In
1996, the IRS began issuing a new type of tax identification number, the Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN).
ITINs are assigned to U.S. taxpayers, predominately illegal aliens and their
dependents, who are not eligible to obtain a Social Security number. The
primary purpose of ITIN’s was to capture the previously untapped source of new
federal tax revenue from undocumented workers.
- According to the National Immigration Law Center,
the most recent information (August 2012) indicated that there had been 21
million ITINs assigned to taxpayers and their dependents by the IRS.
- ITINs assigned to illegal alien dependents from Mexico
do NOT have to prove that they have ever set foot in the U.S., let alone
that they are in the U.S. at the time of application.
- Over 9 years and up to 2010, the IRS paid over $14.2
billion of American tax dollars in refunds to illegal aliens, for alleged
dependents from whom no identification or residency documents were
obtained, and from whom they received $0 in tax revenue.
ITIN is Shovel-Ready Fraud
According
to the IRS, ITINs are allegedly issued solely as a means for illegal aliens to
pay federal taxes, but in reality they are used by more illegal aliens who
actually pay no taxes and who file federal tax returns only to
claim tax refunds mainly through the Child Tax Credit (CTC), Additional Child
Tax Credit (ACTC), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), on a retroactive basis
(up to 3 years). The Child Tax Credit may allow the filer to reduce their
federal income tax by up to $1,000 for each qualifying child. Under ITIN,
illegal aliens can claim up to TWENTY children.
According
to the IRS, a qualifying child is a son, daughter, stepchild, foster child,
brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister, or
descendant of any of them; for example, a grandchild, niece, or nephew, who was
under age 17 at the end of the tax filing year, and who did not provide over
half of his or her own support for that year. The child must have lived
with the filer more than half of the year with exceptions available, is claimed
as a dependent on the filer’s return, does not file a joint return for the
year, and is a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, or a U.S. resident alien.
Yet,
while a child is supposed to be a U.S. resident to qualify as a dependent for
ACTC, they do not have to prove residency if they are from Mexico or Canada.
It
should be noted that the ACTC is an available tax credit in addition to the
credit for child and dependent care expenses, as well as the earned income
credit. In addition, illegal parents can use ITINs to file refund claims
for U.S. born, as well as undocumented dependents. For taxpayers who may
not be able to take full advantage of it because the credit is more than the
amount of taxes they owe, the Additional Child Tax Credit is the refundable
amount of credit that is available above the amount needed to offset their
taxes. This means that families can receive refunds even
if they do not owe any tax.
Under
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), commonly referred to as the
“Stimulus,” signed into law by Barack Obama in February 2009, the minimum
earned income amount used to figure the ACTC was reduced to
$3,000, from its scheduled amount of $12,500.
Lowering
the minimum earned income amount made it possible for more families
to claim refunds and also significantly increased the amount
of refunds received. This one step effectively created the vehicle for
the subversive funneling of billions of American taxpayer dollars to millions
of illegal immigrants without their having to pay any income taxes, or the need
for messy and unpopular Congressional debates over additional benefits for
illegals.
Si Se Puede Break Federal Law
Section 8 USC 1324 (a) (1)(A)(iv)(b)(iii)
states, “Any person who…encourages or induces an alien to…reside…knowing or in
reckless disregard of the fact that such…residence is…in violation of law,
shall be punished as provided…for each alien in respect to whom such a
violation occurs…fined under title 18…imprisoned not more than 5 years, or
both.” Further noted in section 274 felonies under the Federal
Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A:
A
person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local
government) commits a federal felony when he or she:
- Assist an alien he/she should reasonably know is
illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by
transporting, sheltering, or assisting him/her to obtain employment, or
- Encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by
referring him/her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an
employer in any way, or
- Knowingly assist illegal aliens due to person
convictions.
Illegal
immigration advocates aggressively push the use of ITINs for identification
purposes as an alternative to Social Security numbers.
According to the National Immigration Law Center, ITINs may
also be used and accepted for such reasons as opening interest-bearing bank
accounts, to reduce the tax withholding rate for employment-related settlement
payments (such as workers’ compensation claims/lawsuits), for obtaining a
mortgage, to claim insurance-premium tax credits for family members eligible
for health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act, and to establish
eligibility for an exemption from the mandate requiring health insurance since
illegal aliens are excluded from all Affordable Care Act benefits.
In
clear violation of Section 8 USC 1324 and the INA, twelve states and the District of Columbia allow
illegal aliens to obtain drivers licenses, some of which specifically refer to
the ITIN as one of the documents accepted to prove identity and residency.
What
makes this even more pathetic than blatant disregard for existing federal law
is that according to the IRS’ official ITIN application (Form W-7) instructions,
dependent applicants must prove identity and U.S. residency UNLESS the
applicant is from Mexico or Canada. Therefore, ITINs assigned to illegal
alien dependents from Mexico do NOT have to prove that they have ever set foot
in the U.S., let alone that they are in the U.S. at the time of application.
There
are clear immigration laws in effect today, yet many in the country, some of
whom are federal, state, and local officials, choose to ignore
them…and without apparent consequence.
To
what extent might the issuance of ITINs be a problem for the safety and
sovereignty of the U.S., and at what cost to American taxpayers?
Si Se Puede Bankrupt the United
States
According
to the National Immigration Law Center, the most
recent information (August 2012) indicated that there had been 21 million ITINs
assigned to taxpayers and their dependents by the IRS. Therefore,
assuming the number of ITINs has not decreased since 2012, it’s reasonable to
believe that there have been at least 21 - 25 million ITINs assigned by the
IRS, since 1996. And although the IRS states that it does not track legal
status, it does state that it suspects approximately 55 to 60 percent of ITIN
recipients would be illegal aliens.
While
there is no doubt that taxes are initially collected from the paychecks of
illegal aliens, that does not guarantee that those same illegals actually paid
any taxes, but, yet they still received substantial monies from their returns
in the form of various refundable credits.
According
to audit reports from The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
(TIGTA), dated March 31, 2009, and July 07, 2011, the Inspector General
examined nine tax years (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010)
to determine the amount of ACTC refunds the IRS paid to people using ITINs, who
were technically “not authorized to work” in the United States.
Over
those nine years, TIGTA identified $14.228 billion (just through 2010) in ACTC
refunds to illegals. Remember, by definition, ACTC refunds are paid to
people who had zero tax liability. In other words, for those nine years
alone, the IRS paid over $14.2 billion of American tax dollars in refunds to
illegal aliens, for alleged dependents from whom no identification or residency
documents were obtained, and from whom they received $0 in tax revenue.
To
make matters worse, several investigations, including an extensive
investigative report conducted by 13WTHR Indianapolis, highlighted numerous
concerns brought to light initially by IRS whistleblowers, and subsequently
substantiated by TIGTA, which identified an even more troubling pattern of
incompetence, at best, on the part of IRS workers and managers. For
example:
- One year in Atlanta, GA, in excess of $46 million in
refunds were sent to a single address by the IRS for 24,000 illegal aliens
who reportedly listed that same address on their tax returns.
- Near Detroit, 604 ITIN numbers and 640 tax refunds were
issued by the IRS to a single address that had previously been rejected
based on questions of its legitimacy. Regardless, the IRS ultimately
issued over $1.5 million in tax refunds to that same address.
- One year in Indianapolis, the IRS issued 8,714 ITINs to
undocumented workers, all of whom claimed to have the same address.
- One illegal alien admitted that he lived in his
single-wide mobile home with his small daughter; however his address was
used by four of his illegal friends. That year, over $29,000 in ACTC
refunds were sent to that mobile home by the IRS.
For
over a decade, TIGTA has been conducting audits and making recommendations to
the IRS and Congress regarding high levels of fraud within the ITIN
program. To date, there has been very little (zero) progress made to curb
the fraud and abuse in the ITIN program, despite several damning audit reports
by TIGTA. In fact, the IRS, with the help of Obama, has doubled down on
the efforts to allow more undocumented aliens to keep and even extend their tax
credit eligibility status. Before leaving office, the former president
offered illegal aliens yet more tax credit payments via the Earned Income Tax
Credit (EITC), which is currently unavailable to those who cannot obtain a
SSN. Under his executive action, up to 5 million illegal aliens
temporarily avoided deportation by “deferred action.” At the same time,
the Chief Counsel’s officer of the IRS ruled that although EITC is not
available to ITIN filers, when a person subsequently obtains a SSN, he/she can
file amended tax returns to claim the EITC for the three preceding years they
only had an ITIN. This is estimated to offer bonuses in excess of $24,000
to those who receive deferred action. In essence, the IRS and Obama
further subsidized illegal entry to the U.S. with the promise of four years’
worth of new tax credits.
Even
more outrageous? The IRS refuses to share information with other federal
agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), in direct
violation of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of
1969, as well as The USA Patriot Act of 2001. So while american seniors
didn’t get a cost of living increase through Social Security this year,
windfalls of our tax dollars are being paid to illegal aliens and their twenty
“children.”