The Trump administration is considering a major change to the federal income-tax return that would require millions of taxpayers to disclose whether they are U.S. citizens, nationals or legally authorized to work in the country, while a separate Treasury Department proposal could limit refundable tax credits for certain immigrants who are legally present in the United States.

The potential changes are emerging in draft IRS documents for the 2027 filing season, when Americans will submit returns covering their 2026 income. Because the forms remain in draft form, the citizenship question could still be revised or removed before final versions are issued.

A draft Form 1040 released by the IRS this month adds a question that does not appear on the current return. Taxpayers would be required to select “Yes” or “No” in response to: “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 question would appear near the beginning of the return alongside basic identifying information, meaning taxpayers would encounter it before reaching the sections dealing with income, deductions and taxes.

The administration says collecting the information would help the IRS determine whether taxpayers receiving federal tax benefits satisfy applicable eligibility requirements.

Critics, however, question why the IRS needs taxpayers to separately attest to their immigration or citizenship status when eligibility for several major tax benefits is already linked to Social Security numbers that are valid for employment.

“The IRS doesn’t need this information to administer the tax law,” said Nina Olson, a former IRS official who leads the Center for Taxpayer Rights. “The only reason you have that attestation is to deter people.”

The proposed change has also revived a broader controversy over the relationship between the IRS and federal immigration authorities and whether information supplied to the tax agency could eventually be used for immigration enforcement.

The issue became particularly sensitive after the IRS entered into an information-sharing arrangement with the Department of Homeland Security that allowed Immigration and Customs Enforcement to seek taxpayer address information in certain criminal immigration investigations.

Last year, the IRS provided ICE with addresses it had on file for approximately 47,000 individuals.

Taxpayer information is normally subject to stringent confidentiality protections under federal law. Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code generally prohibits the IRS from disclosing tax-return information except under specifically authorized circumstances.

Federal courts have also intervened in disputes over attempts to share taxpayer information on a large scale with immigration authorities, adding to concerns among immigrant advocates that the proposed Form 1040 question could discourage some people from filing tax returns even if the information could not legally be used to locate them for deportation.

The question could be particularly consequential because people living in the United States illegally are still generally required to pay taxes on income earned in the country.

Many people who are not eligible for Social Security numbers file tax returns using Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, known as ITINs. The IRS created the ITIN system specifically to allow people with federal tax obligations to file returns regardless of whether they qualify for Social Security numbers.

Undocumented immigrants collectively pay billions of dollars each year in federal income and payroll taxes as well as state and local taxes. Historically, the IRS has generally encouraged taxpayers to comply with federal tax obligations without routinely requiring them to disclose their immigration status on the basic Form 1040.

The new Form 1040 question is only one part of a broader administration effort involving immigration status and the federal tax system.

The Treasury Department and IRS are separately advancing proposed regulations that would change how the refundable portions of four federal tax credits are treated: the earned-income tax credit, child tax credit, adoption tax credit and American Opportunity tax credit, which helps offset higher-education expenses.

Tax credits reduce a taxpayer’s liability dollar-for-dollar. Refundable credits can go further by generating a payment to a taxpayer even after his tax liability has been reduced to zero.

For example, a taxpayer entitled to a $1,000 refundable credit who owes $200 in federal taxes could use $200 of the credit to erase the tax bill and receive the remaining $800 as a refund.

Under the Treasury proposal, the refundable portion of those credits would for the first time be treated as a “federal public benefit” under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

That change is significant because the 1996 welfare-reform law establishes immigration-status requirements for people receiving federal public benefits. Treasury’s proposal would therefore layer those restrictions onto tax credits whose eligibility requirements were established separately by Congress in the tax code.

Three of the four credits already contain significant Social Security number requirements under existing tax law.

But the proposed rule could exclude some immigrants who are legally present in the United States, have federal authorization to work and possess valid Social Security numbers because the 1996 statute uses the narrower legal category of “qualified alien.”

Green-card holders generally fall within that category, as do certain refugees, people granted asylum and some other specifically protected groups.

Other people who may legally remain and work in the United States do not necessarily qualify. They can include certain recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, individuals present under student or employment visas and some people granted Temporary Protected Status.

“This isn’t about undocumented immigrants, no matter how much they advertise it as such,” said Margot Crandall-Hollick, a researcher at the Tax Policy Center. “This is about going after people who are allowed to be here and allowed to work here.”

The proposed Form 1040 question and Treasury’s tax-credit rule also use different standards, underscoring that they are separate initiatives.

The proposed 1040 language asks whether taxpayers are citizens, U.S. nationals or aliens legally authorized to work in the country. It does not ask whether they meet the 1996 law’s narrower definition of a “qualified alien.”

The IRS has therefore also drafted a separate form dealing more specifically with immigration eligibility for federal tax benefits. That document would require affected taxpayers to provide information establishing whether they fall into the appropriate immigration category.

Treasury says the broader effort is intended to ensure that federal tax benefits are distributed only to people legally eligible to receive them.

A Treasury representative said the new question would give the IRS “important and necessary information” for determining eligibility, while declining to provide additional details about why the basic Form 1040 needs the citizenship and work-authorization question.

The proposals are not yet final. Draft IRS forms routinely undergo revisions before being approved for use, while the Treasury tax-credit regulations must proceed through the federal rulemaking process before taking effect.

If finalized in their current form, however, the changes would mark a significant shift in the relationship between the federal tax system and immigration status, placing a direct citizenship and work-authorization question on America’s principal individual income-tax return while separately using immigration classifications to determine access to the refundable portions of major federal tax credits.