Overview
- Treasury said it will propose regulations to treat the refunded portions of the EITC, Additional Child Tax Credit, American Opportunity Tax Credit, and Saver’s Match as federal public benefits unavailable to illegal and other non‑qualified aliens.
- The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel issued a recent opinion adopting the view that those refundable payments qualify as federal public benefits under existing law.
- Treasury indicated it plans for the final regulations to apply beginning in tax year 2026, following the rulemaking process.
- FinCEN issued an alert urging banks and money services businesses to file suspicious activity reports on transactions suspected to involve illicitly obtained funds tied to unauthorized immigrants, including cross‑border transfers.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the effort comes at President Trump’s direction and framed it as preserving federal benefits for U.S. citizens.