Every year, millions of taxpayers file a Form 1040, the most commonly used federal tax document that has long been viewed as a routine calculation of income, deductions and credits. But next year’s form could include a new question on citizenship and work-authorization, marking the first time ever that an individual’s tax return asks filers to affirm their immigration status.
Immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, are required to file taxes and use the same IRS forms that U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents file. Paying taxes has long been seen as a key criteria for undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status.
The IRS published a draft of the 2026 Form 1040 that includes a question on status asking whether the filer — or their spouse, if filing jointly — are U.S. citizens, U.S. nationals, or are legally authorized to work in the country. The yes-or-no question appears below the filing status section, in a box titled “other information.”
The draft was released for public review and has not been finalized. Legal experts warn that if the rule is implemented, if could deter undocumented immigrants from filing, which not only impacts their ability to obtain legal status but also has fiscal consequences for the U.S. Treasury.
It remains unclear how the information would be used, and the IRS did not respond to requests for comment.
It comes as the Trump administration ramps up its sprawling immigration enforcement effort. Last year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, signed a controversial information-sharing agreement which allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to submit names and addresses of immigrants inside the U.S. illegally to the IRS for cross-verification against tax records. The arrangement has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and led to the resignation of the IRS’s acting commissioner.
What could the IRS do with this information?
Joseph Malouf, a Maryland attorney and legal contributor for Telemundo, said the proposed question could be tied to determining which taxpayers qualify for certain tax credits.
In August, the Treasury Department and the IRS proposed regulations aimed at limiting eligibility for certain federal tax credits, including the Child Tax Credit, the American Opportunity Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Adoption Tax Credit.
“That’s the excuse they’re using to try to implement those changes, saying, ‘Look, the reality is we can’t calculate correctly without the information,’” Malouf said in an interview with “Noticias Telemundo Ahora.”
However, federal law already prohibits undocumented immigrants from many entitlement programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other benefits covering education funds and housing. In fact, research from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows that undocumented immigrants pay billions in annual taxes — including federal, state, local and sales taxes — that funds those programs despite being barred or having limited access to those public benefits.
The proposed question also raises concerns about privacy and about how the information collected by the IRS could be shared with other government agencies.
Malouf said he believes the proposal could face legal challenges based on federal laws governing the confidentiality and sharing of taxpayer information.
Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code generally protects the confidentiality of tax returns and taxpayer information, though it sets out some exceptions that allow those data to be shared under certain circumstances.
Earlier this year, a federal judge determined that the IRS had broken the law “approximately 42,695 times” by illegally disclosing information from thousands of taxpayers to ICE as part of the two agencies’ information sharing agreement.
Malouf also raised a concern related to the Fifth Amendment, questioning whether the form could force some people to provide information that could later be used against them.
“The government has described people who are undocumented as people who have committed a crime: being in the country illegally. The first question I ask myself is how this form is consistent with the Fifth Amendment in terms of you admitting that you’re undocumented in the country; that would be admitting to a crime,” Malouf said.
The changes to the form could also scare some immigrants and discourage them from filing their returns, Malouf said.
“This is going to make a lot of people not file their tax forms out of fear they’ll be deported if they do,” he said.
NBC’s Danielle Abreu contributed to this report.
