I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 451
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit certain activities
constituting preparation of tax returns by the Secretary of the Treasury,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY15, 2025
Mr. S
MITHof Nebraska (for himself, Mr. EDWARDS, Mr. GARBARINO, Mrs.
M
ILLERof West Virginia, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. HERNof Oklahoma, Mr.
A
LFORD, Mr. BUCHANAN, Mr. WOMACK, Ms. VANDUYNE, and Mr.
B
ACON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit
certain activities constituting preparation of tax returns
by the Secretary of the Treasury, and for other purposes.
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 ‘‘Fostering Autonomy 4
in Independent Returns by Prohibiting Redundant and 5
Extralegal Programs Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘FAIR PREP 6
Act of 2025’’. 7
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN RETURN PREPARATION. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 6020 of the Internal Rev-2
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 3
following new subsection: 4
‘‘(c) P
ROHIBITEDPREPARATION BYSECRETARY.— 5
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sec-6
tion 6014 and subsections (a) and (b) of this sec-7
tion, the Secretary shall not prepare any return of 8
tax imposed by this title or any claim for refund of 9
tax imposed by this title. 10
‘‘(2) P
ROHIBITION OF DIRECT FILE AND COM -11
PARABLE PROGRAMS .—For purposes of paragraph 12
(1), any return or claim for refund prepared using 13
an electronic tax preparation service operated by the 14
Secretary shall be treated as if such return or claim 15
were prepared by the Secretary. 16
‘‘(3) Q
UALIFIED RETURN PREPARATION PRO -17
GRAMS AND IRS FREE FILE PARTNERSHIP .—Para-18
graph (2) shall not apply to any return or claim for 19
refund solely because such return or claim for re-20
fund was prepared via, or with the assistance of— 21
‘‘(A) a qualified return preparation pro-22
gram (as defined in section 7526A(e)), or 23
‘‘(B) the IRS Free File Program as estab-24
lished by the Internal Revenue Service and pub-25
lished in the Federal Register on November 4, 26
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•HR 451 IH
2002 (67 Fed. Reg. 67247), including any sub-1
sequent agreements and governing rules estab-2
lished pursuant thereto. 3
‘‘(4) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-4
section— 5
‘‘(A) T
AX RETURN PREPARATION .— 6
‘‘(i) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘pre-7
pare’ with respect to any return or claim 8
for refund means— 9
‘‘(I) the completion of any form 10
and schedule needed to compute and 11
report any tax imposed by this title or 12
any claim for refund of such a tax, 13
and 14
‘‘(II) the filing of any such re-15
turn or claim for refund, regardless of 16
whether such return or claim is sub-17
mitted electronically or on paper. 18
For purposes of the preceding sentence, 19
the preparation of any portion of a return 20
or claim for refund shall be treated as if 21
it were the preparation of such return or 22
claim for refund. 23
‘‘(ii) C
OMPUTATION AND CORRECTION 24
OF ERRORS, ETC.— 25
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•HR 451 IH
‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Such term 1
shall not include any computation au-2
thorized by section 6102 or any other 3
computation or correction of mathe-4
matical or clerical errors required or 5
authorized by any provision of chapter 6
63. 7
‘‘(II) F
ILLABLE FORMS.—Such 8
term shall not include the provision of 9
fillable forms by the Secretary merely 10
because such forms include an auto-11
mated calculation feature. 12
‘‘(B) E
LECTRONIC TAX PREPARATION 13
SERVICE.—The term ‘electronic tax preparation 14
service operated by the Secretary’ means the 15
free direct e-file tax return system as estab-16
lished by the Internal Revenue Service and pub-17
lished in the Federal Register on December 15, 18
2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 87057), and September 5, 19
2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 72699), and any successor 20
program of the Internal Revenue Service which 21
provides an electronic tax preparation service 22
option.’’. 23
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 24
this section shall apply to returns filed after the date 25
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•HR 451 IH
which is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 1
Act. 2
(c) N
OINFERENCE.—The amendment made by this 3
section shall not be construed to create any inference with 4
respect to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury 5
(or any delegate of such Secretary) to develop and offer 6
for use any electronic tax filing or tax preparation service 7
option, or otherwise engage in the preparation of any re-8
turn of tax or any claim for refund of tax imposed by the 9
Internal Revenue Code of 1986, with respect to any tax-10
able year beginning on or before the date of the enactment 11
of this Act. 12
SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON FURTHER EXPENDITURES CIRCUM-13
VENTING CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY. 14
The Secretary of the Treasury (or any delegate of 15
such Secretary) may not award or make payment of 16
grants or enter into or maintain any contract, other trans-17
action, or reimbursable agreement for the development or 18
operation of an electronic tax preparation service option 19
after the date of the enactment of this Act unless other-20
wise authorized by law. 21
Æ
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