There are several important aspects of tax law that every immigration matter need be informed of.  Undocumented individuals in the U.S., for one, do need to file taxes.  The law provides for this and in fact, the Treasury Department established the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) precisely for this purpose.  Since the inception of the ITIN program in 1996, 10,771,438 ITIN numbers have been issued.  Tax records, under federal law, are confidential, and are not to be turned over to the immigration authorities.  On March 10, 2004, the Ways and Means Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives reissued its commitment to legislate the confidentiality of taxpayer information, even if the taxpayer filed their return using a false social security number or another person’s identification.

Individuals residing in Mexico, the U.S., or Canada and receives more than half of his or her income from the taxpayer can qualify as a dependent, and includes: (1) sons and daughters; (2) nieces and nephews; (3) parents; (4) grandparents; (5) grandchildren; (6) stepchildren; (7) parents-in-law; (8) brothers and sisters; (9) and persons who are not specifically listed if the person lived with the taxpayer for the entire year.

Often thousands of dollars in tax returns are available even to undocumented individuals, and sometimes even if they do not pay any taxes.  There exist several credits that taxpayers may request in their returns, including:

• The Child Tax Credit (CTC);
• The Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC);
• The Earned Income Credit (EIC).

Only the EIC requires that the taxpayer have a valid social security number to claim the credit, but both the CTC and ACTC can be claimed using the ITIN.

Often, however, married couples will inappropriately file separately in order to gain the greatest return, and may prejudice their immigration application by doing so.  It is very important that the immigration consequences of any tax filing be carefully considered if an application to adjust the immigration status of a spouse or other family member is being contemplated.