citizenship

[MarinaS]

Dear sir,
My husband has been a Green Card holder for nearly 8 years and wants to apply for citizenship.
However, he owes the IRS a considerable sum of money. He filed an erroneous tax return and failed to refile, but the taxes were withheld from his paycheck.A couple of years after that he was in a bad financial situation. We are trying to resolve the issue now and pay everything off. My husband wants to apply for citizenship after the isssue is resolved.
There is a question on application for citizenship about wheather the applicant has ever owed money to the IRS and wheather he has paid it off. If answered yes, an explanation should be attached.
My question is: Would the fact of owing money in the past affect the decision on the application in any way? Can it possibly be refused? Should we expect complications? Does debt define "bad moral character" as they call it?
Thank you very much in advance

[lawyer]

As you state correctly, your husband should clear up the matter of back taxes owed. By this I mean he should pay off all taxes owed before he applies for naturalization. A contract or a promises to pay off taxes to IRS will not be enough. If he pays off all taxes owed I do not believe he will have a problem unless criminal charges were filed against him. He should not admit fraud or anything like that in explaining to USCIS. He should simply show that money was previously owed but it has been paid off together with documents indicating this. A debt does not mean bad moral character. Good Luck, ALLAN SAMSON

[MarinaS]

Dear Mr. Samson,
Thank you very much for your reply, You've really lifted that weight off my chest!

[andersonsmith]

Citizenship is membership in a society, community, or and carries with it rights to political participation; a person having such membership is a citizen. Citizenship status often implies some responsibilities and duties. It is also possible to have political rights without being a national of a state. In most nations, a non-citizen is a non-national and called either a foreigner or an alien.