Thread: More illegal immigrants are rushing to file taxes

More illegal immigrants are rushing to file taxes
Many view move as way to help case for residency
By Maria Sacchetti, Globe Staff | February 17, 2008

Illegal immigrants are pouring into tax-preparation offices and nonprofit agencies across Massachusetts and the nation to file state and federal income taxes, taking a step that some might deem unthinkable: giving their name, address, and financial information to the government.

In Massachusetts, taxpayers here illegally are lining up from Chelsea to the Berkshires, despite the fear of deportation that is permeating the state after a massive raid in New Bedford last year and smaller raids in Boston-area cities and towns. While typical American taxpayers are wary of the Internal Revenue Service, illegal immigrants see the IRS as a friendly agency that could help in their quest for legal residency.

"It's catching on that this is one of the things that you do" as a resident of the United States, said Corinn Williams, executive director of the Community Economic Development Center in New Bedford, which is getting 10 calls a day, double the number it got a year ago, from immigrants who want help filing taxes. "If you're making a case that you want to stay here, without a doubt that's one of the things that the judge is going to look at."

The IRS created nine-digit individual taxpayer identification numbers, or ITINs, in 1996, to better track the tax returns of those who are ineligible for a Social Security number. Most taxpayers who use ITINs are believed to be illegal immigrants, though some legal residents - foreign investors, for example - also have them.

In Massachusetts 39,221 ITIN holders filed taxes for the 2006 tax year, up 20 percent from the previous year. Nationally, more than 2.1 million such taxpayers filed in the 2005 tax year, the most recent year available, up nearly 37 percent from the year before.

IRS officials warn taxpayers that filing taxes does not affect their immigration status. But a US Senate proposal in 2006 would have required illegal immigrants to pay back taxes as part of their application for legal residency, fueling the hopes of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in this country.

The rising number of taxpayers parallels the national debate about what to do about illegal immigration. Advocates point to paying taxes as proof that immigrants help the economy. From 1996 to 2003, according to an IRS study, ITIN holders were responsible for paying the government almost $50 billion, most of which was withheld from their paychecks.

But critics of illegal immigration say paying taxes should not help illegal workers become legal residents. The workers, they say, cost taxpayers millions of dollars in healthcare, education, and other services.

"We are not a nation of taxpayers. That is not the standard by which you attain membership in our society," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Washington-based Federation for American Immigration Reform, which urges the IRS to use its records to help deport people. "It doesn't buy you a ticket in."

The IRS does not generally share the taxpayers' information with federal immigration agents, said IRS spokeswoman Nancy Mathis, and neither does the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, said Commissioner Navjeet Bal. Anyone who earns income here, including illegal immigrants, must pay taxes, state and federal government officials say.

"The tax code, which is enacted by Congress and signed by the president, does not recognize immigration status," Mathis said. "Anyone who has US-sourced income of a certain amount must pay US taxes."

The New Bedford raid starkly illustrates the difference between the goals of the IRS and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Last March, federal immigration agents raided a leather-goods factory and arrested 361 illegal immigrants - many of whom also filed taxes. So a few weeks after federal immigration agents arrested the illegal immigrants, the IRS sent some of them refund checks.

Immigrants say the hope that they will one day become legal residents, and the fact that the IRS keeps their information private, helps them overcome their fear of filing taxes.

Eoin Reilly, a lawyer and board member of the Irish Immigration Center, said he has used immigrants' tax records, in part, to persuade immigration judges not to deport them. Paying taxes, he said, shows a judge that they have good moral character, and he believes that it has helped.

"It just kind of makes the scale tip a little bit," he said.

One rainy day last week, tax season was playing out in Chelsea. Signs in English and Spanish exhorting people to pay taxes were plastered in storefronts and scattered in restaurants.

Taxpayers trooped into the nonprofit Chelsea Restoration Corp., which helps citizens and noncitizens alike file taxes.

Armando, a 47-year-old illegal immigrant from South America who buses tables seven nights a week and earns $34,000 a year, arrived early Tuesday morning to file. He paid $20,000 to smuggle himself and his son across the US-Mexico border in 2005, and has filed taxes ever since.

Now he uses a fake Social Security number at work that he made up himself. But everything on his taxes is true.

"I wanted to stay in this country, so I made the decision, to win or lose," said Armando, who did not want to use his last name for fear of being deported, later adding that he will give his $300 refund this year to his son for his college studies.

A 57-year-old Argentine woman with a mop of copper-colored hair filed for the first time in eight years last spring, hoping that Congress would pass a bill to overhaul immigration laws. The measure failed, but she enjoyed the experience. She just received a letter of apology from the IRS saying she had paid $30 too much last year.

"Seriously?" the woman, arms thrown wide, asked Marilyn Garcia, the assistant director of Chelsea Restoration Corp., who translated the letter. "I can't believe the government owes me money!"

In general, though, illegal immigrants get fewer tax breaks. They cannot claim the Earned Income Tax Credit, which can be $4,700 for a family of four earning less than $12,000, and they cannot claim a new tax rebate just approved by President Bush. Missouri and Kansas also refuse to give state refunds to taxpayers without a Social Security number.

Pasquale Casella, a senior tax adviser at H & R Block based in Pittsfield, said immigrants are eager to follow the law. He visits English classes and ethnic festivals and has increased the number of ITIN filers he handles from a handful five years ago to more than 60 last year. He charges about $80 to prepare a simple return.

"These people have dreams," he said. "They want a good life for the family."

But critics say the illegal immigrants should not have been hired in the first place. Steve Kropper, cochairman of Massachusetts Citizens for Immigration Reform, said businesses should use a federal database to screen for illegal workers.

"We don't think that those that are being paid on the books or are paying taxes are doing so for charitable reasons," said Kropper. "It's a condition of employment."

The Argentine woman, who works odd jobs caring for sick people, acknowledged she was breaking the law by working in the United States. But she said she was glad to pay her share. The government helped her recently, she said, by paying for an operation when she fell ill.

"I hope that if someday the government offered me legal documents, they will see that I have been complying with the taxes," she said. "With taxes, at least."

www.boston.com

Oh please.....filing taxes in order to abide by the law and demonstrate their ability to be good citizens? That's good for a laugh.

Illegals have been filing taxes for years and it's just another of their activities rife with fraud.

Ever since the figures were released proving what they take from the system without contributing to it, there has been an effort to try and refute it, and within the last week or so, there has been an influx of stories about these wonderful, dutiful tax payers. All, no doubt, part of Calderon's campaign to "neutralize" the American people and shed positive light upon his illegals.

"I wanted to stay in this country, so I made the decision, to win or lose," said Armando, who did not want to use his last name for fear of being deported, later adding that he will give his $300 refund this year to his son for his college studies.

File taxes to get refunds?

"The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the legislature, or of the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened) against domestic violence." Article IV Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution.

Originally Posted by MyAmerica

"I wanted to stay in this country, so I made the decision, to win or lose," said Armando, who did not want to use his last name for fear of being deported, later adding that he will give his $300 refund this year to his son for his college studies.

File taxes to get refunds?






You betcha. And that's the only reason they file at all. A couple of years ago there was an investigation at this property, where I work, that involved the IRS, postal service, you name it.

The lesson I got into the tax fraud involving illegals left me speechless. I just could not believe what I was hearing and it was one of the moments that made me very aware of the fact that these people.....even the nicest of them.......stop at nothing when it comes to robbing this country blind.

This very subject is in La Raza this week. Do they know something we don't know?!



La Raza Chicago, Inc.
Published 02-15-2008

Why pay taxes?

Not being a legal resident is no impediment to making payments to the treasury, which could be the first in the row before an immigration reform.

Drafting La Raza

The period of payment of taxes has begun and bidding companies or individuals begin to be published in the media, on the walls of supermarkets, in short, almost any corner are distributing information.

Paying tax is not limited only to citizens or legal residents, Kathy Mandujano, with more than 30 years applying taxes in the area of Waukegan, recommended perform this legal obligation.

Mandujano advised that all undocumented persons can obtain a Personal Identification Number (ITIN) Taxpayer because "The future can offer many opportunities to those who have a number of tax payment," stresses the specialist.

Another advantage, according to Mandujano, which is to reform or amnesty to all those who paid their taxes and were aware of their tax returns could benefit greatly on others who did not.

Get the number ITIN is a simple formality that can have a price, and although Mandujano said that some people earn a lot, she prepares

Documentation for only 5 dollars.

"What I say to all my people is that it's important to fill your taxes each year because no one knows whether it will reach an amnesty or not."

What is needed to get the ITIN? The expert in the process of tax reports that are required documents such as the original birth certificate and a photo ID, which can be a passport or consular registration of any country.

"You need the credentials to vote in Mexico or country of issuance, are remitted by mail and the government returns of 4 to 6 weeks.

One of the benefits of making the payment of taxes is included as beneficiary of their income to the family directly from paying taxes.

"A lot of people seemed confused this dependents," says Mandujano.

As an example, the accountant said that one of the confusion arises when a couple has 4 children must apply that are six in all, but sometimes they are six six, "he says.

Another advantage from taxes to immigrant workers, it also may be the dependent parents.

"They can keep their dads, just have to take the data of one of them who was maintained at over 50% of each person, she said.

The office of the department of taxes (IRS), has a Web site www.irs.com / Spanish, which explains the most frequently asked questions and a roadmap for the tax refund.

It includes a shortcut called "Freefile" for those who won less than 54 thousand dollars in 2007 and could make his statement for free.

It can also be downloaded form W-7 to apply the ITIN and may know answers to the most common questions, such as:

Who needs an ITIN? How do I know if I need an ITIN? Are valid ITIN for identification? Are valid ITIN to work? Can I use the ITIN as proof of identification to obtain a driver's license? And many other issues. © La Raza

http://www.laraza.com/news.php?nid=51609

Another advantage, according to Mandujano, which is to reform or amnesty to all those who paid their taxes and were aware of their tax returns could benefit greatly on others who did not




What I say to all my people is that it's important to fill your taxes each year because no one knows whether it will reach an amnesty or not."






See? They claim they don't want amnesty, but there it is, right there in black and white




Thanks for posting the info Fedup