The Senate Finance Committee July 30 approved the Taxpayer Assistance and Service (TAS) Act bipartisan tax administration package unveiled by Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) in February. The markup had been delayed by Democratic members' concerns over the IRS immunity deal for the President's family and businesses reached by the Justice Department. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) have been negotiating with the Administration to have the proposed anti-weaponization fund, which the Administration backed away from, more formally put to rest and the immunity deal clarified in exchange for their votes for Todd Blanche as attorney general in the Judiciary Committee.

Those negotiations continued and Senators Tillis and Cornyn opposed Ranking Member Wyden's amendment to the TAS Act that would have banned the IRS from entering into tax audit immunity agreements for a sitting president, their family, or related entities, nullifying the current agreement, and required Treasury to report to Congress about any such immunity agreements. Wyden asserted that the immunity agreement amounted to self-dealing. Tillis said the negotiations were proceeding in good faith.

The amendment ultimately failed on a 13-14 vote. Chairman Crapo said the Wyden amendment would have made the bill partisan, rather than bipartisan. "This is not the place — it's being resolved in another situation in another committee," he said. The vote to approve the bill was 26-1, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) as the lone 'no' vote.

The TAS includes provisions intended to:

• Digitize more tax returns
• Expand online accounts
• Streamline Chief Counsel reviews of offers-in-compromise
• Allow the U.S. Tax Court to hear cases relating to refunds and otherwise clarify the court's authority and jurisdiction
• Establish new tax preparer penalties
• Provide new authorization for the Office of Appeals

The Joint Committee on Taxation staff description is at https://www.jct.gov/publications/2026/jcx-43-26/.

Chairman Crapo's modification released July 29 changed some provisions and added others, including the Preventing Tax Fraud and Identity Theft Act (S. 5133) introduced by Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Maggie Hassan (D-NH) on July 27 to require information returns for some categories of income to be filed with the IRS no later than January 31 of the following calendar year, "thereby aligning the IRS filing deadline with the date the corresponding statements are furnished to recipients," JCT said.

https://www.jct.gov/publications/2026/jcx-45-26/

Democrats offered other amendments without insisting on votes:

• Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) proposed to roll back the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act's (OBBBA) 90% limitation on gambling loss deductions, which she said would be nongermane to the underlying bill.
• Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) expressed an interest in requiring the IRS to determine how to implement prepopulated tax returns.
• Senator Warren offered but then withdrew an amendment to bring back the Direct File program, and Ranking Member Wyden said he hoped to get it done in a bipartisan way next year.
• Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) offered and withdrew an amendment requiring IRS regulations related to coerced debt.

More information is at https://www.finance.senate.gov/hearings/open-executive-session-to-consider-the-taxpayer-assistance-and-service-act.