawfully authorized to work in the United States, with separate “Yes” and “No” boxes for each person. A companion schedule, Schedule 3‑A, which is used to claim refundable tax credits, contains a similar inquiry.
Administration officials say the measure is intended to prevent people who are in the country without authorization from receiving refundable credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit. They estimate that blocking those payments could save taxpayers up to $2 billion. The Treasury Department stated that the information collected would be protected by existing privacy laws, but it did not say whether the data would be shared with immigration enforcement agencies.
The proposal comes as millions of undocumented immigrants already file tax returns using an Individual Tax Identification Number. In 2024, the National Taxpayer Advocate identified roughly 3.8 million returns filed with an ITIN; those filers paid $14.4 billion in income taxes and $6.5 billion in Social Security and Medicare taxes. Under current law, a valid Social Security number is required for the Earned Income Tax Credit, and workers with only an ITIN are ineligible. The administration’s plan would extend similar restrictions to the Additional Child Tax Credit by applying the eligibility rules of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.
A research paper released this week estimates that 671,000 individuals, including 309,000 children, would lose the Earned Income Tax Credit under the proposal, while 1.1 million people, including 574,000 children, would lose the Additional Child Tax Credit. Most of the affected children are U.S. citizens because at least one parent is a citizen or legal resident, according to researchers at Boston University, Columbia University, and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Critics argue that the new checkbox would give the federal government another tool for immigration enforcement. “It could be used as an immigration enforcement tool and that is probably the reason why they are doing this,” said David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute. Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights, added, “It’s dragging the IRS into this administration’s immigration policies.” Some advocates warn that undocumented immigrants might choose to stop filing taxes altogether, while others could face a dilemma between declaring their status—potentially making them a target for arrest—or lying on the return, which is a felony.
The proposal follows a previous attempt by the Treasury Department to share confidential taxpayer information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist in deportation efforts. A federal judge blocked that agreement, citing taxpayer privacy statutes, but before the injunction, the IRS had already provided ICE with the addresses of about 47,000 individuals.
As the IRS prepares the 2026 form, the administration’s plan is likely to spark debate over the balance between tax administration and immigration policy.