Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB451 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 451
5	5	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit certain activities
6	6	constituting preparation of tax returns by the Secretary of the Treasury,
7	7	and for other purposes.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY15, 2025
10	10	Mr. S
11	11	MITHof Nebraska (for himself, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. GARBARINO, Mrs.
12	12	M
13	13	ILLERof West Virginia, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. HERNof Oklahoma, Mr.
14	14	A
15	15	LFORD, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. WOMACK, Ms. VANDUYNE, and Mr.
16	16	B
17	17	ACON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
18	18	mittee on Ways and Means
19	19	A BILL
20	20	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit
21	21	certain activities constituting preparation of tax returns
22	22	by the Secretary of the Treasury, and for other purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fostering Autonomy 4
27	27	in Independent Returns by Prohibiting Redundant and 5
28	28	Extralegal Programs Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘FAIR PREP 6
29	29	Act of 2025’’. 7
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32	32	•HR 451 IH
33	33	SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN RETURN PREPARATION. 1
34	34	(a) I
35	35	NGENERAL.—Section 6020 of the Internal Rev-2
36	36	enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 3
37	37	following new subsection: 4
38	38	‘‘(c) P
39	39	ROHIBITEDPREPARATION BYSECRETARY.— 5
40	40	‘‘(1) I
41	41	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sec-6
42	42	tion 6014 and subsections (a) and (b) of this sec-7
43	43	tion, the Secretary shall not prepare any return of 8
44	44	tax imposed by this title or any claim for refund of 9
45	45	tax imposed by this title. 10
46	46	‘‘(2) P
47	47	ROHIBITION OF DIRECT FILE AND COM -11
48	48	PARABLE PROGRAMS .—For purposes of paragraph 12
49	49	(1), any return or claim for refund prepared using 13
50	50	an electronic tax preparation service operated by the 14
51	51	Secretary shall be treated as if such return or claim 15
52	52	were prepared by the Secretary. 16
53	53	‘‘(3) Q
54	54	UALIFIED RETURN PREPARATION PRO -17
55	55	GRAMS AND IRS FREE FILE PARTNERSHIP .—Para-18
56	56	graph (2) shall not apply to any return or claim for 19
57	57	refund solely because such return or claim for re-20
58	58	fund was prepared via, or with the assistance of— 21
59	59	‘‘(A) a qualified return preparation pro-22
60	60	gram (as defined in section 7526A(e)), or 23
61	61	‘‘(B) the IRS Free File Program as estab-24
62	62	lished by the Internal Revenue Service and pub-25
63	63	lished in the Federal Register on November 4, 26
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66	66	•HR 451 IH
67	67	2002 (67 Fed. Reg. 67247), including any sub-1
68	68	sequent agreements and governing rules estab-2
69	69	lished pursuant thereto. 3
70	70	‘‘(4) D
71	71	EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-4
72	72	section— 5
73	73	‘‘(A) T
74	74	AX RETURN PREPARATION .— 6
75	75	‘‘(i) I
76	76	N GENERAL.—The term ‘pre-7
77	77	pare’ with respect to any return or claim 8
78	78	for refund means— 9
79	79	‘‘(I) the completion of any form 10
80	80	and schedule needed to compute and 11
81	81	report any tax imposed by this title or 12
82	82	any claim for refund of such a tax, 13
83	83	and 14
84	84	‘‘(II) the filing of any such re-15
85	85	turn or claim for refund, regardless of 16
86	86	whether such return or claim is sub-17
87	87	mitted electronically or on paper. 18
88	88	For purposes of the preceding sentence, 19
89	89	the preparation of any portion of a return 20
90	90	or claim for refund shall be treated as if 21
91	91	it were the preparation of such return or 22
92	92	claim for refund. 23
93	93	‘‘(ii) C
94	94	OMPUTATION AND CORRECTION 24
95	95	OF ERRORS, ETC.— 25
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98	98	•HR 451 IH
99	99	‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Such term 1
100	100	shall not include any computation au-2
101	101	thorized by section 6102 or any other 3
102	102	computation or correction of mathe-4
103	103	matical or clerical errors required or 5
104	104	authorized by any provision of chapter 6
105	105	63. 7
106	106	‘‘(II) F
107	107	ILLABLE FORMS.—Such 8
108	108	term shall not include the provision of 9
109	109	fillable forms by the Secretary merely 10
110	110	because such forms include an auto-11
111	111	mated calculation feature. 12
112	112	‘‘(B) E
113	113	LECTRONIC TAX PREPARATION 13
114	114	SERVICE.—The term ‘electronic tax preparation 14
115	115	service operated by the Secretary’ means the 15
116	116	free direct e-file tax return system as estab-16
117	117	lished by the Internal Revenue Service and pub-17
118	118	lished in the Federal Register on December 15, 18
119	119	2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 87057), and September 5, 19
120	120	2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 72699), and any successor 20
121	121	program of the Internal Revenue Service which 21
122	122	provides an electronic tax preparation service 22
123	123	option.’’. 23
124	124	(b) E
125	125	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 24
126	126	this section shall apply to returns filed after the date 25
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129	129	•HR 451 IH
130	130	which is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 1
131	131	Act. 2
132	132	(c) N
133	133	OINFERENCE.—The amendment made by this 3
134	134	section shall not be construed to create any inference with 4
135	135	respect to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury 5
136	136	(or any delegate of such Secretary) to develop and offer 6
137	137	for use any electronic tax filing or tax preparation service 7
138	138	option, or otherwise engage in the preparation of any re-8
139	139	turn of tax or any claim for refund of tax imposed by the 9
140	140	Internal Revenue Code of 1986, with respect to any tax-10
141	141	able year beginning on or before the date of the enactment 11
142	142	of this Act. 12
143	143	SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON FURTHER EXPENDITURES CIRCUM-13
144	144	VENTING CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY. 14
145	145	The Secretary of the Treasury (or any delegate of 15
146	146	such Secretary) may not award or make payment of 16
147	147	grants or enter into or maintain any contract, other trans-17
148	148	action, or reimbursable agreement for the development or 18
149	149	operation of an electronic tax preparation service option 19
150	150	after the date of the enactment of this Act unless other-20
151	151	wise authorized by law. 21
152	152	Æ
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