“At the time of filing your return, are you —and your spouse, if filing jointly— a U.S. citizen or national, or a foreign national legally authorized to work in the country?”
This question might first appear on Form 1040 for the fiscal year 2026which taxpayers will use to file their tax returns in 2027.
For now, the document published by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is an eraser Subject to change and should not be used for tax purposes.
“This is a preliminary draft of an IRS tax form, instructions, or publication, provided by the IRS for your information. Do not submit draft forms. The IRS incorporates all significant changes to published forms with this cover page,” the federal agency said.
The proposal is part of the Trump administration's efforts to apply immigration requirements to the refundable portion of certain federal tax credits.
The Treasury Department maintains that it seeks to verify who qualifies to receive benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit.
You may be interested: New rules limit the child tax credit for taxpayers with ITINs: what you need to know
Possible deterrent effect
According to attorney Yesenia Polanco, adding this question to the main tax return form could generate fear and discourage some immigrants from complying with their tax obligations.
“Collecting information about citizenship could discourage some immigrants from filing federal returns,” Polanco explained to Enlace Latino NC.
Polanco indicated that many undocumented immigrants file their declarations through a Personal Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN); among other reasons, to provide proof of tax compliance in the event of an immigration process.
“If they fear that this information will be shared with immigration authorities, the incentive to comply is reversed,” he said.
Related: Why should I have an ITIN if I am undocumented?
Effect on families with mixed immigration status
Polanco commented that the question would also have a particular effect on families with mixed immigration status.
“By requiring each spouse to respond separately on a joint declaration, the form could indirectly reveal that one of them is a citizen or resident, while the other lacks authorization to work,” Polanco warned.
Since it is still a draft, the lawyer stated that there is nothing to change in this year's declaration.
“But families with mixed immigration status should start talking to a trusted tax preparer or immigration attorney before the 2027 tax season to understand their options if the question remains in the final version,” he recommended.
Doubts about confidentiality
The proposal comes amid litigation over the information exchange between the IRS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Although tax information is protected by strict confidentiality rules, the Trump administration has already used IRS records to support its immigration enforcement efforts.
In 2025, ICE requested the last known addresses corresponding to more than 1.2 million records of people that the agency had already identified.
The IRS compared that list with its databases and returned 47,289 records.
An federal court The appeals court later determined that the procedure did not meet legal requirements and kept further disclosures blocked that did not strictly comply with the law.
This precedent fuels concerns that a direct question about citizenship or work authorization could facilitate future attempts to use the tax system for immigration purposes, although there is no evidence that the new question has been used so far.
You may be interested: Deportation orders skyrocket in Charlotte immigration court for failure to appear at hearings
Legality under scrutiny
One of the main points of contention would not necessarily be the IRS's power to ask a question, but the new legal interpretation that the government uses to justify the restrictions.
El Tax Law Center A professor at New York University School of Law argues that the Trump administration is misinterpreting a 1996 law—known as PRWORA— to impose requirements that are not found in the specific provisions of the Tax Code.
According to the organization, modifying the conditions established by Congress to access certain tax credits would require legislative action.
The center warns that the restrictions could affect hundreds of thousands of taxpayers, including people who live legally in the United States, such as DACA or Temporary Protected Status (TPS) beneficiaries, as well as families with U.S. citizen children.
Draft form 1040
PDF downloaded from www.irs.gov
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