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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline F · Financial

Failure to File Tax Return

What the decided record shows for this issue, computed from public DOHA hearing-level decisions. Descriptive history, not a prediction.

Does failure to file tax return affect a security clearance?

Failure to File Tax Return is an issue decided under Guideline F, Financial. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 2,114 hearing-level cases, and 22% of the 2,111 decided ended with access granted (467 granted, 1,644 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 2,111 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

2,114

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

22%

467 granted · 1,644 denied or revoked

Official mitigating conditions cited

The formal mitigating conditions the case profiles identified on this issue, in cases that were granted and in cases that were denied. Each is shown with its paragraph number and a plain name. Read what each condition says.

  • ¶ 20(b) · Conditions largely beyond the person's control, met responsibly

    In granted cases
    168
    In denied cases
    10

  • ¶ 20(d) · A good-faith effort to repay or otherwise resolve the debts

    In granted cases
    153
    In denied cases
    17

  • ¶ 20(c) · Counseling received, with clear signs the problem is being resolved

    In granted cases
    141
    In denied cases
    16

  • ¶ 20(a) · So long ago, or so infrequent, that it is unlikely to recur

    In granted cases
    139
    In denied cases
    7

  • ¶ 20(g) · An arrangement made with the tax authority, and kept

    In granted cases
    134
    In denied cases
    37

  • ¶ 20(e) · A reasonable and documented basis to dispute the debt

    In granted cases
    8
    In denied cases
    2

Circumstances credited in granted cases

The specific circumstances the judge expressly credited among the granted cases on this issue where that detail was extracted.
  • acknowledgment and remorse · credited in 3 granted cases
  • tax returns filed late · credited in 2 granted cases
  • payment plan with IRS · credited in 1 granted case

Recent decided examples

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00695Granted2026

    The applicant mitigated security concerns under Guideline F related to financial considerations. The Department of Defense issued a Statement of Reasons citing failures to file and pay taxes. The appl…

  • ISCR Case No. 26-00326Granted2026

    The applicant mitigated security concerns under Guideline F related to financial considerations. He admitted to filing for Chapter 13 bankruptcy, failing to file tax returns, and having delinquent deb…

  • ISCR Case No. 25-00834Denied2026

    The applicant was denied security clearance due to failure to file federal and state income tax returns for multiple years and owing significant delinquent taxes. Despite admitting to the allegations …

  • ISCR Case No. 25-01419Denied2026

    The case involves security concerns under multiple guidelines, including criminal conduct, alcohol consumption, personal conduct, foreign influence, and financial considerations. The applicant admitte…

See all 2,114 decisions on this issue

Related issues under Guideline F

How these numbers are measured

Scope: decided hearing-level cases whose per-allegation profile records this issue, matched to the same issue value the search filters use, so a count here and a filtered search always agree. A case raising several issues counts under each one. The mitigating conditions and the credited circumstances below were extracted for a subset of the record, so both are counts of cases rather than rates. Pages exist only for issues with at least 25 decided cases, and † marks any split built on fewer than 20.

Reading the statistics

  • Granted = access granted or continued; Denied = denied or revoked.
  • Grant rate = granted ÷ (granted + denied).
  • † marks figures based on fewer than 20 cases, too few to be reliable.
  • Hovering any rate shows its statistical range (a 95% confidence interval).
  • Figures are descriptive counts over decided, public DOHA ISCR decisions, never predictions or assessments of any pending case.

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