To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require taxpayers claiming the child and earned income tax credits, and their qualifying children, to have a valid social security number for employment purposes.
Analysis under review: This bill has generated analysis that may be too generic or incomplete. Clause-level evidence remains available below.
Summary
What This Bill Does
The SECURE Benefits Act of 2025 creates a new category of temporary work-authorized social security numbers for immigrants with temporary work permits. It requires the Social Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, and IRS to share data about temporary workers, and conditions eligibility for several major tax credits on holding valid work authorization at the time of filing.
Who Benefits and How
U.S. citizens and permanent residents are unaffected but may indirectly benefit from reduced competition for certain tax credits. Federal agencies (SSA, DHS, IRS) gain new enforcement tools and data-sharing authority to verify work authorization status. Tax administration gains stronger fraud prevention mechanisms with a new penalty of up to $5,000 for fraudulent claims.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Temporary workers (H-1B, H-2A, H-2B visa holders and others with temporary work authorization) face new restrictions on claiming the child tax credit, earned income credit, savers credit, savers match, and education credits. They must prove valid work authorization at the time of tax filing. Those whose authorization lapses face a fraud penalty of the greater of the credit amount or $5,000. Federal agencies must build new data-sharing infrastructure and verification systems by January 1, 2027.
Key Provisions
- Creates temporary work-authorized SSNs that are visually distinct on the social security card and tied to specific employment periods
- Requires DHS-SSA-IRS data sharing on temporary work authorization status
- Conditions child tax credit, earned income credit, savers credit, savers match, and American Opportunity/Lifetime Learning credits on verified valid work authorization
- Imposes a fraud penalty of the greater of the claimed credit or $5,000 for claims based on expired or invalid work authorization
- Requires both spouses on joint returns to provide SSNs for child tax credit eligibility
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates a temporary work-authorized social security number system and tightens identification requirements for tax credits to ensure only individuals with valid work authorization can claim child tax credits, earned income credits, savers credits, and education credits.
Key Policy Areas
Immigration, Tax Policy, Social Security Administration, Benefits Eligibility
Primary Purpose
Creates a temporary work-authorized social security number system and tightens identification requirements for tax credits to ensure only individuals with valid work authorization can claim child tax credits, earned income credits, savers credits, and education credits.
Policy Domains
SECURE Benefits Act of 2025
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Federal tax enforcement agencies
- U.S. citizens and permanent residents (indirect)
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Temporary foreign workers
- Social Security Administration
- Department of Homeland Security
- IRS
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMrs. Hyde-Smith introduced the following bill; which was read twice …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Temporary foreign workers (H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, and other temporary visa holders), Temporary foreign workers claiming child tax credit, Temporary foreign workers claiming earned income credit
Individuals who fraudulently claim child tax credit with expired work authorization, Joint-filing couples where one spouse lacks an SSN, Taxpayers who fail to provide valid SSNs for credits
Department of Homeland Security, IRS tax administration, Internal Revenue Service
Positive-direction: IRS tax administration
Negative-direction: Department of Homeland Security, Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration
Temporary foreign workers and students claiming education credits
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury (for tax provisions)
- "the_commissioner"
- → Commissioner of Social Security
- "secretary_of_homeland_security"
- → Secretary of Homeland Security
Note: The Secretary refers to the Secretary of the Treasury in tax credit sections (3-8) but the Secretary of Homeland Security is always explicitly named when referring to DHS.
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Work authorization granted to an alien within a class of aliens described in subsection (b) or (c) of section 274a.12 of title 8, CFR, the validity of which is dependent upon the maintenance of nonimmigrant or other temporary legal status.
Has the meaning given such term in section 24(h)(7) of the IRC.
The Commissioner of Social Security.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology