I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2297 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a free online 

tax preparation and filing service and programs that allow taxpayers 

to access third-party provided tax return information. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 12, 2019 

Mr. SHERMAN (for himself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BEYER, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. 

RYAN, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. BLUMENAUER, 

and Ms. SPEIER) 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 establish 

a free online tax preparation and filing service and programs that allow taxpayers to access third-party provided 

tax return 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 ‘‘Tax Filing Simplifica5 tion Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON AGREEMENTS RESTRICTING GOV2 ERNMENT TAX PREPARATION AND FILING 

3 SERVICES. 

4 The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s del5 egate, may not enter into any agreement after the date 

6 of the enactment of this Act which restricts the Sec7 retary’s legal right to provide tax return preparation serv8 ices or software or to provide tax return filing services. 

9 SEC. 3. GOVERNMENT-ASSISTED TAX PREPARATION AND 

10 FILING SERVICES. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev12 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

13 following new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 7529. GOVERNMENT-ASSISTED TAX-RETURN PREPA15 RATION PROGRAMS. 

16 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PROGRAMS.—The Sec17 retary shall establish and operate the following programs: 

18 ‘‘(1) ONLINE TAX PREPARATION AND FILING

19 SOFTWARE.—Not later than January 31, 2021, soft20 ware for the preparation and filing of individual in21 come tax returns for taxable years beginning after 

22 2019. 

23 ‘‘(2) TAXPAYER DATA ACCESS.—Not later than 

24 March 1, 2021, a program under which taxpayers 

25 may download third-party provided return informaVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:51 Apr 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2297.IH H2297

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1 tion relating to individual income tax returns for 

2 taxable years beginning after 2019. 

3 ‘‘(3) VOLUNTARY TAX RETURN PREPARA4 TION.—Not later than March 1, 2021, a program 

5 under which eligible individuals (as defined under 

6 subsection (c)(1)) may elect to have income tax re7 turns for taxable years beginning after 2019 pre8 pared by the Secretary, with an opportunity for the 

9 individual to update such returns after preparation. 

10 ‘‘(4) FACILITATING USE OF FEDERAL RETURNS

11 FOR STATE TAX PURPOSES.—Not later than March 

12 1, 2021, for States that provide or seek to provide 

13 State-level software or programs similar to software 

14 described in paragraph (1) or the program described 

15 in paragraph (3), a program under which the Sec16 retary— 

17 ‘‘(A) provides technical assistance, and 

18 ‘‘(B) discloses Federal income tax return 

19 information under section 6103(c) to facilitate 

20 the preparation and filing of State income tax 

21 returns. 

22 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR TAXPAYER DATA ACCESS

23 PROGRAM.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Return information under 

2 the program established under subsection (a)(2) 

3 shall be made available— 

4 ‘‘(A) not later than 15 days after the Sec5 retary receives such information, and 

6 ‘‘(B) through a secure function that allows 

7 a taxpayer to download such information from 

8 the Secretary’s website in both a printable doc9 ument file and in a computer-readable form 

10 suitable for use by automated tax preparation 

11 software. 

12 ‘‘(2) THIRD-PARTY PROVIDED RETURN INFOR13 MATION DEFINED.—For purposes of this section, the 

14 term ‘third-party provided return information’ 

15 means— 

16 ‘‘(A) information reported to the Secretary 

17 through an information return (as defined in 

18 section 6724(d)(1)), 

19 ‘‘(B) information reported to the Secretary 

20 pursuant to section 232 of the Social Security 

21 Act, and 

22 ‘‘(C) such other information reported to 

23 the Secretary as is determined appropriate by 

24 the Secretary for purposes of the program es25 tablished under subsection (a)(2). 


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1 ‘‘(c) TAX RETURN PREPARATION.— 

2 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of 

3 the program established under subsection (a)(3)— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

5 subparagraphs (B) and (C), the term ‘eligible 

6 individual’ means, with respect to any taxable 

7 year, any individual who— 

8 ‘‘(i) elects to participate in the pro9 gram established under subsection (a)(3), 

10 ‘‘(ii) is an unmarried individual (other 

11 than a surviving spouse (as defined in sec12 tion 2(a)) or the head of a household (as 

13 defined in section 2(b))), 

14 ‘‘(iii) does not claim any deduction al15 lowed under section 62 for purposes of de16 termining adjusted gross income, 

17 ‘‘(iv) claims the standard deduction 

18 under section 63, 

19 ‘‘(v) does not file schedule C, and 

20 ‘‘(vi) has no income other than income 

21 from— 

22 ‘‘(I) wages (as defined in section 

23 3401), 

24 ‘‘(II) interest, or 

25 ‘‘(III) dividends. 


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1 ‘‘(B) LIMITATION ON ELIGIBILITY FOR

2 TAX YEAR 2020.—With respect to any taxable 

3 year beginning in 2020, the term ‘eligible indi4 vidual’ shall only include such populations of in5 dividuals described in subparagraph (A) as is 

6 determined by the Secretary. 

7 ‘‘(C) EXPANSION OF ELIGIBILITY AFTER

8 TAX YEAR 2020.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At the discretion 

10 of the Secretary, with respect to any tax11 able year beginning after December 31, 

12 2020, the term ‘eligible individual’ may in13 clude populations of individuals who would 

14 not otherwise satisfy the requirements es15 tablished under subparagraph (A), such as 

16 married individuals, heads of households, 

17 taxpayers who are eligible to claim the 

18 earned income tax credit under section 32 

19 and have dependents, taxpayers who are el20 igible to claim the child tax credit under 

21 section 24, taxpayers who claim deductions 

22 allowed under section 62 for purposes of 

23 determining adjusted gross income, and 

24 taxpayers with income from non-employee 

25 compensation. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than August 

2 31, 2022, the Secretary shall submit a re3 port to Congress that contains recommen4 dations for such legislative or administra5 tive actions as the Secretary determines 

6 necessary with respect to expanding the 

7 populations of individuals that may qualify 

8 as eligible individuals for purposes of the 

9 program established under subsection 

10 (a)(3). 

11 ‘‘(2) RETURN MUST BE FILED BY INDI12 VIDUAL.—No return prepared under the program es13 tablished under subsection (a)(3) shall be treated as 

14 filed before the date such return is submitted by the 

15 taxpayer as provided under the rules of section 

16 6011. 

17 ‘‘(d) VERIFICATION OF IDENTITY.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

19 an individual shall not participate in any program 

20 described in subsection (a) or access any information 

21 under such a program unless such individual has 

22 verified their identity to the satisfaction of the Sec23 retary. 

24 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of 

2 verifying the identity of any individual seeking 

3 to participate in any program described in sub4 section (a) or to access any information under 

5 such a program, the Secretary shall not employ 

6 any knowledge-based verification procedures. 

7 ‘‘(B) KNOWLEDGE-BASED VERIFICATION

8 PROCEDURE.—For purposes of this paragraph, 

9 the term ‘knowledge-based verification proce10 dure’ means any procedure for verification of 

11 the identity of an individual by means of asking 

12 detailed and personal questions for which only 

13 that individual is presumed to know the an14 swers, including any such procedures which are 

15 provided through service agreements with a 

16 credit reporting agency. 

17 ‘‘(e) TAXPAYER RESPONSIBILITY.—Nothing in this 

18 section shall be construed to absolve the taxpayer from 

19 full responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of his 

20 return of tax. 

21 ‘‘(f) PROHIBITION ON FEES.—No fee may be im22 posed on any taxpayer who participates in any program 

23 established under subsection (a). 

24 ‘‘(g) INFORMATION PROVIDED FOR WAGE AND SELF25 EMPLOYMENT INCOME.—For purposes of subsection 


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1 (a)(2), in the case of information relating to wages paid 

2 for any calendar year after 2019 required to be provided 

3 to the Commissioner of Social Security under section 

4 205(c)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 405(c)(2)(A)), the Commissioner shall make such infor6 mation available to the Secretary not later than the Feb7 ruary 15 of the calendar year following the calendar year 

8 to which such wages and self-employment income relate.’’. 

9 (b) FILING DEADLINE FOR INFORMATION RE10 TURNS.—Section 6071(b) of such Code is amended to 

11 read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(b) INFORMATION RETURNS.—Returns made under 

13 part III of this chapter shall be filed on or before January 

14 31 of the year following the calendar year to which such 

15 returns relate. Section 6081 shall not apply to returns 

16 under such part III.’’. 

17 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO SOCIAL SECURITY

18 ACT.—Section 205(c)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 

19 U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the 

20 following new sentence: ‘‘For purposes of the preceding 

21 sentence, the Commissioner shall require that information 

22 relating to wages paid be provided to the Secretary of the 

23 Treasury not later than February 15 of the year following 

24 the calendar year to which such wages and self-employ25 ment income relate.’’. 


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1 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

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

3 end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 7529. Government-assisted tax-return preparation programs.’’. 

4 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 

5 authorized to be appropriated to carry out the amend6 ments made by this section such sums as may be necessary 

7 for each of fiscal years 2020 through 2024. 

8 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall apply to returns for taxable years begin10 ning after December 31, 2019. 

Æ 


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