This bill requires paper tax returns and paper correspondence received by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to be converted into electronic data using scanning technology. If a tax return was prepared electronically but printed and filed on paper, the paper copy must include a scannable code that converts the return data into electronic format. The IRS is required to use barcode scanning for those returns and to use optical character recognition (OCR) technology (or similar) to transcribe returns not prepared electronically and paper correspondence. The Secretary of the Treasury may exempt the IRS from using these technologies if the Secretary determines they are slower or less reliable than manual transcription or other IRS processes; any such exemption requires a report to the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee within 30 days. The bill sets phased-in effective dates: individual income returns begin the first January 1 at least 180 days after enactment; estate and gift returns begin the first January 1 at least 24 months after enactment; other returns and correspondence begin the first January 1 at least 12 months after enactment.
No publicly available information on estimated costs or savings to taxpayers, tax software developers, or the IRS is included in the bill text or the provided metadata.
The bill’s title and provisions indicate supporters aim to automate conversion of paper tax returns and correspondence into electronic data to organize processing and improve efficiency.
No publicly available information on opponents’ views or objections is included in the bill text or the provided metadata.