I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 495 

To make the Internal Revenue Service Free File Program permanent. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 5, 2013 

Mr. ROSKAM (for himself and Mr. KIND) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To make the Internal Revenue Service Free File Program 

permanent. 

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 ‘‘Free File Program 

5 Act of 2013’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free 

9 File program as established by the IRS pursuant to 

10 public rulemaking and set forth in the Federal Reg11 ister, Vol. 67, No. 213, Monday, November 4, 2002, 


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1 pages 67247–67251, and in implementing agree2 ments and governing rules and requirements be3 tween the IRS and the tax software and electronic 

4 industry in 2002, 2005, and 2009, has been success5 ful and significant in the efforts of the Federal Gov6 ernment to increase the electronic filing of individual 

7 income tax returns. 

8 (2) By the end of the current tax return filing 

9 season around 40,000,000 Federal individual income 

10 tax returns will have been prepared and filed elec11 tronically for free under the IRS Free File program. 

12 (3) The IRS Free File program offers Federal 

13 individual income tax return preparation and elec14 tronic filing services to more than 70 percent of tax15 payers, approximately 98,000,000 taxpayers at the 

16 end of the current tax filing period, at no cost to the 

17 taxpayers or to the Federal Government from tax 

18 software and electronic filing companies partici19 pating in the program, currently 16 companies. 

20 (4) By the end of the current tax return filing 

21 season, it is estimated that the IRS Free File pro22 gram will have saved taxpayers approximately 

23 $1,110,000,000 and will have saved the Federal 

24 Government hundreds of millions of dollars. 


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1 (5) Under the IRS Free File program, the IRS 

2 and the companies participating in the program have 

3 made substantial improvements to the program to 

4 provide better products and services to eligible tax5 payers. 

6 (6) The IRS Free File program must be main7 tained in order to reach and maintain Congress’ goal 

8 as set forth in the Internal Revenue Service Restruc9 turing and Reform Act of 1998 of having 80 percent 

10 of all Federal individual income tax returns filed 

11 electronically. 

12 (7) The IRS and the participating tax prepara13 tion companies have integrated the IRS Free File 

14 program with State tax systems to enable taxpayers 

15 to also file their State tax returns in conjunction 

16 with their IRS Free File filings. 

17 (8) Twenty-two States and the District of Co18 lumbia now operate a Free File program patterned 

19 after the IRS Free File program again at no cost to 

20 the State taxpayers or the State governments. 

21 (9) At the end of the current tax return filing 

22 season, it is estimated that the Free File States will 

23 have saved hundreds of millions of dollars collec24 tively. 


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1 SEC. 3. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE FREE FILE PRO2 GRAM. 

3 (a) The Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate, 

4 is authorized and directed to continue to implement and 

5 operate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File pro6 gram as established by the IRS in the public rulemaking 

7 of November 4, 2002, and subsequent agreements and 

8 governing rules established pursuant thereto in 2002, 

9 2005, and 2009. 

10 (b) The IRS Free File program shall continue to pro11 vide free online individual income tax preparation and 

12 electronic filing services to lower income, working poor, 

13 underprivileged, disadvantaged, or underserved popu14 lations that comprise 70 percent of the lowest income tax15 payers. 

16 (c) The Internal Revenue Service shall continue to 

17 work cooperatively with the private sector technology in18 dustry through the Free File Alliance in providing free 

19 individual income tax preparation and electronic filing 

20 services and shall not compete with the private sector in 

21 providing these services to taxpayers, nor acquire, develop, 

22 or deploy enabling systems to duplicate or replace private 

23 tax preparation services. 

24 (d) The Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate, 

25 may not establish, develop, sponsor, acquire, or make 

26 available individual income tax preparation software or 


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1 electronic filing services that are offered under the IRS 

2 Free File program, except through the IRS Free File pro3 gram, the Internal Revenue Service’s Taxpayer Assistance 

4 Centers, Tax Counseling for the Elderly, and volunteer in5 come tax assistance (VITA) programs. 

Æ 


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