IRS Temporarily Changes U.S. Residency Application Policy
The IRS recently announced that it has initiated a temporary change in policy for U.S. residency applications in an effort to help the agency deal with its backlog.
The temporary change lowers the paperwork requirements for Form 8802, “Application for U.S. Residency Certification,” for the next two years. Effective April 4, 2022, any taxpayer who received a request from the IRS for a signed copy of their most recent return to support an application for a U.S. residency certification because their return had not yet been posted by the IRS by the time the taxpayer filed Form 8802 will only need to submit a signed copy of the current year base income tax return (i.e., the tax return without any accompanying forms, schedules or attachment) rather than a copy of the entire return.
The IRS stated that it plans to monitor compliance over the two-year pilot period to decide whether to extend the policy.