I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5368 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require that certain tax 

refunds be made by electronic funds transfer, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 21, 2018 

Mr. BISHOP of Michigan (for himself, Mrs. WALORSKI, and Mr. RENACCI) 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 

that certain tax refunds be made by electronic funds 

transfer, 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 ‘‘Taxpayer ID Protec5 tion and Fraud Prevention Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INCOME TAX REFUNDS WITH RESPECT TO ELEC2 TRONICALLY FILED RETURNS REQUIRED TO 

3 BE MADE BY ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6402 of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(n) REFUNDS TO BE MADE BY ELECTRONIC

8 FUNDS TRANSFER.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro10 vided in this subsection, any refund or payment 

11 made by the Secretary under this title with respect 

12 to an income tax return which is filed electronically 

13 shall be made by electronic funds transfer. 

14 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The Secretary may, based 

15 on standards developed by the Secretary, waive the 

16 application of paragraph (1) to refunds or pay17 ments— 

18 ‘‘(A) to persons or classes of persons for 

19 whom compliance imposes a hardship, including 

20 persons who do not have access to any of the 

21 methods by which the Secretary makes pay22 ments by electronic funds transfer (including 

23 bank accounts, prepaid debit cards, Direct Ex24 press Cards, digital wallets, and any other se25 cured electronic payment method as may identi26 fied by the Secretary), and 


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1 ‘‘(B) in other circumstances as may be 

2 necessary. 

3 ‘‘(3) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue 

4 such regulations or other guidance as may be nec5 essary to increase the percentage of refunds and 

6 payments made by electronic funds transfer, includ7 ing regulations or other guidance which— 

8 ‘‘(A) requires recipients of refunds or pay9 ments required to be made by electronic funds 

10 transfer to— 

11 ‘‘(i) designate one or more financial 

12 institutions or other authorized agents to 

13 which such payments shall be made, and 

14 ‘‘(ii) provide information necessary for 

15 such recipient to receive such refund or 

16 payment by electronic funds transfer, and 

17 ‘‘(B) ensures that persons required to have 

18 an account at a financial institution under sub19 paragraph (A) because of the application of 

20 paragraph (1)— 

21 ‘‘(i) will have access to such an ac22 count at a reasonable cost, and 

23 ‘‘(ii) are given the same consumer 

24 protections with respect to such account as 


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1 other account holders at the same financial 

2 institution.’’. 

3 (b) NO INFERENCE WITH RESPECT TO FORM OF

4 ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER.—Nothing in the amend5 ment made by this section shall be interpreted to restrict 

6 the form of electronic funds transfer by which the Sec7 retary of the Treasury, or his designee, may make refunds 

8 or payments. 

9 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

10 this section shall apply to refunds and payments made 

11 after December 31, 2019. 

12 SEC. 3. REFUNDS TO PREPAID DEBIT CARDS, DIRECT EX13 PRESS CARDS, ETC. 

14 The Secretary of the Treasury, or his designee, 

15 shall— 

16 (1) to the maximum extent practicable, allow 

17 income tax refunds to be made by electronic funds 

18 transfer to prepaid debit cards, Direct Express 

19 cards, digital wallets, and any other secure electronic 

20 payment method as may be determined by the Sec21 retary, 

22 (2) ensure that taxpayers are aware of the var23 ious methods referred to in paragraph (1) by which 

24 taxpayers may received income tax refunds by elec25 tronic funds transfer, and 


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1 (3) revise references in materials provided to 

2 taxpayers (including income tax returns and instruc3 tions) to ensure that the various accounts to which 

4 refunds may be made are referenced, not simply 

5 checking and savings accounts. 

6 SEC. 4. REPORT ON IMPLEMENTATION OF REQUIREMENT 

7 THAT ALL INCOME TAX REFUNDS BE MADE 

8 BY ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER. 

9 Not later than the date which is 1 year after the date 

10 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treas11 ury, or the Secretary’s delegate, shall submit a written re12 port to Congress describing how the Secretary would im13 plement a requirement that all income tax refunds be 

14 made by electronic funds transfer. Such report shall in15 clude any legislative recommendations that the Secretary 

16 may have with respect to the implementation of such a 

17 requirement. 

18 SEC. 5. DECREASE IN RETURN THRESHOLD FOR REQUIR19 ING ELECTRONIC FILING. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6011(e)(2)(A) of the In21 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

22 ‘‘250’’ and inserting ‘‘25’’. 

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

24 this section shall apply to returns the due date for which 


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1 (determined without regard to extensions) is after Decem2 ber 31, 2018. 

3 SEC. 6. MODIFICATION OF EARLIEST DATE ON WHICH 

4 CREDITS OR REFUNDS IN CONNECTION WITH 

5 CHILD TAX CREDIT AND EARNED INCOME 

6 TAX CREDIT ARE MADE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6402(m) of the Internal 

8 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘the 15th 

9 day of the second month’’ and inserting ‘‘the 1st day of 

10 the third month’’. 

11 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

12 this section shall apply to credits or refunds made after 

13 December 31, 2018. 

14 SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT ON IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

15 The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s del16 egate, shall annually submit a written report to Congress 

17 which identifies the aggregate amounts of improper pay18 ments made by the Internal Revenue Service. Such report 

19 shall separately state the aggregate amount of such pay20 ments by relevant subcategories. Such subcategories shall 

21 include underpayments, overpayments, payments attrib22 utable to identity theft, payments attributable to misiden23 tification other than identity theft, payments attributable 

24 to other fraud, and such other subcategories as the Sec25 retary determines would be useful. 


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1 SEC. 8. PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO ADDRESS IDEN2 TITY THEFT. 

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

4 delegate) shall work collaboratively with the public and 

5 private sectors to protect taxpayers from identity theft re6 fund fraud. 

7 SEC. 9. RECOMMENDATIONS OF ELECTRONIC TAX ADMIN8 ISTRATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE REGARD9 ING IDENTITY THEFT REFUND FRAUD. 

10 The Secretary of the Treasury shall ensure that the 

11 advisory group convened by the Secretary pursuant to sec12 tion 2001(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue Service Restruc13 turing and Reform Act of 1998 (commonly known as the 

14 Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee) stud15 ies (including by providing organized public forums) and 

16 makes recommendations to the Secretary regarding meth17 ods to prevent identity theft refund fraud. 

Æ 


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