Tax Day is Coming for Immigrants Too

The Associated Press (here) reports that many immigrants, including undocumented ones, are filing tax returns either because of requirements showing a five-year record of tax payments when applying for a green card or a simple desire to get a refund. It is difficult to determine how many immigrants are filing income tax returns in the U.S. because the Internal Revenue Service doesn’t track tax filers by their immigration status. But paid tax preparation chains, such as H&R Block Inc. and Liberty Tax Service, say they have seen anecdotal growth and are working hard to attract more of them through targeted offices or greater marketing in their native languages.

Professor Francine J. Lipman in Taxing undocumented immigrants: separate, unequal, and without representation. 59 Tax Law. 813-866 (2006) (also published in the Harvard Latino Law Review), analyzes the billions of dollars contributed in taxes by undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for many tax benefits available to poor and working people generally, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

KJ