I 
112TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3215 
To prevent identity theft and tax fraud. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 14, 2011 
Ms. CASTOR of Florida (for herself and Mr. NUGENT) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To prevent identity theft and tax fraud. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Identify Theft and Tax 
Fraud Prevention Act’’. 
SEC. 2. CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR USING A FALSE IDENTITY 
IN CONNECTION WITH TAX FRAUD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7207 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Any person who willfully’’ and 
inserting the following: 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Any person who willfully’’, 
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(2) by striking ‘‘Any person required’’ and in-
serting the following: 
‘‘(b) INFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH CERTAIN 
EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS.—Any person required’’, and 
(3) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(c) MISAPPROPRIATION OF IDENTITY.—Any person 
who knowingly or willfully misappropriates another per-
son’s tax identification number in connection with any list, 
return, account, statement, or other document submitted 
to the Secretary shall be fined not less than $25,000 
($200,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not 
more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of 
prosecution.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to returns and information sub-
mitted after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 3. INCREASED PENALTY FOR IMPROPER DISCLOSURE 
OR USE OF INFORMATION BY PREPARERS OF 
RETURNS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6713(a) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘$250’’ and inserting ‘‘$1,000’’, 
and 
(2) by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting 
‘‘$50,000’’. 
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(b) CRIMINAL PENALTY.—Section 7216(a) of the In-
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 
‘‘$1,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$100,000’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to disclosures or uses after the date 
of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 4. PIN SYSTEM FOR PREVENTION OF IDENTITY THEFT 
TAX FRAUD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after the 
date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 
Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall implement an 
identify theft tax fraud prevention program under which— 
(1) a person who has filed an identity theft affi-
davit with the Secretary may elect— 
(A) to be provided with a unique personal 
identification number to be included on any 
Federal tax return filed by such person, or 
(B) to prevent the processing of any Fed-
eral tax return submitted in an electronic for-
mat by a person purporting to be such person, 
and 
(2) the Secretary will provide additional identity 
verification safeguards for the processing of any 
Federal tax return filed by a person described in 
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paragraph (1) in cases where a unique personal 
identification number is not included on the return. 
SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO TRANSFER INTERNAL REVENUE 
SERVICE APPROPRIATIONS TO USE FOR TAX 
FRAUD ENFORCEMENT. 
For any fiscal year, the Commissioner of Internal 
Revenue may transfer not more than $10,000,000 to the 
‘‘Enforcement’’ account of the Internal Revenue Service 
from amounts appropriated to other Internal Revenue 
Service accounts. Any amounts so transferred shall be 
used solely for the purposes of preventing and resolving 
potential cases of tax fraud. 
SEC. 6. LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT LIAISON. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner of Inter-
nal Revenue shall establish within the Criminal Investiga-
tion Division of the Internal Revenue Service the position 
of Local Law Enforcement Liaison. 
(b) DUTIES.—The Local Law Enforcement Liaison 
shall— 
(1) coordinate the investigation of tax fraud 
with State and local law enforcement agencies; 
(2) communicate the status of tax fraud cases 
involving identity theft, and 
(3) carry out such other duties as delegated by 
the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. 
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SEC. 7. REPORT ON TAX FRAUD. 
Subsection (a) of section 7803 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph: 
‘‘(4) ANNUAL REPORT ON TAX FRAUD.—The 
Commissioner shall submit to the Committee on Fi-
nance of the Senate and the Committee on Ways 
and Means of the House of Representatives an an-
nual report detailing— 
‘‘(A) the number of reports of tax fraud 
and suspected tax fraud received from State 
and local law enforcement agencies in the pre-
ceding year, and 
‘‘(B) the actions taken in response to such 
reports.’’. 
SEC. 8. STUDY ON THE USE OF PREPAID DEBIT CARDS AND 
COMMERCIAL TAX PREPARATION SOFTWARE 
IN TAX FRAUD. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General shall 
conduct a study to examine the role of prepaid debit cards 
and commercial tax preparation software in facilitating 
fraudulent tax returns through identity theft. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 
submit to the Committee on Finance of the Senate and 
the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Rep-
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resentatives a report with the results of the study con-
ducted under subsection (a), together with any rec-
ommendations. 
SEC. 9. RESTRICTION ON ACCESS TO THE DEATH MASTER 
FILE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce shall 
not disclose information contained on the Death Master 
File to any person with respect to any individual who has 
died at any time during the calendar year in which the 
request for disclosure is made or the succeeding calendar 
year unless such person is certified under the program es-
tablished under subsection (b). 
(b) CERTIFICATION PROGRAM.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce 
shall establish a program to certify persons who are 
eligible to access the information described in sub-
section (a) contained on the Death Master File. 
(2) CERTIFICATION.—A person shall not be cer-
tified under the program established under para-
graph (1) unless the Secretary determines that such 
person has a legitimate fraud prevention interest in 
accessing the information described in subsection 
(a). 
(c) IMPOSITION OF PENALTY.—Any person who is 
certified under the program established under subsection 
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(b), who receives information described in subsection (a), 
and who during the period of time described in subsection 
(a)— 
(1) discloses such information to any other per-
son, or 
(2) uses any such information for any purpose 
other than to detect or prevent fraud, 
shall pay a penalty of $1,000 for each such disclosure or 
use, but the total amount imposed under this subsection 
on such a person for any calendar year shall not exceed 
$50,000. 
(d) EXEMPTION FROM FREEDOM OF INFORMATION 
ACT
REQUIREMENT
WITH
RESPECT
TO
CERTAIN 
RECORDS OF DECEASED INDIVIDUALS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Social Security Admin-
istration shall not be compelled to disclose to any 
person who is not certified under the program estab-
lished under section 9(b) the information described 
in section 9(a). 
(2) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION.—For pur-
poses of section 552 of title 5, United States Code, 
this section shall be considered a statute described 
in subsection (b)(3)(B) of such section 552. 
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