II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 797 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent the 

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance matching grant program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 30, 2017 

Mr. BROWN (for himself and Mr. HELLER) 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 make 

permanent the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance matching grant program. 

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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Volunteer Income Tax 

5 Assistance Permanence Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. RETURN PREPARATION PROGRAMS FOR LOW-IN7 COME TAXPAYERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 is amended by insert9 ing after section 7526 the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 7526A. RETURN PREPARATION PROGRAMS FOR LOW2 INCOME TAXPAYERS. 

3 ‘‘(a) VOLUNTEER INCOME TAX ASSISTANCE MATCH4 ING GRANT PROGRAM.— 

5 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAM.—The Sec6 retary, through the Internal Revenue Service, shall 

7 establish a Community Volunteer Income Tax As8 sistance Matching Grant Program (hereinafter in 

9 this section referred to as the ‘VITA grant pro10 gram’). Except as otherwise provided in this section, 

11 the VITA grant program shall be administered in a 

12 manner which is substantially similar to the Commu13 nity Volunteer Income Tax Assistance matching 

14 grants demonstration program established under 

15 title I of division D of the Consolidated Appropria16 tions Act, 2008. 

17 ‘‘(2) MATCHING GRANTS.— 

18 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may, 

19 subject to the availability of appropriated funds, 

20 make available grants under the VITA grant 

21 program to provide matching funds for the de22 velopment, expansion, or continuation of quali23 fied return preparation programs assisting low24 income taxpayers and members of underserved 

25 populations. 

26 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

2 (ii), in order to be eligible for a grant 

3 under this section, a qualified return prep4 aration program shall submit an applica5 tion to the Secretary at such time, in such 

6 manner, and containing such information 

7 as the Secretary may reasonably require. 

8 ‘‘(ii) ACCURACY REVIEW.—In the case 

9 of any qualified return preparation pro10 gram which was awarded a grant under 

11 this section and was subsequently subject 

12 to a field site visit by the Internal Revenue 

13 Service (including through the Stakeholder 

14 Partnerships, Education, and Communica15 tion office) in which it was determined that 

16 the average accuracy rate for preparation 

17 of tax returns through such program was 

18 less than 90 percent, such program shall 

19 not be eligible for any additional grants 

20 under this section unless such program 

21 provides, as part of their application, suffi22 cient documentation regarding the correc23 tive measures established by such program 

24 to address the deficiencies identified fol25 lowing the field site visit. 


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1 ‘‘(C) PRIORITY.—In awarding grants 

2 under this section, the Secretary shall give pri3 ority to applications— 

4 ‘‘(i) demonstrating assistance to low5 income taxpayers, with emphasis on out6 reach to and services for such taxpayers, 

7 ‘‘(ii) demonstrating taxpayer outreach 

8 and educational activities relating to eligi9 bility and availability of income supports 

10 available through the Internal Revenue 

11 Code of 1986, such as the earned income 

12 tax credit, and 

13 ‘‘(iii) demonstrating specific outreach 

14 and focus on one or more underserved pop15 ulations. 

16 ‘‘(D) DURATION OF GRANTS.—Upon appli17 cation of a qualified return preparation pro18 gram, the Secretary is authorized to award a 

19 multi-year grant not to exceed 3 years. 

20 ‘‘(3) AGGREGATE LIMITATION.—Unless other21 wise provided by specific appropriation, the Sec22 retary shall not allocate more than $30,000,000 per 

23 fiscal year (exclusive of costs of administering the 

24 program) to carry out the purposes of this section. 

25 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Qualified return prepara2 tion programs receiving a grant under this section 

3 may use the grant for— 

4 ‘‘(A) ordinary and necessary costs associ5 ated with program operation in accordance with 

6 Cost Principles Circulars as set forth by the Of7 fice of Management and Budget, including— 

8 ‘‘(i) for wages or salaries of persons 

9 coordinating the activities of the program, 

10 ‘‘(ii) to develop training materials, 

11 conduct training, and perform quality re12 views of the returns for which assistance 

13 has been provided under the program, and 

14 ‘‘(iii) for equipment purchases and ve15 hicle-related expenses associated with re16 mote or rural tax preparation services, 

17 ‘‘(B) outreach and educational activities 

18 described in subsection (a)(2)(C)(ii), and 

19 ‘‘(C) services related to financial education 

20 and capability, asset development, and the es21 tablishment of savings accounts in connection 

22 with tax return preparation. 

23 ‘‘(2) USE OF GRANTS FOR OVERHEAD EX24 PENSES PROHIBITED.—No grant made under this 

25 section may be used for overhead expenses that are 


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1 not directly related to any qualified return prepara2 tion program. 

3 ‘‘(c) PROMOTION AND REFERRAL.— 

4 ‘‘(1) PROMOTION.—The Secretary shall pro5 mote the benefits of, and encourage the use of, tax 

6 preparation through qualified return preparation 

7 programs through the use of mass communications, 

8 referrals, and other means. 

9 ‘‘(2) INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE REFER10 RALS.—The Secretary may refer taxpayers to quali11 fied return preparation programs receiving funding 

12 under this section. 

13 ‘‘(3) VITA GRANTEE REFERRAL.—Qualified re14 turn preparation programs receiving a grant under 

15 this section are encouraged to refer, as appropriate, 

16 to local or regional Low Income Taxpayer Clinics in17 dividuals who are eligible to receive services at such 

18 clinics. 

19 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

20 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED RETURN PREPARATION PRO21 GRAM.—The term ‘qualified return preparation pro22 gram’ means any program— 

23 ‘‘(A) which provides assistance to individ24 uals, not less than 90 percent of whom are lowVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:18 Apr 06, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S797.IS S797

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1 income taxpayers, in preparing and filing Fed2 eral income tax returns, 

3 ‘‘(B) which is administered by a qualified 

4 entity, 

5 ‘‘(C) in which all of the volunteers who as6 sist in the preparation of Federal income tax 

7 returns meet the training requirements pre8 scribed by the Secretary, and 

9 ‘‘(D) which uses a quality review process 

10 which reviews 100 percent of all returns. 

11 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ENTITY.— 

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

13 entity’ means any entity which— 

14 ‘‘(i) is an eligible organization (as de15 scribed in subparagraph (B)), 

16 ‘‘(ii) is in compliance with Federal tax 

17 filing and payment requirements, 

18 ‘‘(iii) is not debarred or suspended 

19 from Federal contracts, grants, or coopera20 tive agreements, and 

21 ‘‘(iv) agrees to provide documentation 

22 to substantiate any matching funds pro23 vided under the VITA grant program. 

24 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBLE ORGANIZATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause 

2 (ii), the term ‘eligible organization’ 

3 means— 

4 ‘‘(I) an institution of higher edu5 cation which is described in section 

6 102 (other than subsection (a)(1)(C) 

7 thereof) of the Higher Education Act 

8 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1088), as in effect 

9 on the date of the enactment of this 

10 section, and which has not been dis11 qualified from participating in a pro12 gram under title IV of such Act, 

13 ‘‘(II) an organization described 

14 in section 501(c) of the Internal Rev15 enue Code of 1986 and exempt from 

16 tax under section 501(a) of such 

17 Code, 

18 ‘‘(III) a local government agency, 

19 including— 

20 ‘‘(aa) a county or municipal 

21 government agency, and 

22 ‘‘(bb) an Indian tribe, as de23 fined in section 4(13) of the Na24 tive American Housing Assist25 ance and Self-Determination Act 


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1 of 1996 (25 U.S.C. 4103(13)), 

2 including any tribally designated 

3 housing entity (as defined in sec4 tion 4(22) of such Act (25 

5 U.S.C. 4103(22))), tribal sub6 sidiary, subdivision, or other 

7 wholly owned tribal entity, or 

8 ‘‘(IV) a local, State, regional, or 

9 national coalition (with one lead orga10 nization which meets the eligibility re11 quirements of subclause (I), (II), or 

12 (III) acting as the applicant organiza13 tion). 

14 ‘‘(ii) ALTERNATIVE ELIGIBLE ORGANI15 ZATION.—If no eligible organization de16 scribed in clause (i) is available to assist 

17 the targeted population or community, the 

18 term ‘eligible organization’ shall include— 

19 ‘‘(I) a State government agency, 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(II) a Cooperative Extension 

22 Service office. 

23 ‘‘(3) LOW-INCOME TAXPAYERS.—The term ‘low24 income taxpayer’ means a taxpayer who has income 

25 for the taxable year which does not exceed an 


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1 amount equal to the completed phaseout amount 

2 under section 32(b) for a married couple filing a 

3 joint return with three or more qualifying children, 

4 as determined in a revenue procedure or other pub5 lished guidance. 

6 ‘‘(4) UNDERSERVED POPULATION.—The term 

7 ‘underserved population’ includes populations of per8 sons with disabilities, persons with limited English 

9 proficiency, Native Americans, individuals living in 

10 rural areas, members of the Armed Forces and their 

11 spouses, and the elderly.’’. 

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

13 for chapter 77 is amended by inserting after the item re14 lating to section 7526 the following new item: 

‘‘7526A. Return preparation programs for low-income taxpayers.’’. 

Æ 


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