[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2044 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2044

   To improve transparency and efficiency with respect to audits and 
   communications between taxpayers and the Internal Revenue Service.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 26, 2014

Mrs. Fischer (for herself, Mr. Inhofe, and Mr. Johanns) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To improve transparency and efficiency with respect to audits and 
   communications between taxpayers and 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 ``Taxpayer Accountability Act''.

SEC. 2. DEADLINE FOR RESPONSES TO TAXPAYER CORRESPONDENCE.

    Not later than 30 days after receiving any written correspondence 
from a taxpayer, the Internal Revenue Service shall provide a 
substantive written response. For purposes of the preceding sentence, 
an acknowledgment letter shall not be treated as a substantive 
response.

SEC. 3. TAXPAYER NOTIFICATION OF DISCLOSURES BY IRS OF TAXPAYER 
              INFORMATION.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 30 days after disclosing any 
taxpayer information to any agency or instrumentality of Federal, 
State, or local government, the Internal Revenue Service shall provide 
a written notification to the taxpayer describing--
            (1) the information disclosed,
            (2) to whom it was disclosed, and
            (3) the date of disclosure.
    (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply if the Secretary of 
the Treasury, or the Secretary's designee, determines that such 
notification would be detrimental to an ongoing criminal investigation 
or pose a risk to national security.

SEC. 4. DEADLINE FOR CONCLUSION OF AUDITS OF INDIVIDUAL TAXPAYERS.

    Any audit of a tax return of an individual by the Internal Revenue 
Service shall be concluded not later than 1 year after the date of the 
initiation of such audit and the Internal Revenue Service shall not 
assess any tax with respect to which such audit relates after the 
conclusion of such audit.
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