Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB96 Compare Versions

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

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 96
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
9	9	JANUARY15, 2025
10	10	Mrs. B
11	11	LACKBURN(for herself, Mr. DAINES, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr.
12	12	R
13	13	ICKETTS, Mr. SCHMITT, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. RISCH, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr.
14	14	M
15	15	ARSHALL, and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was
16	16	read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
17	17	A BILL
18	18	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit
19	19	certain activities constituting preparation of tax returns
20	20	by the Secretary of the Treasury, and for other purposes.
21	21	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
22	22	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
23	23	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
24	24	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Fostering Autonomy 4
25	25	in Independent Returns by Prohibiting Redundant and 5
26	26	Extralegal Programs Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘FAIR PREP 6
27	27	Act of 2025’’. 7
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30	30	•S 96 IS
31	31	SEC. 2. PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN RETURN PREPARATION. 1
32	32	(a) I
33	33	NGENERAL.—Section 6020 of the Internal Rev-2
34	34	enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 3
35	35	following new subsection: 4
36	36	‘‘(c) P
37	37	ROHIBITEDPREPARATION BYSECRETARY.— 5
38	38	‘‘(1) I
39	39	N GENERAL.—Except as provided in sec-6
40	40	tion 6014 and subsections (a) and (b) of this sec-7
41	41	tion, the Secretary shall not prepare any return of 8
42	42	tax imposed by this title or any claim for refund of 9
43	43	tax imposed by this title. 10
44	44	‘‘(2) P
45	45	ROHIBITION OF DIRECT FILE AND COM -11
46	46	PARABLE PROGRAMS .—For purposes of paragraph 12
47	47	(1), any return or claim for refund prepared using 13
48	48	an electronic tax preparation service operated by the 14
49	49	Secretary shall be treated as if such return or claim 15
50	50	were prepared by the Secretary. 16
51	51	‘‘(3) Q
52	52	UALIFIED RETURN PREPARATION PRO -17
53	53	GRAMS AND IRS FREE FILE PARTNERSHIP .—Para-18
54	54	graph (2) shall not apply to any return or claim for 19
55	55	refund solely because such return or claim for re-20
56	56	fund was prepared via, or with the assistance of— 21
57	57	‘‘(A) a qualified return preparation pro-22
58	58	gram (as defined in section 7526A(e)), or 23
59	59	‘‘(B) the IRS Free File Program as estab-24
60	60	lished by the Internal Revenue Service and pub-25
61	61	lished in the Federal Register on November 4, 26
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64	64	•S 96 IS
65	65	2002 (67 Fed. Reg. 67247), including any sub-1
66	66	sequent agreements and governing rules estab-2
67	67	lished pursuant thereto. 3
68	68	‘‘(4) D
69	69	EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub-4
70	70	section— 5
71	71	‘‘(A) T
72	72	AX RETURN PREPARATION .— 6
73	73	‘‘(i) I
74	74	N GENERAL.—The term ‘pre-7
75	75	pare’ with respect to any return or claim 8
76	76	for refund means— 9
77	77	‘‘(I) the completion of any form 10
78	78	and schedule needed to compute and 11
79	79	report any tax imposed by this title or 12
80	80	any claim for refund of such a tax, 13
81	81	and 14
82	82	‘‘(II) the filing of any such re-15
83	83	turn or claim for refund, regardless of 16
84	84	whether such return or claim is sub-17
85	85	mitted electronically or on paper. 18
86	86	For purposes of the preceding sentence, 19
87	87	the preparation of any portion of a return 20
88	88	or claim for refund shall be treated as if 21
89	89	it were the preparation of such return or 22
90	90	claim for refund. 23
91	91	‘‘(ii) C
92	92	OMPUTATION AND CORRECTION 24
93	93	OF ERRORS, ETC.— 25
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96	96	•S 96 IS
97	97	‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Such term 1
98	98	shall not include any computation au-2
99	99	thorized by section 6102 or any other 3
100	100	computation or correction of mathe-4
101	101	matical or clerical errors required or 5
102	102	authorized by any provision of chapter 6
103	103	63. 7
104	104	‘‘(II) F
105	105	ILLABLE FORMS.—Such 8
106	106	term shall not include the provision of 9
107	107	fillable forms by the Secretary merely 10
108	108	because such forms include an auto-11
109	109	mated calculation feature. 12
110	110	‘‘(B) E
111	111	LECTRONIC TAX PREPARATION 13
112	112	SERVICE.—The term ‘electronic tax preparation 14
113	113	service operated by the Secretary’ means the 15
114	114	free direct e-file tax return system as estab-16
115	115	lished by the Internal Revenue Service and pub-17
116	116	lished in the Federal Register on December 15, 18
117	117	2023 (88 Fed. Reg. 87057), and September 5, 19
118	118	2024 (89 Fed. Reg. 72699), and any successor 20
119	119	program of the Internal Revenue Service which 21
120	120	provides an electronic tax preparation service 22
121	121	option.’’. 23
122	122	(b) E
123	123	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 24
124	124	this section shall apply to returns filed after the date 25
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127	127	•S 96 IS
128	128	which is 30 days after the date of the enactment of this 1
129	129	Act. 2
130	130	(c) N
131	131	OINFERENCE.—The amendment made by this 3
132	132	section shall not be construed to create any inference with 4
133	133	respect to the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury 5
134	134	(or any delegate of such Secretary) to develop and offer 6
135	135	for use any electronic tax filing or tax preparation service 7
136	136	option, or otherwise engage in the preparation of any re-8
137	137	turn of tax or any claim for refund of tax imposed by the 9
138	138	Internal Revenue Code of 1986, with respect to any tax-10
139	139	able year beginning on or before the date of the enactment 11
140	140	of this Act. 12
141	141	SEC. 3. LIMITATION ON FURTHER EXPENDITURES CIRCUM-13
142	142	VENTING CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORITY. 14
143	143	The Secretary of the Treasury (or any delegate of 15
144	144	such Secretary) may not award or make payment of 16
145	145	grants or enter into or maintain any contract, other trans-17
146	146	action, or reimbursable agreement for the development or 18
147	147	operation of an electronic tax preparation service option 19
148	148	after the date of the enactment of this Act unless other-20
149	149	wise authorized by law. 21
150	150	Æ
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