No Bonuses for Tax Cheats Act

Bill: 114-s-2215
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Burr, Richard [R-NC]
Introduced: 2015-10-28
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Assault and harassment offenses

Department of the Treasury

Drug, alcohol, tobacco use

Fraud offenses and financial crimes

Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management

Government ethics and transparency, public corruption

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Unemployment

Wages and earnings
Latest action: action_date: 2015-10-28
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-10-28
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>No Bonuses for Tax Cheats Act</strong></p> <p>This bill prohibits the Department of the Treasury from providing any discretionary performance award to any employee of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with respect to whom there is substantial evidence of misconduct or a seriously delinquent tax debt. Treasury shall consider such a denial or withholding of a discretionary performance award as an action necessary to protect the integrity of the IRS, for purposes of any collective bargaining agreement.</p>

tv_txt: II 114th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2215 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES October 28, 2015 Mr. Burr (for himself, Mr. Manchin , Mr. Enzi , Mr. Thune , and Mr. Roberts ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To prohibit discretionary bonuses for employees of the Internal Revenue Service who have engaged in misconduct or who have delinquent tax liability.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the No Bonuses for Tax Cheats Act . 2. Restriction on discretionary bonuses for employees of the Internal Revenue Service (a) In general The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary's delegate) shall not provide any discretionary performance award to any employee of the Internal Revenue Service with respect to whom there is substantial evidence of misconduct or seriously delinquent tax debt. (b) Coordination with collective bargaining agreements For the purpose of any collective bargaining agreement with the Internal Revenue Service, the Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary's delegate) shall consider the denial or withholding of a discretionary performance award for any employee with respect to whom there is substantial evidence of misconduct described in subsection (c)(1) or seriously delinquent tax debt as an action necessary to protect the integrity of the Internal Revenue Service. (c) Terms For purposes of this section— (1) Misconduct The term misconduct includes— (A) any misuse of, or delinquency with respect to, a travel charge card obtained through the Federal Government; (B) any violation of section 1203(b) of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998; (C) any offense consisting of the possession or use of a controlled substance; (D) violent threats; (E) fraudulent behavior, including fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits and fraudulently entering attendance and leave on timesheets; and (F) any other behavior determined by the Secretary (or the Secretary's delegate) under regulations. (2) Seriously delinquent tax debt The term seriously delinquent tax debt means an outstanding debt under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for which a notice of lien has been filed in public records pursuant to section 6323 of such Code, except that such term does not include— (A) a debt that is being paid in a timely manner pursuant to an agreement under section 6159 or section 7122 of such Code; and (B) a debt with respect to which a collection due process hearing under section 6330 of such Code, or relief under subsection (a), (b), or (f) of section 6015 of such Code, is requested or pending. (3) Discretionary performance awards The term discretionary performance award includes— (A) any performance award based on an employee's performance as reflected in the most recent rating of record; (B) any special act and manager award, or any similar award based on individual or group achievements; (C) any suggestion awards based on the adoption of employee suggestions; and (D) any quality step increase or within grade pay increase based on performance ratings.