IRS Draft 1040 Would Require Filers to Declare Citizenship Status

Today’s Focus

The Treasury Department has proposed adding a citizenship and work-authorization question to the 2026 IRS Form 1040, requiring nearly every U.S. taxpayer to certify their immigration status under penalty of perjury. The draft form, posted by the IRS in late August, asks filers and their spouses whether they are “a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or an alien lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. ” with yes-or-no checkboxes, according to reporting from the Associated Press carried by PBS NewsHour.

A second draft form, Schedule 3-A, used to claim refundable tax credits, contains a similar certification, Fox News reported. The Treasury Department said the question is intended to prevent people in the country illegally from claiming benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC).

Administration officials estimate the change could save as much as $2 billion, according to both outlets. The proposal would mark the first time the main individual income-tax return asks filers to attest to their immigration status directly to the IRS.

It arrives amid a continuing legal fight over data-sharing between the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). A federal appeals court recently upheld an order blocking the IRS from sharing taxpayer information with ICE, Fox News noted in its coverage.

Immigrants without legal status who use Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) have filed federal returns for decades and paid billions in payroll and income taxes. Under the proposal, those filers would have to either declare their lack of work authorization or risk a felony false-statement charge for lying on a return, PBS NewsHour reported.

The IRS is accepting public comment on the draft forms before finalizing them for the 2026 filing season.

The Debate

Supporters argue

Treasury Department officials framed the change as a straightforward integrity measure for refundable credits. The department said the question is designed to keep people without work authorization from claiming the EITC and ACTC, which it argues were never meant for unauthorized workers, Fox News reported.

Administration officials put the potential savings at up to $2 billion a year, a figure cited in both the AP wire story carried by PBS NewsHour and Fox News. Supporters contend taxpayers deserve a basic certification step given the size of those refundable programs.

Backers also argue the question imposes almost no burden on citizens and lawful residents, who need only check a box. Fox News noted the administration’s position that the form change simply adds a verification mechanism to credits Congress already restricted by law.

Immigration-restriction advocates have long argued the IRS has functioned as a parallel benefits system for unauthorized workers. In their view, requiring sworn attestation on the 1040 brings the tax code in line with eligibility rules the administration says are routinely ignored.

Critics argue

Taxpayer and privacy advocates say the real purpose is immigration enforcement, not program integrity. “It’s dragging the IRS into this administration’s immigration policies,” Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights and a former National Taxpayer Advocate, said in comments to the AP.

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, told the AP the data “could be used as an immigration enforcement tool and that is probably the reason why they are doing this.” Critics note the proposal lands while the administration is in court trying to expand IRS data-sharing with ICE, an effort an appeals court has so far blocked, according to Fox News.

Advocates warn the practical choice for unauthorized filers is grim: declare their status to a federal agency, lie and commit a felony, or stop filing altogether. PBS NewsHour reported that some filers are expected to simply drop out of the tax system, which could reduce federal revenue.

Critics also point out that U.S.-citizen children in mixed-status families could lose access to the ACTC if parents stop filing.

What the experts say

ITIN filers have been a measurable part of the federal tax base for years. The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimated that undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state and local taxes in 2022, including roughly $25.7 billion in Social Security contributions for benefits most will never collect.

The IRS’s own National Taxpayer Advocate has reported that about 2.5 million returns are filed each year using ITINs. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Joint Committee on Taxation have historically scored expanded immigration enforcement through the tax system as producing uncertain revenue effects, because filing drop-off can offset benefit savings.

On refundable credits, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has repeatedly flagged improper-payment rates in the EITC program, which the IRS itself has estimated at roughly 25 to 30 percent in recent years. Research by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center has found most of those errors stem from complexity in eligibility rules rather than fraud by ineligible filers.

Legal scholars note that Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code sharply restricts how the IRS can share return information with other agencies, a statute central to the ongoing ICE data-sharing litigation.

By the Numbers

$2 billion: maximum annual savings the Trump administration estimates from the new citizenship question, according to Treasury officials cited by PBS NewsHour and Fox News.

$96.7 billion: total federal, state and local taxes paid by undocumented immigrants in 2022, per the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

$25.7 billion: share of that total paid into Social Security in 2022, according to ITEP.

2.5 million: approximate number of tax returns filed each year using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, per IRS National Taxpayer Advocate reports.

25-30%: EITC improper-payment rate range reported by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in recent years.

Section 6103: provision of the Internal Revenue Code that restricts IRS sharing of taxpayer data with other federal agencies, at the center of the pending ICE data-sharing case.

August 2025: when the IRS posted the draft 2026 Form 1040 containing the new citizenship question, according to PBS NewsHour.