SF-86 Section 26 Tax Questions: How to Answer About IRS Problems

If you are applying for a clearance or a sensitive position, the SF-86, Questionnaire for National Security Positions, asks about your taxes. Not in a vague way. It asks specific questions and wants specific answers. Here is what Section 26 asks, and how to get your answers right.

The version on OPM's site

As of October 9, 2026, GSA's forms library lists the SF-86's current revision date as 11/2016, and OPM's standard forms page lists the SF 86 (2016). The questions quoted below come from that November 2016 version. Agencies may collect the same information through electronic systems, so read whatever you are given carefully.

Question one: failing to file or pay

Section 26 asks: "In the last seven (7) years have you failed to file or pay Federal, state, or other taxes when required by law or ordinance?"

If yes, for each entry it asks you to provide:

• The year you failed to file or pay.
• Whether you failed to file, pay as required, or both.
• The federal, state or other agency to which you failed to file or pay.
• The reason for the failure and the type of tax (such as property, income or sales).
• The amount of the taxes.
• A description of any actions you have taken to satisfy the debt, such as withholdings, frequency and amount of payments, or an explanation if you have taken none.
• The date satisfied, or "Not Applicable."

Notice "when required." Late filing counts. Late payment counts. A year where you filed on time but did not pay the balance when due counts as a failure to pay.

Seven years. Federal, state or other. File or pay. Read the question as broadly as it is written.

Question two: liens, judgments and federal debt

Section 26 also asks whether any of these happened to you:

• In the last seven years, "you had a lien placed against your property for failing to pay taxes or other debts."
• In the last seven years, you had a judgment entered against you.
• You are "currently delinquent on any Federal debt."

An IRS Notice of Federal Tax Lien filed in the window is a yes, even if it was later released. A current IRS balance that is not in an agreement may be a yes to the federal debt question. For each yes, the form asks for the type of issue, the amount, the agency or creditor, the reason, the current status, the date it began and was resolved, and actions you have taken.

Getting the facts right

People answer these questions from memory. Do not. Get the IRS's records.

1. Account transcripts for each of the last seven years show when returns were filed, what was assessed, penalties, payments and liens.
2. Wage and income transcripts help reconstruct unfiled years.
3. Lien documents. If a Notice of Federal Tax Lien was filed, find the filing and any release or withdrawal certificate. See tax liens.
4. Agreement letters. Installment agreement acceptance, CNC determinations, offer acceptance.
5. State records. The question covers state and other taxes too.

When your numbers match the government's records, the investigator's job gets easier and your credibility goes up.

Writing the explanation

The "reason" and "actions taken" fields are where you make your case. Keep them factual and short:

• Reason: what happened, in one or two sentences. Deployment, a PCS move, a medical problem, a divorce, a job loss. Do not editorialize.
• Actions taken: filed on what date, agreement entered on what date, payment amount and frequency, current balance, lien released or withdrawn on what date.

Those fields map directly onto the mitigating conditions in SEAD 4 Guideline F, especially 20(g): arrangements with the tax authority and compliance with them. See security clearances and tax debt.

Military-specific points

• Combat zone years. If you served in a combat zone, your deadlines were extended under IRC 7508. A return filed within the extended deadline was not late. Check the math before you report a failure to file. See the combat zone extension.
• Overseas duty. Treas. Reg. 1.6081-5 gave you an automatic two-month extension if you were on duty outside the United States and Puerto Rico on the due date.
• SCRA deferment. If the IRS granted a deferment of collection, document it. That is an arrangement with the tax authority.

Common mistakes on Section 26

• Answering "no" because the balance is now paid. The question asks whether you failed to file or pay in the last seven years, not whether you owe today.
• Reporting only federal taxes. The question covers state and other taxes too.
• Forgetting a lien that was filed and later released inside the seven-year window.
• Guessing at amounts and dates. Use transcripts, and mark estimates as estimates where the form allows it.
• Leaving "actions taken" blank or vague. That field is your chance to show mitigation.

The honesty point

The SF-86 itself explains that knowingly and willfully making a false statement can be punished by fine or imprisonment under 18 U.S.C. 1001. A tax problem disclosed with documentation is something adjudicators see constantly. An undisclosed one that turns up in the investigation creates a separate and more serious issue.

Fix it before you file the form if you can

Every action you take before submission becomes a fact you can report. File the missing returns. Set up the installment agreement. Request lien withdrawal if you qualify. Then the "actions taken" field tells a story of a problem being handled. See installment agreements and unfiled returns.

The form asks hard questions. Answer them with records, not memory, and with actions, not promises.