14 June 2019 Senate passes IRS reform bill, sends to President On June 13, the Senate approved by unanimous consent a new version of an IRS reform bill, the Taxpayer First Act (H.R. 3151), that omits Free File language that previously prevented Senate passage over concerns it would preclude the IRS from establishing its own filing program. The House passed the new version June 10, meaning the Senate's action sends the bill to the President for his signature. The bill was originally approved by the House in April, and was considered unfinished business from the last Congress, when an end-of-year government shutdown disrupted efforts to approve tax and retirement bills. Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), who sponsors H.R. 3151 with Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), said in a June 7 news release that the bill retains provisions from the previous version to create "an independent means for taxpayers to appeal actions of the IRS, [and limit] the capacity of private debt collectors to target low-income citizens." The bill would also place a limitation on access of non-Internal Revenue Service employees to returns and return information, and includes IRS-related cybersecurity and identity protections and information technology modernization provisions. The release said that because of concerns about the Free File program, House sponsors agreed to remove the Free File provision and reintroduce the legislation.
Document ID: 2019-1098 | |||||
