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 pro-
grams that allow taxpayers to access third-party provided 
tax return information. 
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 ‘‘Tax Filing Simplifica-
tion Act of 2019’’. 
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SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON AGREEMENTS RESTRICTING GOV-
ERNMENT TAX PREPARATION AND FILING 
SERVICES. 
The Secretary of the Treasury, or the Secretary’s del-
egate, may not enter into any agreement after the date 
of the enactment of this Act which restricts the Sec-
retary’s legal right to provide tax return preparation serv-
ices or software or to provide tax return filing services. 
SEC. 3. GOVERNMENT-ASSISTED TAX PREPARATION AND 
FILING SERVICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 7529. GOVERNMENT-ASSISTED TAX-RETURN PREPA-
RATION PROGRAMS. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT
OF PROGRAMS.—The Sec-
retary shall establish and operate the following programs: 
‘‘(1) ONLINE TAX PREPARATION AND FILING 
SOFTWARE.—Not later than January 31, 2021, soft-
ware for the preparation and filing of individual in-
come tax returns for taxable years beginning after 
2019. 
‘‘(2) TAXPAYER DATA ACCESS.—Not later than 
March 1, 2021, a program under which taxpayers 
may download third-party provided return informa-
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tion relating to individual income tax returns for 
taxable years beginning after 2019. 
‘‘(3) VOLUNTARY
TAX
RETURN
PREPARA-
TION.—Not later than March 1, 2021, a program 
under which eligible individuals (as defined under 
subsection (c)(1)) may elect to have income tax re-
turns for taxable years beginning after 2019 pre-
pared by the Secretary, with an opportunity for the 
individual to update such returns after preparation. 
‘‘(4) FACILITATING USE OF FEDERAL RETURNS 
FOR STATE TAX PURPOSES.—Not later than March 
1, 2021, for States that provide or seek to provide 
State-level software or programs similar to software 
described in paragraph (1) or the program described 
in paragraph (3), a program under which the Sec-
retary— 
‘‘(A) provides technical assistance, and 
‘‘(B) discloses Federal income tax return 
information under section 6103(c) to facilitate 
the preparation and filing of State income tax 
returns. 
‘‘(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR TAXPAYER DATA ACCESS 
PROGRAM.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Return information under 
the program established under subsection (a)(2) 
shall be made available— 
‘‘(A) not later than 15 days after the Sec-
retary receives such information, and 
‘‘(B) through a secure function that allows 
a taxpayer to download such information from 
the Secretary’s website in both a printable doc-
ument file and in a computer-readable form 
suitable for use by automated tax preparation 
software. 
‘‘(2) THIRD-PARTY PROVIDED RETURN INFOR-
MATION DEFINED.—For purposes of this section, the 
term ‘third-party provided return information’ 
means— 
‘‘(A) information reported to the Secretary 
through an information return (as defined in 
section 6724(d)(1)), 
‘‘(B) information reported to the Secretary 
pursuant to section 232 of the Social Security 
Act, and 
‘‘(C) such other information reported to 
the Secretary as is determined appropriate by 
the Secretary for purposes of the program es-
tablished under subsection (a)(2). 
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‘‘(c) TAX RETURN PREPARATION.— 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of 
the program established under subsection (a)(3)— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 
subparagraphs (B) and (C), the term ‘eligible 
individual’ means, with respect to any taxable 
year, any individual who— 
‘‘(i) elects to participate in the pro-
gram established under subsection (a)(3), 
‘‘(ii) is an unmarried individual (other 
than a surviving spouse (as defined in sec-
tion 2(a)) or the head of a household (as 
defined in section 2(b))), 
‘‘(iii) does not claim any deduction al-
lowed under section 62 for purposes of de-
termining adjusted gross income, 
‘‘(iv) claims the standard deduction 
under section 63, 
‘‘(v) does not file schedule C, and 
‘‘(vi) has no income other than income 
from— 
‘‘(I) wages (as defined in section 
3401), 
‘‘(II) interest, or 
‘‘(III) dividends. 
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‘‘(B) LIMITATION
ON
ELIGIBILITY
FOR 
TAX YEAR 2020.—With respect to any taxable 
year beginning in 2020, the term ‘eligible indi-
vidual’ shall only include such populations of in-
dividuals described in subparagraph (A) as is 
determined by the Secretary. 
‘‘(C) EXPANSION
OF
ELIGIBILITY
AFTER 
TAX YEAR 2020.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—At the discretion 
of the Secretary, with respect to any tax-
able year beginning after December 31, 
2020, the term ‘eligible individual’ may in-
clude populations of individuals who would 
not otherwise satisfy the requirements es-
tablished under subparagraph (A), such as 
married individuals, heads of households, 
taxpayers who are eligible to claim the 
earned income tax credit under section 32 
and have dependents, taxpayers who are el-
igible to claim the child tax credit under 
section 24, taxpayers who claim deductions 
allowed under section 62 for purposes of 
determining adjusted gross income, and 
taxpayers with income from non-employee 
compensation. 
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‘‘(ii) REPORT.—Not later than August 
31, 2022, the Secretary shall submit a re-
port to Congress that contains recommen-
dations for such legislative or administra-
tive actions as the Secretary determines 
necessary with respect to expanding the 
populations of individuals that may qualify 
as eligible individuals for purposes of the 
program 
established 
under 
subsection 
(a)(3). 
‘‘(2) RETURN
MUST
BE
FILED
BY
INDI-
VIDUAL.—No return prepared under the program es-
tablished under subsection (a)(3) shall be treated as 
filed before the date such return is submitted by the 
taxpayer as provided under the rules of section 
6011. 
‘‘(d) VERIFICATION OF IDENTITY.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 
an individual shall not participate in any program 
described in subsection (a) or access any information 
under such a program unless such individual has 
verified their identity to the satisfaction of the Sec-
retary. 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.— 
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‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—For purposes of 
verifying the identity of any individual seeking 
to participate in any program described in sub-
section (a) or to access any information under 
such a program, the Secretary shall not employ 
any knowledge-based verification procedures. 
‘‘(B) KNOWLEDGE-BASED
VERIFICATION 
PROCEDURE.—For purposes of this paragraph, 
the term ‘knowledge-based verification proce-
dure’ means any procedure for verification of 
the identity of an individual by means of asking 
detailed and personal questions for which only 
that individual is presumed to know the an-
swers, including any such procedures which are 
provided through service agreements with a 
credit reporting agency. 
‘‘(e) TAXPAYER RESPONSIBILITY.—Nothing in this 
section shall be construed to absolve the taxpayer from 
full responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of his 
return of tax. 
‘‘(f) PROHIBITION ON FEES.—No fee may be im-
posed on any taxpayer who participates in any program 
established under subsection (a). 
‘‘(g) INFORMATION PROVIDED FOR WAGE AND SELF- 
EMPLOYMENT
INCOME.—For purposes of subsection 
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(a)(2), in the case of information relating to wages paid 
for any calendar year after 2019 required to be provided 
to the Commissioner of Social Security under section 
205(c)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
405(c)(2)(A)), the Commissioner shall make such infor-
mation available to the Secretary not later than the Feb-
ruary 15 of the calendar year following the calendar year 
to which such wages and self-employment income relate.’’. 
(b) FILING
DEADLINE
FOR
INFORMATION
RE-
TURNS.—Section 6071(b) of such Code is amended to 
read as follows: 
‘‘(b) INFORMATION RETURNS.—Returns made under 
part III of this chapter shall be filed on or before January 
31 of the year following the calendar year to which such 
returns relate. Section 6081 shall not apply to returns 
under such part III.’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT TO SOCIAL SECURITY 
ACT.—Section 205(c)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 405(c)(2)(A)) is amended by adding at the end the 
following new sentence: ‘‘For purposes of the preceding 
sentence, the Commissioner shall require that information 
relating to wages paid be provided to the Secretary of the 
Treasury not later than February 15 of the year following 
the calendar year to which such wages and self-employ-
ment income relate.’’. 
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