I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1913 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop guidance and procedures 

for the recovery of refunds relating to tax return preparer fraud. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 21, 2015 

Mr. JEFFRIES introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop guidance 

and procedures for the recovery of refunds relating to 

tax return preparer fraud. 

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 ‘‘Protecting American 

5 Taxpayers from Fraud Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to address predatory prac8 tices in low income communities by some tax return pre9 parers. 


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1 SEC. 3. REFERRAL PROCEDURES FOR RECOVERY OF RE2 FUNDS FOR TAXPAYERS DEFRAUDED BY EM3 PLOYEES OR AGENTS OF TAX PREPARATION 

4 FIRMS. 

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

6 delegate) shall develop referral procedures for, and estab7 lish a liaison to, tax preparation firms to seek recovery 

8 of refunds for taxpayers defrauded by employees or agents 

9 of tax preparation firms. In developing such procedures, 

10 the Secretary (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall ensure 

11 that there is coordination among the following entities 

12 within the Internal Revenue Service: Taxpayer Advocate 

13 Service, Wage & Investment Division, Criminal Investiga14 tion, Office of the Chief Counsel, Return Preparer Office, 

15 and Office of Professional Responsibility. 

16 SEC. 4. COMPREHENSIVE GUIDANCE FOR THE TREATMENT 

17 OF ALL CLAIMS FOR REFUNDS RELATING TO 

18 TAX RETURN PREPARER FRAUD. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury (or 

20 the Secretary’s delegate) shall develop comprehensive 

21 guidance for the treatment by the Internal Revenue Serv22 ice of all claims for refunds relating to tax return preparer 

23 fraud. Such guidance shall provide a clear description the 

24 rights and responsibilities of taxpayers, including the fol25 lowing: 


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1 (1) MITIGATION.—Actions taken by the tax2 payer to prevent the preparer fraud or to minimize 

3 the loss. 

4 (2) RESTITUTION.—Actions taken by the tax5 payer to receive restitution relating to tax return 

6 preparer fraud and whether the taxpayer has re7 ceived any restitution. 

8 (3) SUBSTANTIATION.—Actions taken by the 

9 taxpayer to substantiate a claim of fraud, including 

10 one or more of the following, if available: 

11 (A) Providing a copy of the unaltered re12 turn of tax (if provided by the preparer). 

13 (B) Providing a business card, flyer, or 

14 other advertisement with the preparer’s contact 

15 information. 

16 (C) Providing a copy of any refund traces 

17 requested. 

18 (D) Providing a copy of bank statements 

19 showing the expected refund was not deposited 

20 into the victim’s account. 

21 (E) Providing a taxpayer statement re22 garding the fraud, which shall be signed under 

23 penalties of perjury. 

24 (F) Filing a report or complaint with local 

25 law enforcement authorities. 


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1 (b) GUIDANCE RELATING TO RESTITUTION.—The 

2 Secretary shall, in the guidance developed for restitu3 tion— 

4 (1) place the emphasis on restitution received 

5 by the taxpayer and making the taxpayer whole rel6 ative to the cash value of assets that have already 

7 been transferred to the taxpayer, 

8 (2) not reduce restitution on the basis of either 

9 anticipated or court mandated (but not yet collected) 

10 payments, and 

11 (3) provide for a claw-back procedure to ensure 

12 that restitution ultimately paid to the taxpayer, sub13 sequent to the restitution provided by the Internal 

14 Revenue Service, would be remitted to the Internal 

15 Revenue Service. 

Æ 


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