CIS: Good News/Bad News on IRS Program that Pays Illegals to Stay in the U.S.

October 4, 2016

By David North

There’s both some good news and some bad news on one of the Internal Revenue Service programs that, in effect, pays many illegal aliens to stay in this country. We at CIS have written about these peculiar and persisting tax transfers to illegals from time to time (see here and here).

One of the principal elements of the current personal income tax system that pays the illegals to stay is the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) program. Peter A. Shulkin estimated that illegal aliens received $4.2 billion in 2010 from this program.

ACTC gives tax filers up to an additional $1,000 for each dependent child; the $1,000 can be used to reduce the tax owed, or in low income families it can be a cash payment even though no income taxes are collected from the family. The big bonus for the illegal aliens filing income tax returns is that the ACTC benefit can be secured even though the child concerned cannot obtain a Social Security number. What the illegals filing must use is a different number, issued by IRS, not Social Security. It is called an Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN). One can also use SSNs in ACTC filings.

There has been much fraud in the past regarding the issuance of ITINs, including the issuance of numbers for children outside of the United States and for non-existent children. … Read the full story by David North.