Tax Hot Topics
The House of Representatives recently advanced multiple bipartisan tax administration and taxpayer relief bills. All passed the chamber by voice vote or with an overwhelming bipartisan vote.
- The Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance (BARCODE) Efficiency Act (H.R. 6956) would require the IRS to use scannable barcodes and optical character recognition technology on paper tax returns for faster processing and was authored by Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and
- The Supporting Early-Childhood Educators’ Deductions Act (SEED Act) (H.R. 5334) would extend the $350 above-the-line deduction for classroom expenses paid out of pocket by educators to preschool teachers and was authored by Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.
- The Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act (H.R. 5366) would extend a more generous deduction for personal casualty losses from natural disasters to Jan. 1, 2027, and was authored by Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., Panetta, and the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa, a California Republican who died in January.
- The Survivor Justice Tax Prevention Act (H.R. 2347) would ensure compensatory damages from sexual assault-related legal cases are exempt from gross income calculations, without a requirement that victims prove visible physical injury and was authored by Rep. Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., and Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis.
- The Taxpayer Experience Improvement Act (H.R. 7971) would require the IRS to create a dashboard allowing taxpayers to track their refunds and expand online accounts and was authored by Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., and Rep. Don Beyer, D-Va.
- The IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act (H.R. 7959) would make minor changes to whistleblower rules for tax-related whistleblowers and was authored by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Thompson.
- The Taxpayer Notification and Privacy Act (H.R. 6495) would require the IRS to tell taxpayers what information it plans to request from third parties during an audit while providing taxpayers the opportunity to supply the necessary information. The bill was authored by Steube and Panetta.
Grant Thornton insight:
Several of these provisions were also in a larger package introduced in March by Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act (S. 3931).
House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., has taken the approach throughout this Congress of bringing up more narrow, bipartisan bills on tax administration, but House passage of these bills could set the stage for negotiations later this year on a bipartisan tax bill.
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