Trump Plan Would Make Every L.A. Tax Filer Declare Citizenship Status

The draft Form 1040 question isn't optional, and researchers estimate 1.1 million people would lose the Additional Child Tax Credit.

The Trump administration wants every tax filer to tell the IRS whether they're a citizen or legally allowed to work, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

For most people it's one more box to check. For immigrants living here without legal status, the AP's reporting describes two bad options: admit it on a signed federal return, or lie on one and commit a felony. Some may simply stop filing.

About a third of Los Angeles County's residents were born abroad. Being born in another country isn't the same as lacking papers, and many of those Angelenos are citizens. The question will still hit hardest in homes where family members don't all hold the same status.

What the form asks

The IRS posted a draft of its 2026 Form 1040 in late August. The draft asks: "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 filer and the spouse each get a Yes box and a No box.

A second draft form, Schedule 3-A, asks almost the same thing. People use that schedule to claim refundable tax credits.

Nobody gets to skip the question.

To file at all, every taxpayer would have to certify their status under penalty of law, the AP reported.

Who pays, and who loses credits

The Treasury Department says the question will keep immigrants without permanent legal status from claiming refundable credits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit. Those credits mostly go to low- and middle-income families and often turn into a check back to the filer. Administration officials say the change could save taxpayers up to $2 billion.

The proposal argues that the 1996 welfare overhaul, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, should also govern refundable tax credits. That would cut off some immigrants who qualify today, including people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, people with temporary protected status and H-1B temporary workers.

Researchers at Boston University, Columbia University and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy estimate that 671,000 people would lose the Earned Income Tax Credit, 309,000 of them children. About 1.1 million more would lose the Additional Child Tax Credit, including 574,000 children. The researchers say most of those children are U.S. citizens who'd lose eligibility because of a parent's status.

Who files with an ITIN

Undocumented workers already pay taxes. People who can't get a Social Security number often file with an Individual Tax Identification Number, or ITIN, though other people use them too.

Filers using an ITIN sent in 3.8 million returns, the AP reported, citing a 2024 count by the National Taxpayer Advocate. The AP also cited IRS figures putting their income tax bill at $14.4 billion.

On top of that, the same filers handed over $6.5 billion for Social Security and Medicare, according to the IRS numbers the AP cited.

Critics say the IRS already has what it needs to enforce the rules. The Earned Income Tax Credit requires a valid Social Security number, not an ITIN, and the IRS checks every claim against Social Security Administration records.

"Your citizenship or residency status is not information the IRS needs to process a return," said Nina Olson, executive director of the Center for Taxpayer Rights. She called the change "dragging the IRS into this administration's immigration policies."

Where the answers could go

David Bier, director of immigration studies at the Cato Institute, said the data "could be used as an immigration enforcement tool and that is probably the reason why they are doing this."

A Treasury official said the information would be "subject to a variety of privacy, disclosure and other legal protections." The statement didn't say whether immigration agencies would get it.

The administration has tried this before. Last year, Treasury agreed to share confidential taxpayer information about immigrants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. A federal judge halted the deal, finding it broke federal taxpayer privacy laws, and that order still stands while the case moves through the courts.

Before the judge stopped it, the IRS had already given ICE the addresses of 47,000 people.

Source: pbs.org, retrieved October 2, 2026.