Revenues
Require Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit Claimants to Have a Social Security Number That Is Valid for Employment
CBO periodically issues a compendium of policy options (called Options for Reducing the Deficit) covering a broad range of issues, as well as separate reports that include options for changing federal tax and spending policies in particular areas. This option appears in one of those publications. The options are derived from many sources and reflect a range of possibilities. For each option, CBO presents an estimate of its effects on the budget but makes no recommendations. Inclusion or exclusion of any particular option does not imply an endorsement or rejection by CBO.
| Billions of Dollars | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 | 2029 | 2030 | 2021– 2025 |
2021– 2030 |
| Change in Revenues | 0.1 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 9.6 | 21.2 |
Data source: Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation.
This option would take effect in January 2021.
The estimates represent the change in the overall budget balance that would result from the sum of changes to revenues and outlays.
The earned income tax credit (EITC) and the child tax credit both provide assistance to certain low- and moderate-income taxpayers, but the eligibility rules differ. Most EITC claimants and their qualifying children must have a Social Security number that is issued by the Social Security Administration solely to people authorized to work in the United States. (However, there are exceptions for some Social Security numbers issued before 2003.) By contrast, eligibility for the child tax credit currently only requires that the qualifying child have a Social Security number that is valid for employment purposes. After 2025, noncitizens will be able to claim the credit if they and their qualifying child have a Social Security number (with no restriction on the reason for issuance) or an individual taxpayer identification number, which is issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to anyone who is required to file a tax return but cannot obtain a Social Security number.
Under this option, people who are not authorized to work in the United States would not be eligible for either the EITC or the child tax credit. For both credits, taxpayers, spouses, and qualifying children would be required to have Social Security numbers issued to U.S. citizens and noncitizens authorized to work in the United States. The IRS would be authorized to deny the credits using “mathematical and clerical error” (math-error) procedures when taxpayers and their children did not have those types of Social Security numbers. Using math-error procedures prevents the credits from being paid to those taxpayers and does not require the IRS to take further action, although the taxpayers retain the right to dispute the IRS’s decision.