[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6327 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6327

  To make certain management reforms to the Free File program of the 
                       Internal Revenue Service.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 15, 2006

 Ms. Zoe Lofgren of California (for herself and Ms. Eshoo) introduced 
  the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 
                                 Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL



  To make certain management reforms to the Free File program of the 
                       Internal Revenue Service.

    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 ``Free File Reform Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FREE FILE PROGRAM.

    (a) Finding.--The Congress finds that it is important to make 
certain management reforms to the Free File program in order to ensure 
that the Free File program operates in an optimal manner to assist 
those taxpayers least able to afford electronically filing their 
returns of tax.
    (b) Management Reforms.--
            (1) Availability of program.--For all returns of tax filed 
        for taxable year 2006 and for subsequent taxable years during 
        which the Free File program is in effect, the Commissioner of 
        Internal Revenue shall ensure, through the range of free 
        services presented through the Free File program, that such 
        services are made available to all taxpayers eligible for the 
        program in accordance with the Agreement between the Free File 
        Alliance and the Internal Revenue Service, effective October 
        30, 2005, in particular those taxpayers eligible for the earned 
        income credit under section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1986 and other lower income, disadvantaged, and underserved 
        taxpayers.
            (2) Requirements for participating companies.--The 
        Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall also ensure that, in 
        connection with a taxpayer's participation in the Free File 
        program through a website of the Internal Revenue Service, each 
        participating company in the Free File program--
                    (A) does not market, advertise in any way, or offer 
                to sell products or services of any kind during the 
                preparation of a taxpayer's tax returns through the 
                Free File program,
                    (B) does not use information derived from the 
                content of the taxpayer's tax returns to advertise, 
                market, or sell products or services of any kind to the 
                taxpayer after the taxpayer uses the Free File program,
                    (C) offers only individual electronic tax 
                preparation and filing services that are commercial 
                services (as defined in subparagraph (F) of the 
                definition of the term ``commercial item'' in section 
                4(12) of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act 
                (41 U.S.C. 403(12)),
                    (D) in addition to other requirements of law, makes 
                available its privacy policy to each participating 
                taxpayer through the website of the Internal Revenue 
                Service, including--
                            (i) its privacy policy concerning tax 
                        return information obtained from such taxpayer, 
                        and
                            (ii) that no selling, renting or trading of 
                        such tax return information is permitted, and
                    (E) meets at least the minimum requirements for a 
                responsible source (as defined in section 4(7) of the 
                Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 
                403(7)) that would be used by the Government to 
                evaluate each such company if such company were being 
                considered as a source for the provision of commercial 
                services under a contract with the Government.
    (c) Assistance to State E-Filing.--The Commissioner of Internal 
Revenue shall also ensure that the Free File program assists State 
electronic filing objectives and programs by encouraging participating 
companies in the Free File program to voluntarily provide both Federal 
and State return preparation services free to eligible taxpayers 
residing in States with State Free File Alliances.
    (d) Free File Program Defined.--For purposes of this section, the 
term ``Free File program'' means the program established by the 
Internal Revenue Service to provide certain taxpayers with the 
opportunity to electronically file their returns of income tax free of 
charge.
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