I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 439 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent tax-related identity 

theft and tax fraud, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 11, 2017 

Mr. RENACCI (for himself, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, 

Mr. KILMER, Mr. BUCSHON, Mr. BARLETTA, Mr. DIAZ-BALART, Mr. 

MEEHAN, Mr. COSTELLO of Pennsylvania, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. ROSKAM, 

Mrs. COMSTOCK, Mr. JOYCE of Ohio, and Mr. REICHERT) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Fraud Prevention Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CENTRALIZED POINT OF CONTACT FOR IDENTITY 

2 THEFT VICTIMS. 

3 The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s del4 egate, shall establish and maintain an office at the Inter5 nal Revenue Service and procedures to ensure that any 

6 taxpayer whose return has been delayed or otherwise ad7 versely affected due to the theft of the taxpayer’s identity 

8 has a centralized point of contact throughout the proc9 essing of his or her case. The office shall coordinate with 

10 other offices within the Internal Revenue Service to resolve 

11 the taxpayer’s case as quickly as possible. 

12 SEC. 3. TAXPAYER NOTIFICATION OF SUSPECTED IDENTITY 

13 THEFT. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev15 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

16 following new section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 7529. NOTIFICATION OF SUSPECTED IDENTITY 

18 THEFT. 

19 ‘‘If the Secretary determines that there was an unau20 thorized use of the identity of any taxpayer, the Secretary 

21 shall— 

22 ‘‘(1) as soon as practicable and without jeop23 ardizing an investigation relating to tax administra24 tion, notify the taxpayer and include with that no25 tice— 


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1 ‘‘(A) instructions to the taxpayer about fil2 ing a police report; and 

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

4 to allow investigating law enforcement officials 

5 to access the taxpayer’s personal information; 

6 and 

7 ‘‘(2) if any person is criminally charged by in8 dictment or information relating to such unauthor9 ized use, notify such taxpayer as soon as practicable 

10 of such charge.’’. 

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

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

13 end the following new item: 

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

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

15 this section shall apply to determinations made after the 

16 date of the enactment of this Act. 

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

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

19 delegate) shall submit a feasibility study to the Committee 

20 on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and 

21 the Committee on Finance of the Senate describing a pro22 gram under which a person who has filed an identity theft 

23 affidavit with the Secretary may elect to prevent the proc24 essing of any Federal tax return submitted in an electronic 

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


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1 taxpayer. The study shall be submitted within 180 days 

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

3 also include a recommendation on whether to implement 

4 such a program. 

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

6 IN PREVENTION OF IDENTITY THEFT RE7 FUND FRAUD. 

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

9 delegate, shall use the information available under the Do 

10 Not Pay Initiative established under section 5 of the Im11 proper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement 

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

13 theft refund fraud. 

14 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF PROVISION REGARDING CERTAIN TAX 

15 COMPLIANCE PROCEDURES AND REPORTS. 

16 Section 2004 of the Internal Revenue Service Re17 structuring and Reform Act of 1998 (26 U.S.C. 6012 

18 note) is repealed. 

19 SEC. 7. REPORT ON IDENTITY THEFT REFUND FRAUD. 

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

21 2018, and biannually thereafter through September 30, 

22 2023, the Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s 

23 delegate) shall report to the Committee on Ways and 

24 Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee 

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


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1 fraud involving the use of a misappropriated taxpayer 

2 identity with respect to claims for refund under the Inter3 nal Revenue Code of 1986 during the preceding completed 

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

5 and enforcement activities undertaken by the Internal 

6 Revenue Service with respect to such fraud, including— 

7 (1) detailing efforts to combat identity theft 

8 fraud, including an update on the victims’ assistance 

9 unit; 

10 (2) information on both the average and max11 imum amounts of time that elapsed before the cases 

12 of victims of such fraud were resolved; and 

13 (3) discussing Internal Revenue Service efforts 

14 associated with other avenues for addressing identity 

15 theft refund fraud. 

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

17 report shall provide an update on the implementation of 

18 this Act and identify the need for any further legislation 

19 to protect taxpayer identities. 

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

21 the first biannual report on identity theft refund fraud 

22 under subsection (a), the Secretary (or the Secretary’s del23 egate) shall include— 

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

25 identity theft outreach and education to the private 


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1 sector, State agencies, and external organizations; 

2 and 

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

4 and benefits to enhancing its taxpayer authentica5 tion approach to the electronic tax return filing 

6 process. 

7 SEC. 8. INFORMATION SHARING AND ANALYSIS CENTER. 

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

9 delegate) shall establish an information sharing and anal10 ysis center to centralize, standardize, and enhance data 

11 compilation and analysis to facilitate sharing actionable 

12 data and information with respect to identity theft. 

13 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after establish14 ment of the information sharing and analysis center, the 

15 Secretary (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall submit a re16 port to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House 

17 of Representatives and Committee on Finance of the Sen18 ate on the information sharing and analysis center de19 scribed in subsection (a). The report shall include the data 

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

21 the data sharing and analysis center in combating identity 

22 theft. 

23 SEC. 9. LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT LIAISON. 

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner of Inter25 nal Revenue shall establish within the Criminal InvestigaVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 Jan 23, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H439.IH H439

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1 tion Division of the Internal Revenue Service the position 

2 of Local Law Enforcement Liaison. 

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

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

5 local law enforcement authorities with respect to tax-re6 lated identity theft, having duties that shall include— 

7 (1) receiving information from State and local 

8 law enforcement authorities; 

9 (2) responding to inquiries from State and local 

10 law enforcement authorities; 

11 (3) administering authorized information-shar12 ing initiatives with State or local law enforcement 

13 authorities and reviewing the performance of such 

14 initiatives; 

15 (4) ensuring any information provided through 

16 authorized information-sharing initiatives with State 

17 or local law enforcement authorities is used only for 

18 the prosecution of identity theft-related crimes and 

19 not re-disclosed to third parties; and 

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

21 identity theft prevention as are delegated by the 

22 Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 

23 SEC. 10. IRS PHONE SCAM REPORT. 

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

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


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1 for Tax Administration, in consultation with the Federal 

2 Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Com3 mission, shall submit a report to Congress regarding iden4 tity theft phone scams under which individuals attempt 

5 to obtain personal information over the phone from tax6 payers by falsely claiming to be calling from or on behalf 

7 the Internal Revenue Service. 

8 (b) CONTENTS OF REPORT.—Such report shall in9 clude— 

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

11 scams; 

12 (2) an estimate of the number of taxpayers con13 tacted pursuant to, and the number of taxpayers 

14 who have been victims of, such scams; 

15 (3) an estimate of the amount of wrongful pay16 ments obtained from such scams; and 

17 (4) details of potential solutions to combat and 

18 prevent such scams, including best practices from 

19 the private sector and technological solutions. 

20 SEC. 11. PROVIDING IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION INFOR21 MATION WHILE ON HOLD WITH INTERNAL 

22 REVENUE SERVICE. 

23 The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s del24 egate, shall ensure that if a taxpayer is on hold with the 


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1 Internal Revenue Service on a taxpayer service telephone 

2 call the following information is provided: 

3 (1) Basic information about common identity 

4 theft tax scams. 

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

6 (3) Tips on how to protect against identity 

7 theft tax scams. 

8 SEC. 12. NO ADDITIONAL FUNDS AUTHORIZED. 

9 No additional funds are authorized to carry out the 

10 requirements of this Act and the amendments made by 

11 this Act. Such requirements shall be carried out using 

12 amounts otherwise authorized. 

Æ 


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