I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1368 

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

of the Treasury to establish an Auto File Program which provides certain 

individuals with income tax forms containing pre-filled information. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 5, 2009 

Mr. WEINER 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 require 

the Secretary of the Treasury to establish an Auto File 

Program which provides certain individuals with income 

tax forms containing pre-filled information. 

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 ‘‘Auto File Act of 

5 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. AUTO FILE PROGRAM TO PROVIDE CERTAIN INDI2 VIDUALS WITH INCOME TAX FORMS CON3 TAINING PRE-FILLED INFORMATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986 (relating to miscellaneous provisions) 

6 is amended by adding at the end the following new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 7529. AUTO FILE PROGRAM TO PROVIDE CERTAIN IN8 DIVIDUALS WITH INCOME TAX FORMS CON9 TAINING PRE-FILLED INFORMATION. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

11 program under which eligible individuals will be mailed 

12 pre-filled return forms— 

13 ‘‘(1) which they may use as a basis for pre14 paring their returns of tax imposed by chapter 1, 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(2) which, based on applicable information, 

17 contain such information and computations as the 

18 Secretary determines to be appropriate. 

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

20 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—Except as pro21 vided in regulations prescribed by the Secretary, the 

22 term ‘eligible individual’ means any individual if— 

23 ‘‘(A) credit was allowed to such individual 

24 under section 32 (relating to earned income 

25 credit) for the preceding taxable year, or 


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1 ‘‘(B) based on applicable information for 

2 the taxable year, the Secretary determines 

3 that— 

4 ‘‘(i) the taxpayer may be eligible for 

5 such credit for the taxable year, or 

6 ‘‘(ii) the taxpayer’s only income for 

7 the taxable year is from wages, interest, 

8 dividends, pensions and annuities, social 

9 security benefits (as defined in section 

10 86(d)), unemployment compensation (as 

11 defined in section 85(b)), or individual re12 tirement plan distributions. 

13 ‘‘(2) APPLICABLE INFORMATION.—The term 

14 ‘applicable information’ means information shown on 

15 returns received by the Secretary under part III of 

16 subchapter A of chapter 61 (relating to information 

17 returns). 

18 ‘‘(c) TIMING OF MAILINGS.—Mailings under sub19 section (a) shall be made as rapidly as possible after the 

20 close of the taxable year and, to the extent practicable, 

21 before the 1st day of the third month after the close of 

22 the taxable year. 

23 ‘‘(d) RETURN TO BE VERIFIED BY TAXPAYER.— 

24 Nothing in this section shall be construed to relieve the 

25 taxpayer from any requirement under this title. 


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1 ‘‘(e) REPORTING BY NATIONAL TAXPAYER ADVO2 CATE.—The National Taxpayer Advocate shall provide an3 nual reports to the Congress containing— 

4 ‘‘(1) such Advocate’s assessment of the accu5 racy of the information provided on pre-filled forms 

6 for eligible taxpayers, and 

7 ‘‘(2) such other information and recommenda8 tions as such Advocate deems appropriate. 

9 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall prescribe 

10 such regulations as are necessary or appropriate to carry 

11 out the purposes of this section.’’. 

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

13 for such chapter 77 is amended by adding at the end the 

14 following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 7529. Auto file program to provide certain individuals with income tax 

forms containing pre-filled information.’’. 

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

16 this section shall apply to returns for taxable years begin17 ning after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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