[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9481 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9481

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve responses by the 
 Internal Revenue Service to claims for refund, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 25, 2026

  Ms. Ross (for herself, Mr. Panetta, and Ms. DeLauro) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve responses by the 
 Internal Revenue Service to claims for refund, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Restoring Efficiency in Taxpayer 
Updates, Refunds, and Notifications Act'' or the ``RETURN Act''.

SEC. 2. RESPONSES TO CLAIMS FOR REFUND REQUIRED.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (l) of section 6402 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
    ``(l) Explanation of Reason for Refund Disallowance.--
            ``(1) In general.--Not later than the applicable date, the 
        Secretary shall review any claim for refund, make a 
        determination with respect to such claim, and, in the case of a 
        disallowance of such claim (in whole or in part), provide the 
        taxpayer with a detailed written explanation for such 
        disallowance, which shall--
                    ``(A) be mailed to the last known address of the 
                taxpayer, and
                    ``(B) in the case of any taxpayer entitled to an 
                appeal of such determination, include instructions for 
                appealing such disallowance to the Internal Revenue 
                Service Independent Office of Appeals.
            ``(2) Failure to make timely determination.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of any claim for 
                refund for which the Secretary fails to satisfy the 
                requirements of paragraph (1) by the applicable date, 
                for purposes of determining interest on any overpayment 
                for any period subsequent to such date, the overpayment 
                rate (as established under section 6621(a)(1)) shall be 
                increased by 1 percentage point.
                    ``(B) Limitation.--With respect to any claim for 
                refund described in subparagraph (A), the amount of any 
                increase in interest on any overpayment pursuant to 
                such subparagraph shall not exceed $500.
                    ``(C) Adjustment for inflation.--
                            ``(i) In general.--In the case of any claim 
                        for refund filed during any calendar year 
                        beginning after 2026, the $500 amount in 
                        subparagraph (B) shall be increased by an 
                        amount equal to--
                                    ``(I) such dollar amount, 
                                multiplied by
                                    ``(II) the cost-of-living 
                                adjustment determined under section 
                                1(f)(3) for the calendar year, 
                                determined by substituting `calendar 
                                year 2024' for `calendar year 2016' in 
                                subparagraph (A)(ii) thereof.
                            ``(ii) Rounding.--If any amount determined 
                        under clause (i) is not a multiple of $50, such 
                        amount shall be rounded to the nearest multiple 
                        of $50.
            ``(3) Frivolous claims.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of any frivolous 
                claim--
                            ``(i) paragraph (1) shall not apply, and
                            ``(ii) not later than the applicable date, 
                        written notification of the denial of such 
                        claim shall be mailed to the last known address 
                        of the taxpayer.
                    ``(B) Definition.--For purposes of this paragraph, 
                the term `frivolous claim' means a claim for refund 
                which is based on a position which--
                            ``(i) a Federal court has determined to be 
                        frivolous, and
                            ``(ii) the Secretary has identified as 
                        frivolous for purposes of subsection (c) of 
                        section 6702.
            ``(4) Applicable date.--For purposes of this subsection, 
        the term `applicable date' means, with respect to any claim for 
        refund--
                    ``(A) the date which is 12 months after the date of 
                receipt of such claim by the Secretary, or
                    ``(B) such other date as is agreed to by the 
                Secretary and the taxpayer.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to any claim for refund received after the date which is 12 months 
after the date of enactment of this Act.
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