Aliens file returns with special tax ID
Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/152083/
SPRINGDALE — Ely Guerra planned to spend Easter weekend helping clients file their federal income taxes, including some who aren’t legally allowed to work in the United States.
Guerra and her co-workers at Centro Latino, an income tax preparation business in Springdale, help clients file their federal and state tax returns. This year alone, Guerra said she has helped more than 100 clients obtain their own Individual Tax Identification Number, or ITIN.
An ITIN number allows a person without a Social Security number to file a tax return — including people who are in the country illegally, said Irma Trevino, a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service in Dallas.
People must apply to the IRS for an ITIN number and must have some proof of identification to get approval. It usually takes six to eight weeks for the application to be processed, Trevino said.
Although the IRS keeps records, they don’t share that information with other government agencies. An ITIN number never expires once it’s assigned, Trevino said.
“When people come to the United States and they need to file their taxes, they can get a ITIN and file like any other taxpayer,” Trevino said. “The ITIN is for everyone.”
Most of Centro Latino’s customers who file for ITINs are Hispanic immigrants who don’t have a Social Security number or a work visa, but they work a job and have paid taxes, Guerra said.
Allowing illegal immigrants to use ITINs fails to punish people who use fake or stolen Social Security numbers to work, said Marti Dinerstein, a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that support limits on immigration.
“The mixed message is coming from the government,” Dinerstein said. “It says ‘You don’t have a right to work here, but if you do you must pay taxes and we’ll allow you to file a tax return. ’”
In Arkansas, an ITIN number only can be used for tax purposes. But it can be used to obtain a driver’s license in Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, New Mexico and Utah, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Web site.
“Many of them are nervous when they come in and ask if they are going to get into trouble,” Guerra said.
The IRS created the ITIN system in 1996 as a way for the government to collect taxes from foreigners who have investments in the United States, Trevino said.
It soon became a way illegal immigrants who used phony Social Security numbers to work and pay taxes and claim their tax refund, Dinerstein said.
An ITIN allows a person to collect all income tax benefits except for the earned income tax credit, Dinerstein said.
In 2005, there were 750, 160 tax returns filed with ITIN numbers, Trevino said. She said there was no way to know how many of those were illegal aliens because the IRS doesn’t categorize who receives the numbers.
“A lot of people think [ITINS ] are just for poor people who come here to work, and that’s not the case,” Trevino said.
Proponents of ITINs said the policy allows illegal immigrants to file taxes although they used false documents to obtain employment. A person must be an American citizen or governmentally authorized to work, Dinerstein said.
More than 9 million ITIN numbers have been issued since the program was created, Dinerstein said. Although the ITIN once was issued on a card similar to a Social Security card, it is now an 8-by-11-inch sheet of paper.
Dinerstein said the IRS has made reforms to the program, but the changes haven’t slowed the number of illegal aliens using the forms to file for tax refunds. The government requires a tax return to be filed to get an ITIN. The change was made to keep a person from getting an ITIN to obtain a driver’s license. “The IRS never imagined what would happen with this program,” Dinerstein said. “And it would be a public relations disaster to come out and say ‘Illegal immigrants no longer have to pay taxes.’ “ I think they’re in a dirt hole of their own making and they are trying to shovel themselves out.” Guerra, who has been helping people file their taxes for three years, said her clients want to file their taxes even if they have to pay income tax. “It’s part of being in this country, and it’s something many want to do,” Guerra said.
To contact this reporter: scrawford@arkansasonline. com