II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5280 

To improve services provided to taxpayers by the Internal Revenue Service. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Mr. WARNER (for himself and Mr. CASSIDY) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To improve services provided to taxpayers by the Internal 

Revenue Service. 

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 ‘‘Improving IRS Customer Service Act’’. 

6 (b) REFERENCES TO SECRETARY.—For purposes of 

7 this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of the 

8 Treasury or the Secretary’s delegate. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF DASHBOARD TO INFORM TAX2 PAYERS OF BACKLOGS AND WAIT TIMES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—If, for any week beginning on or 

4 after the date which is 180 days after the date of enact5 ment of this Act, there is a significant delay with respect 

6 to any applicable item or applicable phone number, the 

7 Secretary shall require the Internal Revenue Service to 

8 provide on its public website, during the following week, 

9 the following information: 

10 (1) Separately for each such applicable item, 

11 the average date on which any such applicable items 

12 processed during the preceding week were received 

13 by the Internal Revenue Service. 

14 (2) Separately with respect to each such appli15 cable phone number— 

16 (A) the percentage of callers during such 

17 period who were able to speak directly with an 

18 Internal Revenue Service employee, 

19 (B) the total number of callers described in 

20 subparagraph (A), and 

21 (C) with respect to each such phone num22 ber— 

23 (i) the current estimated wait time to 

24 speak directly with an Internal Revenue 

25 Service employee, 


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1 (ii) the median wait time to speak di2 rectly with an Internal Revenue Service 

3 employee, 

4 (iii) the time of day with the shortest 

5 wait time to speak directly with an Inter6 nal Revenue Service employee, and 

7 (iv) whether such number employs 

8 callback service for any calls made by tax9 payers to such number which are not an10 swered, and the average time for such call11 backs to be made. 

12 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

13 (1) APPLICABLE ITEM.—The term ‘‘applicable 

14 item’’ means each category of tax return, claim, 

15 statement, or other document filed with the Internal 

16 Revenue Service. 

17 (2) APPLICABLE PHONE NUMBER.—The term 

18 ‘‘applicable phone number’’ means any toll-free 

19 phone number which is listed by the Internal Rev20 enue Service on any website, publication, form, or 

21 instruction which is available to the public and— 

22 (A) operated by the Internal Revenue Serv23 ice accounts management function, 

24 (B) operated by the Internal Revenue 

25 Service automated collection function, 


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1 (C) managed by the Internal Revenue 

2 Service Joint Operations Center, or 

3 (D) received not less than 200,000 calls 

4 during the preceding calendar year. 

5 (3) SIGNIFICANT DELAY.— 

6 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘significant 

7 delay’’ means— 

8 (i) in the case of any applicable item 

9 for any week, the failure to process all of 

10 such applicable items which were received 

11 by the Internal Revenue Service at least 21 

12 days before the first day of the week, and 

13 (ii) in the case of an applicable phone 

14 number for any week, the failure to answer 

15 30 percent or more of the calls to such 

16 number during such week. 

17 (B) ANSWERED CALLS.—For purposes of 

18 subparagraph (A)(ii)— 

19 (i) a phone call shall be deemed to 

20 have been answered if the caller is— 

21 (I) connected to an individual or 

22 an automated system, and 

23 (II) provided information rel24 evant to their specific inquiry, and 


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1 (ii) a phone call shall be deemed to 

2 have not been answered if— 

3 (I) the caller receives an auto4 mated response which is provided to 

5 all callers and is not specific to their 

6 inquiry, or 

7 (II) the call is disconnected or 

8 terminated prior to the information 

9 described in clause (i)(II) being fully 

10 provided to the caller. 

11 SEC. 3. EXPANSION OF ELECTRONIC ACCESS TO INFORMA12 TION ABOUT RETURNS AND REFUNDS. 

13 Not later than January 1 of the first calendar year 

14 beginning more than 12 months after the date of enact15 ment of this Act, through a website or mobile application, 

16 the Secretary shall provide individualized, specific, and up17 to-date information to taxpayers regarding their tax re18 turns and amended returns, including information with re19 spect to whether the Internal Revenue Service has— 

20 (1) received such return and entered such re21 turn into their systems, 

22 (2) completed processing such return, includ23 ing— 


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1 (A) the date on which the Internal Rev2 enue Service issued any refund of any overpay3 ment of tax, or 

4 (B) the estimated date on which the tax5 payer can expect to receive such refund, or 

6 (3) suspended processing such return, includ7 ing— 

8 (A) the reason for the suspension, and 

9 (B) in the case of any information which 

10 was requested by the Internal Revenue Serv11 ice— 

12 (i) the information requested, 

13 (ii) the form and manner for submis14 sion of such information, and 

15 (iii) the date on which such informa16 tion is due to be submitted to the Internal 

17 Revenue Service. 

18 SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF CALLBACK TECHNOLOGY AND ON19 LINE ACCOUNTS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1 of the 

21 first calendar year beginning more than 12 months after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 

23 (1) with respect to any applicable phone num24 ber (as defined in section 2(b)(2)), employ callback 


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1 service for any calls made by taxpayers to such num2 ber which are not answered within 10 minutes, and 

3 (2) make available a website or mobile applica4 tion which allows any taxpayer the ability to— 

5 (A) in a manner consistent with any appli6 cable limitations under section 6103 of the In7 ternal Revenue Code of 1986, view any return 

8 (as defined in section 6103(b)(1) of the Inter9 nal Revenue Code of 1986), document, notice, 

10 or letter (with the exception of any educational 

11 item which has no legal effect) which, during 

12 the preceding 6-year period, has been— 

13 (i) sent by the Internal Revenue Serv14 ice to such taxpayer, or 

15 (ii) filed with (or, in the case of any 

16 document not required to be filed, sent to) 

17 the Internal Revenue Service— 

18 (I) by such taxpayer, 

19 (II) by a person described in sub20 section (c) of section 6103 of the In21 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 with re22 spect to such taxpayer, or 

23 (III) with respect to such tax24 payer in a manner described in sub25 section (e) of such section, 


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1 (B) with respect to any document, notice, 

2 or letter sent to such taxpayer by the Internal 

3 Revenue Service, respond to such document, no4 tice, or letter by uploading or otherwise trans5 mitting the taxpayer’s response through the 

6 website or mobile application, and 

7 (C) in the case of— 

8 (i) any representative of such tax9 payer who is authorized to practice before 

10 the Department of the Treasury pursuant 

11 to section 330 of title 31, United States 

12 Code, or 

13 (ii) any tax return preparer (as de14 fined in section 7701(a)(36) of the Inter15 nal Revenue Code of 1986) with an identi16 fying number (as described in section 

17 6109(a)(4) of such Code), 

18 permit such representative or preparer, to the 

19 extent authorized by the taxpayer, to access the 

20 information described in subparagraph (A) or 

21 transmit any information described in subpara22 graph (B). 

23 (b) AVAILABILITY FOR VIEWING.—With respect to 

24 any return, document, notice, or letter described in sub25 paragraph (A) of subsection (a)(2), such return, docuVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Oct 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5280.IS S5280

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1 ment, notice, or letter shall be made available for viewing 

2 by the taxpayer (or, pursuant to subparagraph (C) of such 

3 subsection, any representative or tax return preparer au4 thorized by the taxpayer) as soon as is practicable and 

5 within such periods as are established pursuant to regula6 tions prescribed by the Secretary. 

7 (c) ACCESS TO MULTIPLE ACCOUNTS BY REP8 RESENTATIVE OR PREPARER.—For purposes of sub9 section (a)(2)(B), the website or mobile application shall 

10 allow a representative or tax return preparer to be able 

11 to access information for multiple taxpayers who have pro12 vided permission under such subsection without any re13 quirement to individually and separately access the ac14 count of each such taxpayer. 

15 SEC. 5. INDIVIDUALS FACING ECONOMIC HARDSHIPS IN16 FORMED OF COLLECTION ALTERNATIVES. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 

19 (1) establish a program to identify taxpayers 

20 who— 

21 (A) are reasonably likely to be experiencing 

22 an economic hardship, and 

23 (B) have an unpaid tax liability, and 

24 (2) in the case of any taxpayer described in 

25 paragraph (1) who requests to enter into an agreeVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Oct 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5280.IS S5280

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1 ment described in section 6159(a) of the Internal 

2 Revenue Code of 1986, provide such taxpayer with 

3 information regarding other options which the Inter4 nal Revenue Service makes available to taxpayers 

5 who have an unpaid tax liability and are experi6 encing an economic hardship. 

7 (b) EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a)(2) shall not apply 

8 in the case of a taxpayer who requests to enter into an 

9 agreement described in section 6159(a) of the Internal 

10 Revenue Code of 1986 for partial collection of a tax liabil11 ity. 

12 (c) ECONOMIC HARDSHIP.—For purposes of this sec13 tion, in determining whether a taxpayer is reasonably like14 ly to be experiencing an economic hardship, such deter15 mination shall be made in the same manner as determined 

16 under section 6343(a)(1)(D) of the Internal Revenue Code 

17 of 1986 based on— 

18 (1) the most recent income data which the Sec19 retary has received from a return or a report from, 

20 or with respect to, such taxpayer, and 

21 (2) the schedules described in section 

22 7122(d)(2)(A) of such Code. 

23 (d) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 

24 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, in consultation 

25 with the National Taxpayer Advocate, shall submit a reVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 Oct 17, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5280.IS S5280

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1 port to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 

2 of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the 

3 Senate regarding— 

4 (1) the accuracy of the Internal Revenue Serv5 ice with respect to identifying taxpayers who are 

6 reasonably likely to be experiencing an economic 

7 hardship under subsection (a)(1), and 

8 (2) whether such identification procedures may 

9 be appropriately applied for other purposes. 

Æ 


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