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Issue Encyclopedia · Guideline F · Financial

Unpaid Federal/State Taxes

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

Does unpaid federal/state taxes affect a security clearance?

Unpaid Federal/State Taxes is an issue decided under Guideline F, Financial. In the decided DOHA record it appears in 3,229 hearing-level cases, and 26% of the 3,227 decided ended with access granted (853 granted, 2,374 denied). The mitigating conditions judges credited most often, and example decisions either way, are below.

Basis: 3,227 decided hearing-level cases raising this issue. Descriptive history of decided cases, not a prediction.

More questions people ask the record

Decided cases

3,229

hearing-level decisions raising this issue

Granted

26%

853 granted · 2,374 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(d) · A good-faith effort to repay or otherwise resolve the debts

    In granted cases
    402
    In denied cases
    72

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

    In granted cases
    377
    In denied cases
    52

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

    In granted cases
    302
    In denied cases
    46

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

    In granted cases
    134
    In denied cases
    53

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

    In granted cases
    126
    In denied cases
    10

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

    In granted cases
    46
    In denied cases
    10

Circumstances credited in granted cases

The specific circumstances the judge expressly credited among the granted cases on this issue where that detail was extracted.
  • debt paid in full · credited in 4 granted cases
  • chapter 13 bankruptcy · credited in 1 granted case
  • financial counseling · credited in 1 granted case
  • 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. 25-01574Denied2026

    The case involves security concerns under Guideline F related to financial considerations. The applicant admitted to tax debts totaling $12,398 for federal and state taxes. The judge found that while …

See all 3,229 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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