Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1983 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1983
5	5	To amend title 31, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of the
6	6	Treasury to regulate tax return preparers, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	MARCH10, 2025
9	9	Mr. C
10	10	OHENintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
11	11	on Ways and Means
12	12	A BILL
13	13	To amend title 31, United States Code, to direct the Sec-
14	14	retary of the Treasury to regulate tax return preparers,
15	15	and for other purposes.
16	16	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
17	17	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
18	18	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
19	19	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tax Return Preparer 4
20	20	Accountability Act of 2025’’. 5
21	21	SEC. 2. REGULATION OF TAX RETURN PREPARERS. 6
22	22	(a) I
23	23	NGENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 330 of 7
24	24	title 31, United States Code, is amended— 8
25	25	(1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 9
26	26	following: 10
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29	29	•HR 1983 IH
30	30	‘‘(1) regulate— 1
31	31	‘‘(A) the practice of representatives of per-2
32	32	sons before the Department of the Treasury; 3
33	33	and 4
34	34	‘‘(B) the practice of tax return preparers; 5
35	35	and’’; and 6
36	36	(2) in paragraph (2)— 7
37	37	(A) by inserting ‘‘or a tax return preparer 8
38	38	to prepare tax returns’’ after ‘‘practice’’; 9
39	39	(B) by inserting ‘‘or tax return preparer’’ 10
40	40	before ‘‘demonstrate’’; and 11
41	41	(C) by inserting ‘‘or in preparing their tax 12
42	42	returns, claims for refund, or documents in con-13
43	43	nection with tax returns or claims for refund’’ 14
44	44	after ‘‘cases’’ in subparagraph (D). 15
45	45	(b) A
46	46	UTHORITYTOSANCTIONREGULATEDTAXRE-16
47	47	TURNPREPARERS.—Subsection (c) of section 330 of title 17
48	48	31, United States Code, is amended— 18
49	49	(1) by striking ‘‘before the Department’’; 19
50	50	(2) by inserting ‘‘or tax return preparer’’ after 20
51	51	‘‘representative’’ each place it appears; and 21
52	52	(3) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘misleads or 22
53	53	threatens’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘mis-23
54	54	leads or threatens— 24
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57	57	•HR 1983 IH
58	58	‘‘(A) any person being represented or any 1
59	59	prospective person being represented; or 2
60	60	‘‘(B) any person or prospective person 3
61	61	whose tax return, claim for refund, or document 4
62	62	in connection with a tax return or claim for re-5
63	63	fund, is being or may be prepared.’’. 6
64	64	(c) M
65	65	INIMUMCOMPETENCYSTANDARDS FOR TAX 7
66	66	R
67	67	ETURNPREPARERS.—Section 330 of title 31, United 8
68	68	States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol-9
69	69	lowing new subsection: 10
70	70	‘‘(f) T
71	71	AXRETURNPREPARERS.— 11
72	72	‘‘(1) I
73	73	N GENERAL.—Any tax return preparer 12
74	74	shall demonstrate minimum competency standards 13
75	75	under this subsection by— 14
76	76	‘‘(A) obtaining an identifying number for 15
77	77	securing proper identification of such preparer 16
78	78	as described in section 6109(a)(4) of the Inter-17
79	79	nal Revenue Code of 1986; 18
80	80	‘‘(B) satisfying any examination and an-19
81	81	nual continuing education requirements as pre-20
82	82	scribed by the Secretary; and 21
83	83	‘‘(C) completing a background check ad-22
84	84	ministered by the Secretary. 23
85	85	‘‘(2) E
86	86	XEMPTION.—The Secretary shall exempt 24
87	87	tax return preparers who have been subject to com-25
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90	90	•HR 1983 IH
91	91	parable examination, continuing education require-1
92	92	ments, and background checks administered by the 2
93	93	Secretary or any comparable State licensing pro-3
94	94	gram. Such exemption shall extend directly to indi-4
95	95	viduals who are supervised by such preparers and 5
96	96	are not required to secure an identification number 6
97	97	under section 6109(a)(4).’’. 7
98	98	(d) T
99	99	AXRETURNPREPARERDEFINED.—Section 8
100	100	330 of title 31, United States Code, as amended by sub-9
101	101	section (c), is amended by adding at the end the following 10
102	102	new subsection: 11
103	103	‘‘(g) T
104	104	AXRETURNPREPARER.—For purposes of this 12
105	105	section— 13
106	106	‘‘(1) I
107	107	N GENERAL.—The term ‘tax return pre-14
108	108	parer’ has the meaning given such term under sec-15
109	109	tion 7701(a)(36) of the Internal Revenue Code of 16
110	110	1986. 17
111	111	‘‘(2) T
112	112	AX RETURN.—The term ‘tax return’ has 18
113	113	the meaning given to the term ‘return’ under section 19
114	114	6696(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 20
115	115	‘‘(3) C
116	116	LAIM FOR REFUND.—The term ‘claim for 21
117	117	refund’ has the meaning given such term under sec-22
118	118	tion 6696(e)(2) of such Code.’’. 23
119	119	(e) A
120	120	MENDMENTS WITHRESPECT TOIDENTIFYING 24
121	121	N
122	122	UMBER.— 25
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125	125	•HR 1983 IH
126	126	(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 6109(a) of the In-1
127	127	ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 2
128	128	paragraph (4) and inserting the following: 3
129	129	‘‘(4) F
130	130	URNISHING IDENTIFYING NUMBER OF 4
131	131	TAX RETURN PREPARER .— 5
132	132	‘‘(A) I
133	133	N GENERAL.—Any return or claim 6
134	134	for refund prepared by a tax return preparer 7
135	135	shall bear such identifying number for securing 8
136	136	proper identification of such preparer, his em-9
137	137	ployer, or both, as may be prescribed. For pur-10
138	138	poses of this paragraph, the terms ‘return’ and 11
139	139	‘claim for refund’ have the respective meanings 12
140	140	given to such terms by section 6696(e). 13
141	141	‘‘(B) E
142	142	XCEPTION.—Subparagraph (A) 14
143	143	shall not apply with respect to the preparation 15
144	144	of any return or claim for refund by a tax re-16
145	145	turn preparer if— 17
146	146	‘‘(i) such return or claim is prepared 18
147	147	by such preparer while such preparer is 19
148	148	employed by an attorney, certified public 20
149	149	accountant, or enrolled agent firm, and 21
150	150	‘‘(ii) such preparer prepares such re-22
151	151	turn or claim under the supervision and di-23
152	152	rection of a tax return preparer who signs 24
153	153	such return or claim and is an attorney, 25
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156	156	•HR 1983 IH
157	157	certified public accountant, or enrolled 1
158	158	agent.’’. 2
159	159	(2) C
160	160	LARIFICATION OF RESCISSION AUTHOR -3
161	161	ITY.—Section 6109 of such Code is amended by in-4
162	162	serting after subsection (d) the following new sub-5
163	163	section: 6
164	164	‘‘(e) A
165	165	UTHORITYTORESCINDIDENTIFYINGNUM-7
166	166	BER OFTAXRETURNPREPARER.— 8
167	167	‘‘(1) I
168	168	N GENERAL.—The Secretary may rescind 9
169	169	an identifying number issued under subsection 10
170	170	(a)(4) if— 11
171	171	‘‘(A) after notice and opportunity for a 12
172	172	hearing, the preparer is shown to be incom-13
173	173	petent or disreputable (as such terms are used 14
174	174	in subsection (c) of section 330 of title 31, 15
175	175	United States Code); and 16
176	176	‘‘(B) rescinding the identifying number 17
177	177	would promote compliance with the require-18
178	178	ments of this title and effective tax administra-19
179	179	tion. 20
180	180	‘‘(2) R
181	181	ECORDS.—If an identifying number is re-21
182	182	scinded under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall 22
183	183	place in the file in the Office of the Director of Pro-23
184	184	fessional Responsibility the opinion of the Secretary 24
185	185	with respect to the determination, including— 25
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188	188	•HR 1983 IH
189	189	‘‘(A) a statement of the facts and cir-1
190	190	cumstances relating to the determination; and 2
191	191	‘‘(B) the reasons for the rescission.’’. 3
192	192	(3) E
193	193	FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 4
194	194	by this subsection shall apply to returns filed after 5
195	195	the date of the enactment of this Act. 6
196	196	SEC. 3. TECHNOLOGY UPDATES AT INTERNAL REVENUE 7
197	197	SERVICE. 8
198	198	(a) I
199	199	MPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATEDFORMULATO 9
200	200	I
201	201	DENTIFYTAXPAYERS AT RISK OFECONOMICHARD-10
202	202	SHIP.—As soon as practicable, the Secretary of the Treas-11
203	203	ury (or the Secretary’s delegate), shall implement at the 12
204	204	Internal Revenue Service an algorithm that will enable the 13
205	205	Internal Revenue Service to— 14
206	206	(1) identify taxpayers at high risk of economic 15
207	207	hardship (as defined by the Secretary in regula-16
208	208	tions), 17
209	209	(2) ask questions of taxpayers who contact the 18
210	210	Internal Revenue Service regarding a balance due 19
211	211	for purposes of identifying those at risk of hardship, 20
212	212	(3) in the case of taxpayers at risk of economic 21
213	213	hardship who seek to enter into streamlined install-22
214	214	ment agreements online, to notify such taxpayers of 23
215	215	the resources available to them, 24
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218	218	•HR 1983 IH
219	219	(4) determine whether to exclude taxpayers’ 1
220	220	debts from automated collection treatments such as 2
221	221	the Federal Payment Levy Program, the private 3
222	222	debt collection program, and passport certification, 4
223	223	and 5
224	224	(5) rank cases for collection priority. 6
225	225	(b) S
226	226	ECURITYSTANDARDS FOR TAXSOFTWARE.— 7
227	227	The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s dele-8
228	228	gate), shall— 9
229	229	(1) as soon as practicable, promulgate such reg-10
230	230	ulations and guidance as are necessary to prescribe 11
231	231	information security standards for all tax software 12
232	232	providers, and 13
233	233	(2) annually thereafter, review and update such 14
234	234	standards. 15
235	235	Æ
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