IIB 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3832 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 17, 2016 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

AN ACT 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent 

tax-related identity theft and tax fraud, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

HR 3832 RFS

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stolen Identity Refund 

3 Fraud Prevention Act of 2016’’. 

4 SEC. 2. CENTRALIZED POINT OF CONTACT FOR IDENTITY 

5 THEFT VICTIMS. 

6 The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s del7 egate, shall establish and maintain an office at the Inter8 nal Revenue Service and procedures to ensure that any 

9 taxpayer whose return has been delayed or otherwise ad10 versely affected due to the theft of the taxpayer’s identity 

11 has a centralized point of contact throughout the proc12 essing of his or her case. The office shall coordinate with 

13 other offices within the Internal Revenue Service to resolve 

14 the taxpayer’s case as quickly as possible. 

15 SEC. 3. TAXPAYER NOTIFICATION OF SUSPECTED IDENTITY 

16 THEFT. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev18 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

19 following new section: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 7529. NOTIFICATION OF SUSPECTED IDENTITY 

21 THEFT. 

22 ‘‘If the Secretary determines that there was an unau23 thorized use of the identity of any taxpayer, the Secretary 

24 shall— 

25 ‘‘(1) as soon as practicable and without jeop26 ardizing an investigation relating to tax administraVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 May 17, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3832.RFS H3832

srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

HR 3832 RFS

1 tion, notify the taxpayer and include with that no2 tice— 

3 ‘‘(A) instructions to the taxpayer about fil4 ing a police report; and 

5 ‘‘(B) the forms the taxpayer must submit 

6 to allow investigating law enforcement officials 

7 to access the taxpayer’s personal information; 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(2) if any person is criminally charged by in10 dictment or information relating to such unauthor11 ized use, notify such taxpayer as soon as practicable 

12 of such charge.’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for chapter 77 of such Code is amended by adding at the 

15 end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 7529. Notification of suspected identity theft.’’. 

16 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 this section shall apply to determinations made after the 

18 date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 SEC. 4. REPORT ON ELECTRONIC FILING OPT OUT. 

20 The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s 

21 delegate) shall submit a feasibility study to the Committee 

22 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and 

23 the Committee on Finance of the Senate describing a pro24 gram under which a person who has filed an identity theft 

25 affidavit with the Secretary may elect to prevent the procVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 May 17, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3832.RFS H3832

srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

HR 3832 RFS

1 essing of any Federal tax return submitted in an electronic 

2 format by that taxpayer or a person purporting to be that 

3 taxpayer. The study shall be submitted within 180 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act and should 

5 also include a recommendation on whether to implement 

6 such a program. 

7 SEC. 5. USE OF INFORMATION IN DO NOT PAY INITIATIVE 

8 IN PREVENTION OF IDENTITY THEFT RE9 FUND FRAUD. 

10 The Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary’s 

11 delegate, shall use the information available under the Do 

12 Not Pay Initiative established under section 5 of the Im13 proper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement 

14 Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) to help prevent identity 

15 theft refund fraud. 

16 SEC. 6. REPORT ON IDENTITY THEFT REFUND FRAUD. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than September 30, 

18 2018, and biannually thereafter through September 30, 

19 2023, the Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s 

20 delegate) shall report to the Committee on Ways and 

21 Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

22 on Finance of the Senate on the extent and nature of 

23 fraud involving the use of a misappropriated taxpayer 

24 identity with respect to claims for refund under the Inter25 nal Revenue Code of 1986 during the preceding completed 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

HR 3832 RFS

1 income tax filing season, and the detection, prevention, 

2 and enforcement activities undertaken by the Internal 

3 Revenue Service with respect to such fraud, including— 

4 (1) detailing efforts to combat identity theft 

5 fraud, including an update on the victims’ assistance 

6 unit; 

7 (2) information on both the average and max8 imum amounts of time that elapsed before the cases 

9 of victims of such fraud were resolved; and 

10 (3) discussing Internal Revenue Service efforts 

11 associated with other avenues for addressing identity 

12 theft refund fraud. 

13 (b) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS.—In addition, each 

14 report shall provide an update on the implementation of 

15 this Act and identify the need for any further legislation 

16 to protect taxpayer identities. 

17 (c) PROGRESS ON OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.—In 

18 the first biannual report on identity theft refund fraud 

19 under subsection (a), the Secretary (or the Secretary’s del20 egate) shall include— 

21 (1) an assessment of the agency’s progress on 

22 identity theft outreach and education to the private 

23 sector, State agencies, and external organizations; 

24 and 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

HR 3832 RFS

1 (2) the results of a feasibility study on the costs 

2 and benefits to enhancing its taxpayer authentica3 tion approach to the electronic tax return filing 

4 process. 

5 SEC. 7. INFORMATION SHARING AND ANALYSIS CENTER. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary (or the Secretary’s 

7 delegate) shall establish an information sharing and anal8 ysis center to centralize, standardize, and enhance data 

9 compilation and analysis to facilitate sharing actionable 

10 data and information with respect to identity theft. 

11 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after establish12 ment of the information sharing and analysis center, the 

13 Secretary (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall submit a re14 port to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 

15 of Representatives and Committee on Finance of the Sen16 ate on the information sharing and analysis center de17 scribed in subsection (a). The report shall include the data 

18 that was shared, the use of such data, and the results of 

19 the data sharing and analysis center in combating identity 

20 theft. 

21 SEC. 8. LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT LIAISON. 

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner of Inter23 nal Revenue shall establish within the Criminal Investiga24 tion Division of the Internal Revenue Service the position 

25 of Local Law Enforcement Liaison. 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

HR 3832 RFS

1 (b) DUTIES.—The Local Law Enforcement Liaison 

2 shall serve as the primary source of contact for State and 

3 local law enforcement authorities with respect to tax-re4 lated identity theft, having duties that shall include— 

5 (1) receiving information from State and local 

6 law enforcement authorities; 

7 (2) responding to inquiries from State and local 

8 law enforcement authorities; 

9 (3) administering authorized information-shar10 ing initiatives with State or local law enforcement 

11 authorities and reviewing the performance of such 

12 initiatives; 

13 (4) ensuring any information provided through 

14 authorized information-sharing initiatives with State 

15 or local law enforcement authorities is used only for 

16 the prosecution of identity theft-related crimes and 

17 not re-disclosed to third parties; and 

18 (5) such other duties relating to tax-related 

19 identity theft prevention as are delegated by the 

20 Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 

21 SEC. 9. IRS PHONE SCAM REPORT. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 

23 date of the enactment of this Act, the Inspector General 

24 for Tax Administration, in consultation with the Federal 

25 Communications Commission and the Federal Trade ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:15 May 17, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3832.RFS H3832

srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

HR 3832 RFS

1 mission, shall submit a report to Congress regarding iden2 tity theft phone scams under which individuals attempt 

3 to obtain personal information over the phone from tax4 payers by falsely claiming to be calling from or on behalf 

5 the Internal Revenue Service. 

6 (b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Such report shall in7 clude— 

8 (1) a description of the nature and form of such 

9 scams; 

10 (2) an estimate of the number of taxpayers con11 tacted pursuant to, and the number of taxpayers 

12 who have been victims of, such scams; 

13 (3) an estimate of the amount of wrongful pay14 ments obtained from such scams; and 

15 (4) details of potential solutions to combat and 

16 prevent such scams, including best practices from 

17 the private sector and technological solutions. 

18 SEC. 10. PROVIDING IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION INFOR19 MATION WHILE ON HOLD WITH INTERNAL 

20 REVENUE SERVICE. 

21 The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s del22 egate, shall ensure that if a taxpayer is on hold with the 

23 Internal Revenue Service on a taxpayer service telephone 

24 call the following information is provided: 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

HR 3832 RFS

1 (1) Basic information about common identity 

2 theft tax scams. 

3 (2) Directions on where to report such activity. 

4 (3) Tips on how to protect against identity 

5 theft tax scams. 

6 SEC. 11. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

7 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

8 requirements of this Act and the amendments made by 

9 this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 

10 amounts otherwise authorized. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 16, 2016. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS