{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr3832-114/featured_stolen-identity-refund-fraud-prevention-act-of-2016-1463419958.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.countable.us/bill/photo/hr3832-114/featured_large_stolen-identity-refund-fraud-prevention-act-of-2016-1463419958.jpg","shareable":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/bills/hr3832-114.png"},"introduced_on":"2015-10-26","title_override":"Keeping Identity Thieves From Stealing Tax Refunds","summary_override":"

This bill would seek to reduce identity theft from federal tax forms by requiring the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to take steps to guard against fraudulent tax returns and refund claims.

There are three actions specific steps that the IRS would be directed to take to improve the security of taxpayer information:

Require that Form 1099, which reports non-employee compensation, be filed by February 15 the year after the calendar year in which the money was earned;
Require taxpayers be notified by the Dept. of the Treasury if there’s an unauthorized use of their taxpayer identity and any criminal charges filed;
Require a taxpayer identifying number on W-2 forms instead of a Social Security number;
Impose a criminal penalty on a person who willfully misuses another person’s taxpayer identity.

The IRS would be required to:

Ensure that taxpayers who are the victims of identity theft have a centralized point of contact at the IRS;
Implement a program to allow a taxpayer who has filed an identity theft claim to choose to prevent the processing of any tax return filed electronically by someone claiming to be the taxpayer;
Report every two years to congressional committees about taxpayer identity theft and tax refund fraud, in addition to actions taken to combat it.

Additionally, this legislation would give the IRS access to information in the National Directory of New Hires for the sole purpose of identifying and preventing fraudulent tax return filings and refund claims.

","official_title":"To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prevent tax-related identity theft and tax fraud, and for other purposes.","short_title":"Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Prevention Act of 2016","popular_title":null,"short_summary":"Stolen Identity Refund Fraud Prevention Act of 2016 \n\nThis bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to take several actions to prevent and respond to tax-related identity theft and tax fraud.\n\n(Sec. 2) The Department of the Treasury must establish and maintain an office at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and procedures to ensure that any taxpayer whose return has been delayed or otherwise adversely affected due to identity theft has a centralized point of contact throughout the processing of the case. The office must coordinate with other IRS offices to resolve the case as quickly as possible.\n\n(Sec. 3) If the IRS determines that there was an unauthorized use of a taxpayer's identity, it must notify the taxpayer as soon as practicable without jeopardizing any investigation related to tax administration. The notice must include: (1) instructions for filing a police report, and (2) forms to allow law enforcement of...","summarized":true,"cost":10000000,"cost_commentary":"The CBO estimates that implementing this bill would cost about $2 million per year, or a total of $10 million over the 2017-2021 period. 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","show_argument_for":false,"show_argument_against":true,"upvote_count":0,"upvotes_for_count":null,"upvotes_against_count":0,"has_upvoted":false,"endorsement_count":0,"links":{"self":"https://www.countable.us/positions/e08d46d7-d3f9-41d9-8b6c-43d1c95cec08"},"body":"This would just complicate the process for law abiding taxpayers. ","stance":"nay","created_at":"2016-05-17T21:25:41.194Z","shareable_image_url":"https://n.countable.us/share-images/positions/e08d46d7-d3f9-41d9-8b6c-43d1c95cec08.png","note_color":null,"note_text":null,"bill_id":"hr3832-114","user_id":"49VgLzkW","endorser_ids":[]}}

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Keeping Identity Thieves From Stealing Tax Refunds