The IRS has added a citizenship and work-authorization question to its draft 2026 Form 1040, while the Trump administration separately proposes limiting refundable portions of four tax credits to U.S. citizens, nationals and certain categories of legally present immigrants.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Internal Revenue Service is considering asking millions of Americans about their citizenship or legal authorization to work when they file federal income tax returns in 2027, marking a notable change in information collected on the standard Form 1040.
A draft 2026 Form 1040 released by the IRS on Sept. 17 includes a new question on the first page asking taxpayers about their status at the time they submit their returns.
“At the time you file your return, are you, and your spouse if filing jointly, a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or an alien lawfully authorized to work in the U.S.?” the draft asks.
Separate “Yes” or “No” boxes are provided for the taxpayer and spouse on a joint return. The IRS labels the document as a draft and warns taxpayers not to file or rely on draft forms, meaning the language could still change before the final 2026 return is issued.
The question would appear on returns covering tax year 2026 that most taxpayers file in early 2027.
The Trump administration says collecting the information would help the IRS determine whether taxpayers qualify for federal tax benefits.
Critics question why the agency needs to ask the question directly when eligibility for several major tax credits is already tied to Social Security numbers or other taxpayer-identification requirements.
“The IRS doesn’t need this information to administer the tax law,” said Nina Olson, a former IRS official who now leads the Center for Taxpayer Rights. “The only reason you have that attestation is to deter people.”
The proposal arrives during an ongoing dispute over how taxpayer information can be used in immigration enforcement.
The IRS historically has encouraged people who owe taxes to file returns regardless of immigration status. Individuals who are not eligible for Social Security numbers can, in qualifying circumstances, file using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, or ITINs.
That practice has allowed people without legal immigration status to pay federal income taxes without necessarily possessing authorization to work in the United States.
The new Form 1040 question would directly ask for information that the standard individual income tax return has not traditionally required.
Concerns about the change have been heightened by the Trump administration’s efforts to obtain taxpayer information for immigration enforcement.
The IRS previously supplied addresses associated with approximately 47,000 taxpayers to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A federal appeals court ruled this month that the disclosure program violated federal taxpayer-privacy law and upheld an injunction against the practice.
Federal law generally protects tax-return information from disclosure outside the IRS except under specified statutory exceptions.
The dispute over taxpayer data has consequently raised concerns that a citizenship or work-authorization response included directly on Form 1040 could eventually become relevant to immigration enforcement, even if current law restricts how the information can be shared.
The administration has not said the proposed question is intended for locating or deporting immigrants.
The Form 1040 change is also distinct from a second Trump administration initiative involving refundable tax credits.
The Treasury Department and IRS have proposed regulations that would classify the refundable portions of four tax credits as “Federal public benefits” under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.
The affected credits are the earned income tax credit, child tax credit, American Opportunity tax credit and adoption tax credit.
A refundable credit can provide a taxpayer with money beyond merely reducing an income-tax bill to zero.
For example, if a qualifying taxpayer receives a $1,000 refundable credit while owing $200 in federal income tax, the remaining $800 can generally be paid to the taxpayer as a refund, subject to the particular credit’s rules.
Under Treasury’s proposal, that refundable portion would be treated as a federal public benefit and subjected to immigration-status restrictions contained in the 1996 welfare law.
Taxpayers seeking the affected refundable credits would have to certify that they are U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals or “qualified aliens” under the statute.
The IRS has already drafted a new Schedule 3-A, titled “Federal Public Benefit,” for taxpayers claiming the earned income credit, additional child tax credit, refundable American Opportunity credit or refundable adoption credit.
The form asks whether the taxpayer or spouse is “a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or qualified alien.”
That terminology differs from the broader question appearing on the draft Form 1040.
The Form 1040 asks whether a person is a citizen, national or “lawfully authorized to work in the U.S.”
The proposed tax-credit rules instead rely on the narrower statutory category of “qualified alien.”
That distinction could matter for immigrants who are legally present in the country and permitted to work but do not fall within the 1996 law’s qualified-alien definition.
The category generally encompasses lawful permanent residents, commonly known as green card holders, along with several other specifically defined immigration groups.
Some other legally present immigrants with employment authorization may not qualify.
The proposal could therefore affect people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protections, certain temporary protected status recipients and some people living and working in the United States under temporary visas, depending on their precise immigration category.
“This isn’t about undocumented immigrants, no matter how much they advertise it as such,” said Margot Crandall-Hollick, a researcher at the Tax Policy Center. “This is about going after people who are allowed to be here and allowed to work here.”
Treasury’s proposed regulations state that taxpayers claiming refundable portions of the affected credits would have to self-certify their eligibility under penalty of perjury. For married couples filing jointly, the proposed rules generally require at least one spouse receiving the refundable benefit to be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or qualified alien.
The proposed regulations do not eliminate the underlying tax credits.
Instead, they would change who can receive the portion of those credits that exceeds a taxpayer’s tax liability and therefore results in a payment from the government.
Treasury’s legal theory is that once a credit exceeds the amount of tax a taxpayer owes, the excess payment qualifies as a federal public benefit under the 1996 welfare law rather than simply operating as part of the tax system.
The proposed regulations say the refunded portions of the earned income, child and American Opportunity credits fit categories of benefits covered by the statute. Treasury is applying the same framework to the refundable adoption credit.
That approach could impose immigration restrictions beyond those Congress expressly placed in the individual tax-credit statutes.
Several credits already have Social Security number requirements that limit access.
For example, existing child tax credit rules require qualifying Social Security numbers meeting employment-authorization requirements in specified circumstances. Other credits have their own identification and eligibility rules.
The Treasury proposal would overlay those tax-code requirements with the separate immigration classifications contained in the 1996 law.
A Treasury representative said the new information would provide the IRS with “important and necessary information” to ensure tax benefits are paid only to eligible recipients.
The administration did not provide a more detailed explanation for why the broader citizenship and work-authorization question is needed on the main Form 1040 in addition to the proposed Schedule 3-A certification for refundable credits.
The two changes are not yet final.
The IRS expressly identifies the September Form 1040 as a draft, while Treasury’s tax-credit changes remain proposed regulations subject to the federal rulemaking process. The proposed regulation includes a public hearing scheduled for Oct. 14.
The debate extends beyond tax administration because undocumented immigrants collectively pay substantial amounts in federal, state and local taxes.
Many workers without Social Security numbers use ITINs to comply with federal tax obligations even though an ITIN does not itself provide immigration status or work authorization.
For years, the IRS’s ability to collect those taxes has depended partly on assurances that tax information receives strong confidentiality protections.
The recent sharing of addresses with ICE has complicated that relationship.
In September, an appeals court concluded that the IRS unlawfully provided taxpayer information to immigration authorities after ICE sought address information on individuals it wanted to locate for enforcement purposes.
That history is likely to intensify scrutiny of any new question asking filers to disclose their citizenship or work-authorization status directly on their income tax return.
The administration frames the change as an eligibility tool.
Critics see the possibility of a chilling effect in which immigrants who are legally required to file and pay taxes could become reluctant to provide information to the IRS because they fear it could eventually reach immigration authorities.
The practical impact will depend on what survives the drafting and rulemaking process.
For now, the IRS’s draft Form 1040 contains the new status question, while the separate Schedule 3-A and Treasury regulations would create a more specific immigration-status test for refundable tax benefits.
If finalized in their current forms, taxpayers filing in 2027 could encounter both: a citizenship or work-authorization question on the main federal return and, for people claiming certain refundable credits, an additional requirement to establish eligibility under the federal welfare law’s “qualified alien” standard.
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