[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1767 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1767

 To prevent corporate auditors from providing tax shelter services to 
                          their audit clients.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 21, 2003

  Mr. Levin (for himself, Mr. McCain, and Mr. Baucus) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To prevent corporate auditors from providing tax shelter services to 
                          their audit clients.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Auditor Independence and Tax 
Shelters Act''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON AUDITORS PROVIDING TAX SHELTER SERVICES TO AUDIT 
              CLIENTS.

    Section 10A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78j-
1) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``section, 
                the term'' and inserting the following: ``section--
            ``(1) the term'';
                    (B) by striking ``law. As used in this section, the 
                term'' and inserting the following: ``law;
            ``(2) the term''; and
                    (C) by striking the period at the end and inserting 
                the following: ``; and
            ``(3) the term `tax shelter services' means services 
        provided by a registered public accounting firm (or by an 
        associated person of that firm) to an issuer, or an officer or 
        director of an issuer, to design, organize, promote, assist, or 
        execute any investment, entity, plan, arrangement, or 
        transaction for which a significant purpose is the avoidance or 
        evasion of Federal income tax by such issuer, or an officer or 
        director of such issuer, whether acting as a direct or indirect 
        participant, and for which such firm may receive fees in excess 
        of $100,000 in the aggregate.'';
            (2) in subsection (g)--
                    (A) in paragraph (8), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) by redesignating paragraph (9) as paragraph 
                (10); and
                    (C) by inserting after paragraph (8) the following:
            ``(9) tax shelter services; and'';
            (3) in subsection (h)--
                    (A) by inserting ``other than tax shelter 
                services'' after ``tax services''; and
                    (B) by striking ``(9)'' and inserting ``(10)''; and
            (4) in subsection (i)(1)--
                    (A) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 
                subparagraph (C); and
                    (B) by inserting after subparagraph (A) the 
                following:
                    ``(B) Assurance of auditor independence.--Before 
                preapproving a non-audit service that is not otherwise 
                prohibited under this section, the audit committee of 
                an issuer shall--
                            ``(i) determine whether there is a 
                        reasonable likelihood that provision of the 
                        non-audit service would impair the independence 
                        of the registered public accounting firm by 
                        resulting in the firm--
                                    ``(I) auditing its own work for the 
                                issuer;
                                    ``(II) performing a management 
                                function for the issuer;
                                    ``(III) advocating in a public 
                                forum for the issuer; or
                                    ``(IV) promoting the stock or other 
                                financial interest of the issuer; and
                            ``(ii) if the audit committee determines 
                        that such a reasonable likelihood exists, the 
                        audit committee shall not provide advance 
                        approval of such service under this section.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    This Act, and the amendments made by this Act, shall take effect on 
the date of enactment of this Act, and shall apply to any tax shelter 
service, as defined in section 10A of the Securities Exchange Act of 
1934, as amended by this Act, that is submitted for preapproval to the 
audit committee of an issuer or is provided by a registered public 
accounting firm to an issuer in accordance with that section 10A on or 
after the date of enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>