[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1913 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1913

    To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop guidance and 
procedures for the recovery of refunds relating to tax return preparer 
                                 fraud.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 2015

 Mr. Jeffries introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to develop guidance and 
procedures for the recovery of refunds relating to tax return preparer 
                                 fraud.

    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 ``Protecting American Taxpayers from 
Fraud Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to address predatory practices in low 
income communities by some tax return preparers.

SEC. 3. REFERRAL PROCEDURES FOR RECOVERY OF REFUNDS FOR TAXPAYERS 
              DEFRAUDED BY EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS OF TAX PREPARATION 
              FIRMS.

    The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary's delegate) shall 
develop referral procedures for, and establish a liaison to, tax 
preparation firms to seek recovery of refunds for taxpayers defrauded 
by employees or agents of tax preparation firms. In developing such 
procedures, the Secretary (or the Secretary's delegate) shall ensure 
that there is coordination among the following entities within the 
Internal Revenue Service: Taxpayer Advocate Service, Wage & Investment 
Division, Criminal Investigation, Office of the Chief Counsel, Return 
Preparer Office, and Office of Professional Responsibility.

SEC. 4. COMPREHENSIVE GUIDANCE FOR THE TREATMENT OF ALL CLAIMS FOR 
              REFUNDS RELATING TO TAX RETURN PREPARER FRAUD.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary's 
delegate) shall develop comprehensive guidance for the treatment by the 
Internal Revenue Service of all claims for refunds relating to tax 
return preparer fraud. Such guidance shall provide a clear description 
the rights and responsibilities of taxpayers, including the following:
            (1) Mitigation.--Actions taken by the taxpayer to prevent 
        the preparer fraud or to minimize the loss.
            (2) Restitution.--Actions taken by the taxpayer to receive 
        restitution relating to tax return preparer fraud and whether 
        the taxpayer has received any restitution.
            (3) Substantiation.--Actions taken by the taxpayer to 
        substantiate a claim of fraud, including one or more of the 
        following, if available:
                    (A) Providing a copy of the unaltered return of tax 
                (if provided by the preparer).
                    (B) Providing a business card, flyer, or other 
                advertisement with the preparer's contact information.
                    (C) Providing a copy of any refund traces 
                requested.
                    (D) Providing a copy of bank statements showing the 
                expected refund was not deposited into the victim's 
                account.
                    (E) Providing a taxpayer statement regarding the 
                fraud, which shall be signed under penalties of 
                perjury.
                    (F) Filing a report or complaint with local law 
                enforcement authorities.
    (b) Guidance Relating to Restitution.--The Secretary shall, in the 
guidance developed for restitution--
            (1) place the emphasis on restitution received by the 
        taxpayer and making the taxpayer whole relative to the cash 
        value of assets that have already been transferred to the 
        taxpayer,
            (2) not reduce restitution on the basis of either 
        anticipated or court mandated (but not yet collected) payments, 
        and
            (3) provide for a claw-back procedure to ensure that 
        restitution ultimately paid to the taxpayer, subsequent to the 
        restitution provided by the Internal Revenue Service, would be 
        remitted to the Internal Revenue Service.
                                 <all>