Kawashima have been U.S. resident aliens since 1984 and own restaurants in Southern California. This has significant implications for all aliens, both legal resident and undocumented. Tax evasion of $10,000 or more becomes an aggregated felony with potential for deportation.

Can you become a citizen if you owe taxes?

If USCIS discovers that an applicant owes back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), his or her application for citizenship will likely be denied. However, tax issues are not an automatic bar to naturalization.

What documents do I need for citizenship?

U.S. birth certificate, or. Naturalization Certificate, or. U.S. passport (only copy the inside front cover and the signature page), or. U.S. Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA or Form FS-240)…If you changed your name.

• Marriage certificate.
• Divorce order.
• Other court papers.

Can you still apply for citizenship if you owe back taxes?

Or, if you still can’t afford the full tax bill, you might be able to work out a payment plan with the IRS. Evidence that the applicant is complying with such a payment plan has, in some cases, been accepted by USCIS as sufficient proof of good moral character. Still, this is a tricky situation.

Do you have to pay back taxes to USCIS?

There is no getting around this question even if the USCIS never contacts the IRS to check on your tax status. The good news is that you won’t have to pay your back taxes in full to gain citizenship. You just have to file on time and make your payments to the IRS. A friend of mine owes about $5,000 to the IRS and is on a payment plan of $100/month.

What happens if you owe back taxes to the IRS?

Applying for citizenship while owing back taxes is a huge problem. One requirement for naturalization is good moral character. This means that you need to show that you are a good citizen of the United States. Good moral character includes paying your taxes on time and reporting your income to the IRS.

Do you have to pay taxes to become an US citizen?

This doesn’t mean showing that you’re better than the average person, but it does involve showing that you have behaved well, including paying your taxes. The naturalization application Form N-400 issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) specifically asks about whether you have paid the taxes that you owe.