	Questions Related to Residency Status

		1. How are noncitizens categorized for federal income tax purposes? Noncitizens in or outside the United States may be liable for U.S. income taxes. The terms "immigrant" and "nonimmigrant" are not used in the Internal Revenue Code. For more information, see CRS Report RS21732, Federal Taxation of Aliens Working in the United States . Noncitizens who are in the country unlawfully (called unlawfully present aliens for purposes of this report) generally do not have a special designation under the IRC. This classification is for federal tax purposes only. While nonresident aliens are not subject to U.S. taxation on income earned abroad, all aliens—whether resident or nonresident and whether lawfully present or not—are generally subject to federal income taxes on their U.S.-source income (e.g., wages earned in the United States). Questions Related to Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs)

		6. SSNs are issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) to certain groups of noncitizens, specifically lawful permanent residents (green card holders); aliens admitted on a temporary basis who are authorized to work in the United States; and other aliens who are required by federal or state law to have an SSN in order to receive certain public benefits. These include 
noncitizens who are lawfully present on a temporary basis in the United States but are SSN-ineligible because they are unauthorized to work; individuals who are outside the United States but still have federal tax obligations (e.g., because they have U.S.-source investment income); and unlawfully present aliens. Questions Related to Unlawfully Present Aliens and Federal Income Taxes

		13. Are there special tax benefits for aliens starting businesses in the United States? This rumor is false.
This report answers frequently asked questions about noncitizens and federal income taxes. Noncitizens may be subject to U.S. income taxes when, for example, they work in the United States or they live abroad but have U.S. source income. Noncitizens who may be subject to U.S. income taxes include
legal permanent residents (LPRs or green card holders) who are authorized to live and work in the United States permanently; aliens who are authorized to stay in the United States temporarily, and may or may not be authorized to work; aliens who are not authorized to be in the United States (called unlawfully present aliens for purposes of this report); and foreigners who are outside the United States but have U.S. tax obligations.
This report groups similar questions by category: questions concerning residency status for purposes of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC); questions related to individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs), which are ID numbers issued to noncitizens for tax-filing purposes; and questions regarding unlawfully present aliens and federal income taxes. The report also refutes a persistent rumor that there are special tax benefits for aliens starting businesses in the United States.
The report focuses on federal income taxes. Other taxes, such as payroll taxes, excise taxes, and estate and gift taxes, are outside the scope of this report. For information on aliens and the federal estate and gift taxes, see CRS Report R43576, Estate and Gift Taxes for Nonresident Aliens, by [author name scrubbed].