II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 606 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent taxpayer identity 

theft and tax refund fraud, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 9, 2017 

Mr. NELSON (for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CASEY, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent 

taxpayer identity theft and tax refund 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; ETC. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Identity Theft and Tax Fraud Prevention Act of 2017’’. 

6 (b) AMENDMENT OF 1986 CODE.—Except as other7 wise expressly provided, whenever in this Act an amend8 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment 

9 to, or repeal of, a section or other provision, the reference 


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1 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi2 sion of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

3 (c) SECRETARY.—In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ 

4 means the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s 

5 delegate. 

6 (d) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; etc. 

TITLE I—IDENTITY THEFT AND TAX REFUND FRAUD 

PREVENTION 

Subtitle A—General Provisions 

Sec. 101. Guidelines for stolen identity refund fraud cases. 

Sec. 102. Criminal penalty for misappropriating taxpayer identity in connection 

with tax fraud. 

Sec. 103. Increased penalty for improper disclosure or use of information by 

preparers of returns. 

Sec. 104. Notification of suspected identity theft. 

Sec. 105. Local law enforcement liaison. 

Subtitle B—Administrative Authority To Prevent Identity Theft and Tax 

Refund Fraud 

Sec. 111. Authority to transfer Internal Revenue Service appropriations to combat tax fraud. 

Sec. 112. Streamlined critical pay authority for information technology positions. 

Sec. 113. Access to the National Directory of New Hires for tax administration 

purposes. 

Sec. 114. Use of information in Do Not Pay Initiative in prevention of identity 

theft refund fraud. 

Sec. 115. Minimum standards for professional tax preparers. 

Sec. 116. Sense of the Senate on strengthened penalties and enforcement for 

impersonating an IRS official or agent. 

Subtitle C—Reports 

Sec. 121. IRS Report on stolen identity refund fraud. 

Sec. 122. Report on status of the Identity Theft Tax Refund Fraud Information Sharing and Analysis Center. 

Sec. 123. Report on IRS imposter phone scam. 

TITLE II—IMPROVEMENTS TO ELECTRONIC FILING OF TAX 

RETURNS 

Sec. 201. Study on feasibility of blocking electronically filed tax returns. 

Sec. 202. Enhancements to IRS PIN Program. 


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Sec. 203. Increasing electronic filing of returns. 

Sec. 204. Internet platform for Form 1099 filings. 

Sec. 205. Requirement that electronically prepared paper returns include scannable code. 

Sec. 206. Authentication of users of electronic services accounts. 

1 TITLE I—IDENTITY THEFT AND 

2 TAX REFUND FRAUD PREVEN3 TION 

4 Subtitle A—General Provisions 

5 SEC. 101. GUIDELINES FOR STOLEN IDENTITY REFUND 

6 FRAUD CASES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 6 months after the 

8 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in con9 sultation with the National Taxpayer Advocate, shall de10 velop and implement publicly available guidelines for man11 agement of cases involving stolen identity refund fraud in 

12 a manner that reduces the administrative burden on tax13 payers who are victims of such fraud. 

14 (b) STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES TO BE CONSID15 ERED.—The guidelines described in subsection (a) may in16 clude— 

17 (1) standards for— 

18 (A) the average length of time in which a 

19 case involving stolen identity refund fraud 

20 should be resolved, 

21 (B) the maximum length of time, on aver22 age, a taxpayer who is a victim of stolen iden23 tity refund fraud and is entitled to a tax refund 


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1 which has been stolen should have to wait to re2 ceive such refund, and 

3 (C) the maximum number of offices and 

4 employees within the Internal Revenue Service 

5 with whom a taxpayer who is a victim of stolen 

6 identity refund fraud should be required to 

7 interact in order to resolve a case, 

8 (2) standards for opening, assigning, reas9 signing, or closing a case involving stolen identity re10 fund fraud, and 

11 (3) procedures for implementing and accom12 plishing the standards described in paragraphs (1) 

13 and (2), and measures for evaluating such proce14 dures and determining whether such standards have 

15 been successfully implemented. 

16 SEC. 102. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR MISAPPROPRIATING 

17 TAXPAYER IDENTITY IN CONNECTION WITH 

18 TAX FRAUD. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7206 is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘Any person’’ and inserting the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any person’’, and 

23 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub24 section: 


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1 ‘‘(b) MISAPPROPRIATION OF IDENTITY.—Any person 

2 who willfully misappropriates another person’s taxpayer 

3 identity (as defined in section 6103(b)(6)) for the purpose 

4 of making any list, return, account, statement, or other 

5 document submitted to the Secretary under the provisions 

6 of this title shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction 

7 thereof, shall be fined not more than $250,000 ($500,000 

8 in the case of a corporation) or imprisoned not more than 

9 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.’’. 

10 (b) IDENTITY PROTECTION PERSONAL IDENTIFICA11 TION NUMBER.—Section 6109 is amended by inserting 

12 after subsection (d) the following new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(e) IDENTITY PROTECTION PERSONAL IDENTIFICA14 TION NUMBER.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec16 tion, the term ‘identifying number’ shall include an 

17 identity protection personal identification number, as 

18 defined in paragraph (2). 

19 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—The term ‘identity protec20 tion personal identification number’ means a number 

21 assigned by the Secretary to a taxpayer to help pre22 vent the misuse of the social security account num23 ber of the taxpayer on fraudulent Federal income 

24 tax returns and to assist the Secretary in verifying 

25 a taxpayer’s identity.’’. 


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

2 subsection (a) shall apply to offenses committed on or 

3 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 103. INCREASED PENALTY FOR IMPROPER DISCLO5 SURE OR USE OF INFORMATION BY PRE6 PARERS OF RETURNS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6713 is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 

9 subsections (c) and (d), respectively, and 

10 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol11 lowing new subsection: 

12 ‘‘(b) ENHANCED PENALTY FOR IMPROPER USE OR

13 DISCLOSURE RELATING TO IDENTITY THEFT.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a disclosure 

15 or use described in subsection (a) that is made in 

16 connection with a crime relating to the misappro17 priation of another person’s taxpayer identity (as de18 fined in section 6103(b)(6)), whether or not such 

19 crime involves any tax filing, subsection (a) shall be 

20 applied— 

21 ‘‘(A) by substituting ‘$1,000’ for ‘$250’, 

22 and 

23 ‘‘(B) by substituting ‘$50,000’ for 

24 ‘$10,000’. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SEPARATE APPLICATION OF TOTAL PEN2 ALTY LIMITATION.—The limitation on the total 

3 amount of the penalty under subsection (a) shall be 

4 applied separately with respect to disclosures or uses 

5 to which this subsection applies and to which it does 

6 not apply.’’. 

7 (b) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Section 7216(a) is amend8 ed by striking ‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$1,000 ($100,000 

9 in the case of a disclosure or use to which section 6713(b) 

10 applies)’’. 

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

12 this section shall apply to disclosures or uses on or after 

13 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 104. NOTIFICATION OF SUSPECTED IDENTITY THEFT. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 is amended by adding 

16 at the end the following new section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 7529. NOTIFICATION OF SUSPECTED IDENTITY 

18 THEFT. 

19 ‘‘If the Secretary determines that there has been or 

20 may have been an unauthorized use of the identity of any 

21 individual, the Secretary shall, without jeopardizing an in22 vestigation relating to tax administration— 

23 ‘‘(1) as soon as practicable, notify the indi24 vidual of such determination and provide— 


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1 ‘‘(A) instructions on how to file a report 

2 with law enforcement regarding the unauthor3 ized use of the identity of the individual, 

4 ‘‘(B) the identification of any forms nec5 essary for the individual to complete and submit 

6 to law enforcement to permit access to personal 

7 information of the individual during the inves8 tigation, 

9 ‘‘(C) information regarding actions the in10 dividual may take in order to protect the indi11 vidual from harm relating to such unauthorized 

12 use, and 

13 ‘‘(D) an offer of identity protection meas14 ures to be provided to the individual by the In15 ternal Revenue Service, such as the use of an 

16 identity protection personal identification num17 ber (as defined in section 6109(e)), and 

18 ‘‘(2) at the time the information described in 

19 paragraph (1) is provided (or, if not available at 

20 such time, as soon as practicable thereafter), issue 

21 additional notifications to such individual (or such 

22 individual’s designee) regarding— 

23 ‘‘(A) whether an investigation has been ini24 tiated in regards to such unauthorized use, 


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1 ‘‘(B) whether the investigation substan2 tiated an unauthorized use of the identity of the 

3 individual, and 

4 ‘‘(C) whether— 

5 ‘‘(i) any action has been taken against 

6 a person relating to such unauthorized use, 

7 or 

8 ‘‘(ii) any referral has been made for 

9 criminal prosecution of such person and, to 

10 the extent such information is available, 

11 whether such person has been criminally 

12 charged by indictment or information.’’. 

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

14 for chapter 77 is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing 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. 105. LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT LIAISON. 

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner of Inter21 nal Revenue shall establish within the Criminal Investiga22 tion Division of the Internal Revenue Service the position 

23 of Local Law Enforcement Liaison. 

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

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


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1 local law enforcement authorities with respect to tax-re2 lated identity theft and other tax fraud matters, having 

3 duties that shall include— 

4 (1) receiving information from State and local 

5 law enforcement authorities, 

6 (2) responding to inquiries from State and local 

7 law enforcement authorities, 

8 (3) administering authorized information-shar9 ing initiatives with State or local law enforcement 

10 authorities and reviewing the performance of such 

11 initiatives, 

12 (4) ensuring any information provided through 

13 authorized information-sharing initiatives with State 

14 or local law enforcement authorities is used only for 

15 the prosecution of identity theft-related crimes and 

16 not re-disclosed to third parties, and 

17 (5) any other duties as delegated by the Com18 missioner of Internal Revenue. 


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1 Subtitle B—Administrative Author2 ity To Prevent Identity Theft 

3 and Tax Refund Fraud 

4 SEC. 111. AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER INTERNAL REVENUE 

5 SERVICE APPROPRIATIONS TO COMBAT TAX 

6 FRAUD. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—For any fiscal year, in addition 

8 to any other authority to transfer amounts appropriated 

9 to an Internal Revenue Service account, the Commissioner 

10 of Internal Revenue (referred to in this section as the 

11 ‘‘Commissioner’’) may transfer not more than 

12 $10,000,000 to any account of the Internal Revenue Serv13 ice from amounts appropriated to other Internal Revenue 

14 Service accounts. Any amounts so transferred shall be 

15 used solely for the purposes of preventing, detecting, and 

16 resolving potential cases of tax fraud, which may include 

17 educating taxpayers about common tax fraud scams and 

18 how to protect themselves from such scams. 

19 (b) LIMITATION.—The Commissioner shall not trans20 fer any amounts described in subsection (a) unless the 

21 Commissioner has determined that taxpayer services pro22 vided by the Internal Revenue Service to the public (in23 cluding telephone operations, forms and publications, and 

24 similar types of taxpayer assistance) will not be impaired 

25 by such transfer. 


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1 SEC. 112. STREAMLINED CRITICAL PAY AUTHORITY FOR IN2 FORMATION TECHNOLOGY POSITIONS. 

3 (a) AUTHORITY.—Section 9503(a) of title 5, United 

4 States Code, is amended— 

5 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

6 striking ‘‘the Secretary of the Treasury’’ and all that 

7 follows through ‘‘establish’’ and inserting ‘‘the Sec8 retary of the Treasury may, during the period begin9 ning on the date of the enactment of the Identity 

10 Theft and Tax Fraud Prevention Act of 2017 and 

11 ending on September 30, 2022, establish’’, and 

12 (2) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘the Inter13 nal Revenue Service’s successful accomplishment of 

14 an important mission’’ and inserting ‘‘the 

15 functionality of the information technology oper16 ations of the Internal Revenue Service’’. 

17 (b) RECRUITMENT, RETENTION, RELOCATION IN18 CENTIVES, AND RELOCATION EXPENSES.—Section 9504 

19 of title 5, United States Code, is amended— 

20 (1) in subsection (a)— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘Before September 30, 

22 2013’’ and inserting ‘‘During the period begin23 ning on the date of the enactment of the Iden24 tity Theft and Tax Fraud Prevention Act of 

25 2017 and ending on September 30, 2022’’, and 


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1 (B) by inserting ‘‘for employees holding 

2 positions described in section 9503(a)(1)’’ after 

3 ‘‘incentives’’, and 

4 (2) in subsection (b)— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘Before September 30, 

6 2013’’ and inserting ‘‘During the period begin7 ning on the date of the enactment of the Iden8 tity Theft and Tax Fraud Prevention Act of 

9 2017 and ending on September 30, 2022’’, 

10 (B) by striking ‘‘employees transferred or 

11 reemployed’’ and inserting ‘‘employees holding 

12 positions described in section 9503(a)(1) who 

13 are transferred or reemployed during such pe14 riod’’, and 

15 (C) by striking ‘‘section 9502 or 9503 

16 after June 1, 1998’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

17 9503 during such period’’. 

18 (c) PERFORMANCE AWARDS FOR SENIOR EXECU19 TIVES.—Section 9505(a) of title 5, United States Code, 

20 is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘Before September 30, 2013’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘During the period beginning on the 

23 date of the enactment of the Identity Theft and Tax 

24 Fraud Prevention Act of 2017 and ending on Sep25 tember 30, 2022’’, and 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘significant functions’’ and in2 serting ‘‘the information technology operations’’. 

3 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

4 this section shall apply to payments made on or after the 

5 date of the enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 113. ACCESS TO THE NATIONAL DIRECTORY OF NEW 

7 HIRES FOR TAX ADMINISTRATION PURPOSES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (3) of section 453(i) 

9 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 653(i)) is amended 

10 to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATION OF FEDERAL TAX

12 LAWS.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall have 

13 access to the information in the National Directory 

14 of New Hires solely for purposes of administering 

15 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.’’. 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

17 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

18 of this Act. 

19 SEC. 114. USE OF INFORMATION IN DO NOT PAY INITIATIVE 

20 IN PREVENTION OF IDENTITY THEFT RE21 FUND FRAUD. 

22 The Secretary shall use the information available 

23 under the Do Not Pay Initiative established under section 

24 5 of the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 


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1 Improvement Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) to help 

2 prevent identity theft refund fraud. 

3 SEC. 115. MINIMUM STANDARDS FOR PROFESSIONAL TAX 

4 PREPARERS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 330 of 

6 title 31, United States Code, is amended— 

7 (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the 

8 following: 

9 ‘‘(1) establish minimum standards regulating— 

10 ‘‘(A) the practice of representatives of per11 sons before the Department of the Treasury; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(B) the practice of tax return preparers; 

14 and’’, and 

15 (2) in paragraph (2)— 

16 (A) by inserting ‘‘or tax return preparer’’ 

17 after ‘‘representative’’ each place it appears, 

18 and 

19 (B) by inserting ‘‘or in preparing their tax 

20 returns, claims for refund, or documents in con21 nection with tax returns or claims for refund’’ 

22 after ‘‘cases’’ in subparagraph (D). 

23 (b) AUTHORITY TO SANCTION REGULATED TAX RE24 TURN PREPARERS.—Subsection (b) of section 330 of title 

25 31, United States Code, is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘before the Department’’, 

2 (2) by inserting ‘‘or tax return preparer’’ after 

3 ‘‘representative’’ each place it appears, and 

4 (3) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘misleads or 

5 threatens’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘mis6 leads or threatens— 

7 ‘‘(A) any person being represented or any 

8 prospective person being represented; or 

9 ‘‘(B) any person or prospective person 

10 whose tax return, claim for refund, or document 

11 in connection with a tax return or claim for re12 fund, is being or may be prepared.’’. 

13 (c) TAX RETURN PREPARER DEFINED.—Section 330 

14 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by adding at 

15 the end the following new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(e) TAX RETURN PREPARER.—For purposes of this 

17 section— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘tax return pre19 parer’ has the meaning given such term under sec20 tion 7701(a)(36) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

21 1986. 

22 ‘‘(2) TAX RETURN.—The term ‘tax return’ has 

23 the meaning given to the term ‘return’ under section 

24 6696(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 


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1 ‘‘(3) CLAIM FOR REFUND.—The term ‘claim for 

2 refund’ has the meaning given such term under sec3 tion 6696(e)(2) of such Code.’’. 

4 SEC. 116. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON STRENGTHENED PEN5 ALTIES AND ENFORCEMENT FOR IMPER6 SONATING AN IRS OFFICIAL OR AGENT. 

7 It is the sense of the Senate that the penalties under 

8 section 912 of title 18, United States Code, for imper9 sonating an officer or employee acting under the authority 

10 of the United States should be amended to increase the 

11 penalties for impersonating an official or agent of the In12 ternal Revenue Service and enforced to the fullest extent 

13 of the law. 

14 Subtitle C—Reports 

15 SEC. 121. IRS REPORT ON STOLEN IDENTITY REFUND 

16 FRAUD. 

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

18 2018, and every even-numbered calendar year thereafter 

19 through September 30, 2026, the Secretary shall report 

20 to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 

21 Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the 

22 Senate on the extent and nature of stolen identity refund 

23 fraud under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as based 

24 on the most recent data that is available. 


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1 (b) CONTENTS.—The report described in subsection 

2 (a) shall include— 

3 (1) a discussion of the detection, prevention, 

4 and enforcement activities undertaken by the Inter5 nal Revenue Service with respect to such fraud, in6 cluding— 

7 (A) efforts to combat stolen identity refund 

8 fraud, including an update on the victims’ as9 sistance unit (or any equivalent unit), 

10 (B) an update on Internal Revenue Service 

11 efforts and results associated with limiting mul12 tiple refunds to the same financial account and 

13 physical address, with appropriate exceptions, 

14 and 

15 (C) Internal Revenue Service efforts asso16 ciated with other avenues for addressing stolen 

17 identity refund fraud, 

18 (2) information regarding the average and max19 imum amounts of time that elapsed before resolution 

20 of a victim’s case, 

21 (3) an analysis of ways to accelerate informa22 tion matching in order to prevent stolen identity re23 fund fraud, 


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1 (4) an update on the implementation of the rel2 evant provisions of this Act and the amendments 

3 made by this Act, and 

4 (5) identification of any further legislation to 

5 protect taxpayer resources and information, includ6 ing preventing tax refund fraud related to the Inter7 nal Revenue Service’s e-Services tools and electronic 

8 filing identification numbers. 

9 (c) ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FOR THE FIRST RE10 PORT.—The first report required under this section shall 

11 include— 

12 (1) an assessment of the progress made by the 

13 Internal Revenue Service on identity theft outreach 

14 and education to individuals, businesses, State agen15 cies, and other external organizations, and 

16 (2) the results of a study on the costs and bene17 fits relating to enhancement of the taxpayer authen18 tication approach employed by the Internal Revenue 

19 Service in the electronic tax return filing process. 

20 SEC. 122. REPORT ON STATUS OF THE IDENTITY THEFT TAX 

21 REFUND FRAUD INFORMATION SHARING AND 

22 ANALYSIS CENTER. 

23 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact24 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall report to the ComVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Mar 17, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S606.IS S606

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1 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Representa2 tives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate on— 

3 (1) whether the Identity Theft Tax Refund 

4 Fraud Information Sharing and Analysis Center (re5 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘Center’’) is fully 

6 operational, 

7 (2) if the Center is not fully operational, what 

8 steps are necessary for the Center to be fully oper9 ational and an estimate of when the Center will be 

10 fully operational, and 

11 (3) any challenges that remain for effective 

12 sharing of information between the public and pri13 vate sectors and efforts that are being undertaken to 

14 address such challenges. 

15 SEC. 123. REPORT ON IRS IMPOSTER PHONE SCAM. 

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

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

18 for Tax Administration, in consultation with the Federal 

19 Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Com20 mission, shall submit a report to Congress regarding iden21 tity theft phone scams under which individuals attempt 

22 to obtain personal information over the phone from tax23 payers by falsely claiming to be calling from or on behalf 

24 the Internal Revenue Service. 


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1 (b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Such report shall in2 clude— 

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

4 scams, 

5 (2) an estimate of the number of taxpayers con6 tacted pursuant to, and the number of taxpayers 

7 who have been victims of, such scams, 

8 (3) an estimate of the amount of wrongful pay9 ments obtained from such scams, and 

10 (4) details of potential solutions to combat and 

11 prevent such scams, including best practices from 

12 the private sector and technological solutions. 

13 TITLE II—IMPROVEMENTS TO 

14 ELECTRONIC FILING OF TAX 

15 RETURNS 

16 SEC. 201. STUDY ON FEASIBILITY OF BLOCKING ELEC17 TRONICALLY FILED TAX RETURNS. 

18 Not later than 180 days after the date of the enact19 ment of this Act, the Secretary shall report to the Com20 mittee on Ways and Means of the House of Representa21 tives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate on the 

22 feasibility of implementing a program under which a per23 son who has filed an identity theft affidavit with the Sec24 retary may elect to prevent the processing of any Federal 

25 tax return submitted in an electronic format by anyone 


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1 purporting to be such person, including a recommendation 

2 on whether to implement such a program. 

3 SEC. 202. ENHANCEMENTS TO IRS PIN PROGRAM. 

4 Not later than July 1, 2019, the Secretary shall es5 tablish a program to issue, upon request, an identity pro6 tection personal identification number (as described in sec7 tion 6109(e)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as 

8 added by section 102(b) of this Act)) to any individual 

9 after the individual’s identity has been verified to the sat10 isfaction of the Secretary. 

11 SEC. 203. INCREASING ELECTRONIC FILING OF RETURNS. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

13 6011(e)(2) is amended by striking ‘‘250’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘the applicable number of’’. 

15 (b) APPLICABLE NUMBER.—Subsection (e) of section 

16 6011 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(5) APPLICABLE NUMBER.—For purposes of 

19 paragraph (2)(A), the applicable number is— 

20 ‘‘(A) in the case of returns and statements 

21 relating to calendar years before 2020, 250, 

22 ‘‘(B) in the case of returns and statements 

23 relating to calendar year 2020, 200, 

24 ‘‘(C) in the case of returns and statements 

25 relating to calendar year 2021, 150, 


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1 ‘‘(D) in the case of returns and statements 

2 relating to calendar year 2022, 100, 

3 ‘‘(E) in the case of returns and statements 

4 relating to calendar year 2023, 50, and 

5 ‘‘(F) in the case of returns and statements 

6 relating to calendar years after 2023, 20.’’. 

7 (c) RETURNS FILED BY A TAX RETURN PRE8 PARER.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

10 6011(e)(3) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

12 require that any individual income tax return 

13 which is prepared and filed by a tax return pre14 parer be filed on magnetic media. The Sec15 retary may waive the requirement of the pre16 ceding sentence if the Secretary determines, on 

17 the basis of an application by the tax return 

18 preparer, that the preparer cannot meet such 

19 requirement based on technological constraints 

20 (including lack of access to the Internet).’’. 

21 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (3) 

22 of section 6011(e) is amended by striking subpara23 graph (B) and by redesignating subparagraph (C) as 

24 subparagraph (B). 


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1 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply to returns the due date for which 

3 (determined without regard to extensions) is after Decem4 ber 31, 2018. 

5 SEC. 204. INTERNET PLATFORM FOR FORM 1099 FILINGS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1, 2022, 

7 the Secretary shall make available an Internet website or 

8 other electronic media, similar to the Business Services 

9 Online Suite of Services provided by the Social Security 

10 Administration, that will provide taxpayers access to re11 sources and guidance provided by the Internal Revenue 

12 Service and will allow taxpayers to— 

13 (1) prepare and file Forms 1099, 

14 (2) prepare Forms 1099 for distribution to re15 cipients other than the Internal Revenue Service, 

16 and 

17 (3) create and maintain necessary taxpayer 

18 records. 

19 (b) EARLY IMPLEMENTATION FOR FORMS 1099– 

20 MISC.—Not later than January 1, 2020, the Internet 

21 website under subsection (a) shall be available in a partial 

22 form that will allow taxpayers to take the actions de23 scribed in such subsection with respect to Forms 1099– 

24 MISC required to be filed or distributed by such tax25 payers. 


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1 SEC. 205. REQUIREMENT THAT ELECTRONICALLY PRE2 PARED PAPER RETURNS INCLUDE SCAN3 NABLE CODE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 6011, as 

5 amended by section 203(b) of this Act, is amended by add6 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULE FOR RETURNS PREPARED

8 ELECTRONICALLY AND SUBMITTED ON PAPER.—The 

9 Secretary shall require that any return of tax which 

10 is prepared electronically, but is printed and filed on 

11 paper, bear a code which can, when scanned, convert 

12 such return to electronic format.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (1) of 

14 section 6011(e) is amended by striking ‘‘paragraph (3)’’ 

15 and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (3) and (6)’’. 

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

17 this section shall apply to returns of tax the due date for 

18 which (determined without regard to extensions) is after 

19 December 31, 2018. 

20 SEC. 206. AUTHENTICATION OF USERS OF ELECTRONIC 

21 SERVICES ACCOUNTS. 

22 Beginning 180 days after the date of the enactment 

23 of this Act, the Secretary shall verify the identity of any 

24 individual opening an e-Services account with the Internal 


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1 Revenue Service before such individual is able to use the 

2 e-Services tools. 

Æ 


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