The U.S. Senate Finance Committee recently advanced legislation that requires the IRS to accept and process all returns and amended returns electronically.
The Taxpayer Assistance and Service (TAS) Act also requires the IRS to digitize both returns and correspondence using optical character recognition or similar technology. It includes more than 60 bipartisan reforms to improve the taxpayer experience including recommendations from the National Taxpayer Advocate and Finance Committee members on both sides of the aisle.
Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) released statements following the committee vote.
“This product reflects years of bipartisan efforts to translate stories of casework frustrations into tangible fixes designed to make the IRS work more efficiently for the American people,” Crapo said. “I thank Senator Wyden and members of the Committee for their partnership in this effort and look forward to advancing this comprehensive, bipartisan bill.”
“Today the Finance Committee took an important step towards common sense reforms that will protect taxpayers and modernize the IRS,” Wyden said. “I look forward to getting them signed into law so American taxpayers are no longer scammed by shady tax prep schemes and will get help filing their taxes. This marks a key step towards restoring fairness to the tax system.”