II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3660 

To require electronically prepared tax returns to include scannable code when 

submitted on paper, and to require the use of optical character recognition technology for paper documents received by the Internal Revenue 

Service. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25, 2024 

Mr. CARPER (for himself and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To require electronically prepared tax returns to include 

scannable code when submitted on paper, and to require 

the use of optical character recognition technology for 

paper documents received 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. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Barcode Automation 

5 for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and En6 hance Efficiency Act’’ or the ‘‘BARCODE Efficiency 

7 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRE ELECTRONICALLY PREPARED PAPER RE2 TURNS INCLUDE SCANNABLE CODE; SCAN3 NING AND DIGITIZATION OF TAX RETURNS 

4 AND CORRESPONDENCE. 

5 (a) RETURNS PREPARED ELECTRONICALLY AND

6 SUBMITTED ON PAPER.—With respect to any Federal tax 

7 return which is prepared electronically, but is printed and 

8 filed on paper— 

9 (1) such return shall bear a code which, when 

10 scanned, converts the data included in such return 

11 to electronic format, and 

12 (2) subject to subsection (b)(1)(B), the Internal 

13 Revenue Service shall use barcode scanning tech14 nology to convert the data included in such returns 

15 to electronic format. 

16 (b) OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION SOFT17 WARE.—With respect to— 

18 (1) any Federal tax return which— 

19 (A) is not prepared electronically and is 

20 printed and filed on paper, or 

21 (B) is described in subsection (a)(1) but, 

22 for any reason, the data included in such return 

23 cannot be accurately converted into electronic 

24 format, or 

25 (2) any correspondence which is received by the 

26 Internal Revenue Service in a paper form, 


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1 the Internal Revenue Service shall use optical character 

2 recognition technology (or any functionally similar tech3 nology) to transcribe such return or correspondence. 

4 (c) EXCEPTION.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a)(2) or (b) 

6 shall not apply to the extent that the Secretary of 

7 the Treasury or the Secretary’s delegate determines 

8 that the technology described in such subsection is 

9 slower or less reliable than the process of manually 

10 transcribing returns or correspondence received in a 

11 paper form. 

12 (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Any exception to 

13 the application of subsection (a)(2) or (b) pursuant 

14 to paragraph (1) shall not take effect until after the 

15 date on which the Secretary provides a report to the 

16 Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 

17 Representatives and the Committee on Finance of 

18 the Senate regarding the determination made by the 

19 Secretary under such paragraph. 

20 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply to— 

21 (1) any individual income tax return (as defined 

22 in section 6011(e)(3)(C) of the Internal Revenue 

23 Code of 1986) received after December 31, 2023, 

24 and 


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1 (2) any other return or correspondence received 

2 after December 31, 2025. 

Æ 


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