The IRS will not grant tax refunds to those who file using a fraudulent Social Security number, the agency’s head told lawmakers on Thursday, but will accept their taxes.
“People who don’t have and aren’t able to get a Social Security number [will] file with an [Individual Taxpayer Identification Number],” IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
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“Those people who are paying taxes, a lot of them, are in the country and working without the ability to get a Social Security number,” Koskinen said. “Their obligation is to pay taxes, if there ever is a way for them to become citizens, the first question they’re asked is: ‘Have you paid your taxes?'”
Koskinen on Tuesday told the Senate Finance Committee that the IRS does not coordinate with the Social Security Administration, in part to ensure that his agency can accept filings from illegal immigrants without a snafu. The revelation gave rise to concerns about whether the agency was providing rebates to illegal aliens who submit tax returns.
Pressed on Thursday by committee chairman Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, about whether that was the case, Koskinen assured members it was not. “The situation I think you’re focused on is, people borrow, steal, however they get a Social Security number to get a job, so their W-2 may have a different Social Security number, but their name and their ITIN … those will match,” Koskinen said. “And as long as they match, our responsibility is to collect the taxes people owe.”
The ITIN program was created in 1996 in order to give people ineligible to work in the United States the ability to pay taxes. That could include, for instance, foreign investors. The program today, as Koskinen noted, has become more multifaceted.
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Critics have also suggested that while an ITIN does not allow taxpayers to claim an Earned Income Tax Credit, it does allow them to claim the child tax credit. And in the event that a plan by the president to legalize millions who are in the country illegally succeeds, the scheme could allow them to claim up to three years of tax credits retroactively.
However, Koskinen assured members, that is not happening, at least for now. “If you file a return with a social security number and a name that don’t match, we won’t give you a refund,” he said.
