The House is set to vote next week on a set of bipartisan reforms to the IRS, including guarantees for taxpayers to appeal in disputes, guardrails on asset seizures, and information securities measures.
The vote will be one of a number of events tied to Tax Day, April 15.
Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, the Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee with oversight of the tax agency, called it “the biggest redesign of the IRS in 20 years, one that creates a taxpayer-first service agency, reins in the IRS’ abuses, really puts taxpayers more on a level playing field.”
The package includes a dozen bills that were written on a bipartisan basis and cleared the committee on voice votes.
The legislation is short of the complete bust-up of the IRS that Republicans said they favored last year, but it includes several reforms sought by different interests and groups.
In addition to codifying protections for people in disputes with the IRS and setting new cybersecurity rules, the legislative package would give taxpayers new protections in the case of the IRS seizing their assets. It also would require the agency to update some of its technology and require more entities to file electronically.
Also, it would change the title of the IRS chief. He currently is known as the “commissioner of Internal Revenue.’’ Under the legislation, he would be called the ‘‘administrator of the Internal Revenue Service.”
