I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1538 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit the Secretary of 

the Treasury to disclose certain return information related to identity 

theft, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 14, 2011 

Mr. PETRI (for himself, Mr. DONNELLY of Indiana, Mr. CHAFFETZ, Mr. 

GRIMM, Mr. ALTMIRE, Mr. LONG, Mr. LATHAM, and Mr. JONES) 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 permit 

the Secretary of the Treasury to disclose certain return 

information related to identity theft, 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 ‘‘Social Security Iden5 tity Defense Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF CERTAIN RETURN INFORMATION 

2 WITH RESPECT TO IDENTITY THEFT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (l) of section 6103 of 

4 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(23) DISCLOSURE OF RETURN INFORMATION

7 IN CERTAIN CASES OF IDENTITY THEFT.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary deter9 mines that there is a substantial likelihood that 

10 there has been a fraudulent use of a social se11 curity account number on a statement described 

12 in section 6051— 

13 ‘‘(i) the Secretary shall disclose to the 

14 holder of such social security account num15 ber— 

16 ‘‘(I) that the Secretary has rea17 son to believe that the social security 

18 account number of such individual has 

19 been fraudulently used in the employ20 ment context, 

21 ‘‘(II) that the Secretary has 

22 made the disclosure described in 

23 clause (ii) to the Director of the Fed24 eral Bureau of Investigation with re25 spect to such fraudulent use, and 


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1 ‘‘(III) such other information 

2 (other than return information) as the 

3 Secretary determines, in consultation 

4 with Federal Trade Commission, 

5 would be helpful and appropriate to 

6 provide to a victim of identity theft, 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(ii) the Secretary shall disclose to the 

9 Director of the Federal Bureau of Inves10 tigation— 

11 ‘‘(I) such social security account 

12 number, 

13 ‘‘(II) that the Secretary has rea14 son to believe that such social security 

15 account number has been fraudulently 

16 used in the employment context, and 

17 ‘‘(III) the taxpayer identity infor18 mation of the holder of such social se19 curity account number, the individual 

20 believed to have fraudulently used 

21 such social security account number, 

22 and the employer who made the state23 ment described in section 6051 which 

24 included such social security account 

25 number. 


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1 ‘‘(B) RESTRICTION ON DISCLOSURE TO

2 LAW ENFORCEMENT.— 

3 ‘‘(i) DISCLOSURE TO OTHER LAW EN4 FORCEMENT OFFICIALS.—The Director of 

5 the Federal Bureau of Investigation may 

6 disclose information received under sub7 paragraph (A)(ii) to appropriate Federal, 

8 State, and local law enforcement officials. 

9 ‘‘(ii) RESTRICTION ON USE OF DIS10 CLOSED INFORMATION.—Return informa11 tion disclosed under subparagraph (A)(ii) 

12 may be used by Federal, State, and local 

13 law enforcement officials only for purposes 

14 of carrying out criminal investigations or 

15 prosecutions.’’. 

16 (b) PREVENTION OF USE OF W–2 STATEMENTS TO

17 CARRYOUT IDENTITY THEFT.—Section 6051 of such 

18 Code is amended by adding at the end the following new 

19 subsection: 

20 ‘‘(g) PREVENTION OF IDENTITY THEFT.—Except as 

21 otherwise provided by the Secretary, if an employer is no22 tified by the Secretary with respect to any employee that 

23 the Secretary has reason to believe that the social security 

24 account number included on the statement described in 

25 subsection (a) with respect to such employee is not the 


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1 social security account number of such employee, such em2 ployer— 

3 ‘‘(1) shall cease to include such social security 

4 account number on statements provided to the em5 ployee under subsection (a), but 

6 ‘‘(2) shall continue to include such social secu7 rity account number on duplicates of such state8 ments provided to the Secretary under subsection 

9 (d).’’. 

10 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATED TO DIS11 CLOSURE.— 

12 (1) CONFIDENTIALITY.—Paragraph (3) of sec13 tion 6103(a) of such Code is amended by striking 

14 ‘‘or (21)’’ and inserting ‘‘(21), or (23)’’. 

15 (2) PROCEDURES AND RECORDKEEPING RE16 LATED TO DISCLOSURES.—Paragraph (4) of section 

17 6103(p) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘or 

18 (20)’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘(20), or 

19 (23)’’. 

20 (3) UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE OR INSPEC21 TION.—Paragraph (2) of section 7213(a) of such 

22 Code is amended by striking ‘‘or (21)’’ and inserting 

23 ‘‘(21), or (23)’’. 

Æ 


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