Taxpayer Economic Hardship Protection Act of 2015

Bill: 114-hr-1979
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Watson Coleman, Bonnie [D-NJ-12]
Introduced: 2015-04-22
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Debt collection

Department of the Treasury

Employee performance

Internal Revenue Service (IRS)

Performance measurement

Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Latest action: action_date: 2015-04-22
text: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Summaries:
action_date: 2015-04-22
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><strong>Taxpayer Economic Hardship Protection Act of 2015 </strong></p> <p>This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service to take certain actions to protect taxpayers in economic hardship from a tax levy, including the adoption of procedures and guidelines that consider the possibility that a taxpayer is in economic hardship before issuing a levy. </p>

tv_txt: I 114th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1979 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 22, 2015 Mrs. Watson Coleman (for herself, Ms. Norton , Mr. Meeks , and Mrs. Lawrence ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To strengthen the protections from levy by the Internal Revenue Service for taxpayers in economic hardship.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Taxpayer Economic Hardship Protection Act of 2015 . 2. Protection from levy for taxpayers in economic hardship The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall take the following actions to protect taxpayers in economic hardship from levy: (1) Establish quality review procedures that measure whether employees of the Internal Revenue Service identified and considered the possibility that a taxpayer was in economic hardship before levying. (2) Establish quality review procedures that measure whether, in each case in which an employee of the Internal Revenue Service identifies economic hardship of a taxpayer, the employee adhered to the decision by the United States Tax Court entitled, Vinatieri against Commissioner (133 T.C. 392 (2009)), by placing the account of the taxpayer in a currently not collectible status rather than levying on the taxpayer. (3) Develop, and publish as part of the Internal Revenue Manual, guidelines for how collection employees of the Internal Revenue Service, on the basis of information in Internal Revenue Service and third-party databases, should consider the possibility that a taxpayer is in economic hardship before issuing a levy. (4) Adjust the Federal Payment Levy Program low income filter to include accounts with unfiled returns. (5) Inform collection employees of the Internal Revenue Service of procedural changes described in the preceding paragraphs by issuing a separate alert and a memorandum. (6) Update training materials and job aids to reflect the decision of the United States Tax Court entitled, Vinatieri against Commissioner (133 T.C. 392 (2009)) and the changes to the Internal Revenue Manual made in 2013 relating to liability collection (part 5, chapter 19) and notice of levy (part 5, chapter 11).