I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 474
To ensure that employees of the Internal Revenue Service are brought back
to their offices until the backlog of tax returns has been eliminated.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2023
Mr. M
EUSERintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To ensure that employees of the Internal Revenue Service
are brought back to their offices until the backlog of
tax returns has been eliminated.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Require Employees 4
To Uniformly Return Now Act’’ or the ‘‘RETURN Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. BRINGING IRS EMPLOYEES BACK TO THE OFFICE. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi-7
sion of law, in the case of an applicable employee, such 8
employee shall not be authorized to telework during the 9
period— 10
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(1) beginning on the date that is 5 business 1
days after the date of enactment of this Act, and 2
(2) ending on the date on which the Commis-3
sioner of Internal Revenue certifies that the proc-4
essing backlog with respect to income tax returns for 5
all taxable years has been eliminated. 6
(b) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section— 7
(1) A
PPLICABLE EMPLOYEE .—The term ‘‘appli-8
cable employee’’ means an employee of the Internal 9
Revenue Service who, as of the date of enactment of 10
this Act, is authorized to telework, on a temporary 11
or permanent basis, pursuant to a policy established 12
by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in re-13
sponse to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID– 14
19). 15
(2) T
ELEWORK.—The term ‘‘telework’’ has the 16
same meaning given such term under section 17
6501(3) of title 5, United States Code. 18
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON OBLIGATION OF FUNDS UNTIL IRS 19
BACKLOG IS ELIMINATED. 20
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec-21
retary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) may 22
not obligate the funds appropriated to the Internal Rev-23
enue Service under section 10301 of the Inflation Reduc-24
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•HR 474 IH
tion Act (Public Law 117–169) until the date described 1
in section 2(a)(2). 2
Æ
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