Erroneous Tax Refund Fairness Act

Erroneous Tax Refund Fairness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to require the Secretary of the Treasury to abate interest on erroneous refund checks without regard to the amount of the refund check (current law provides for no abatement for refund checks exceeding $50,000 or for erroneous refunds caused by the taxpayer or a related third party). Authorizes the Secretary to deny abatement if the taxpayer received notice of the erroneous refund before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made demand for repayment and did not attempt to resolve the issue within 30 days.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 726 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 726

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require the abatement of 
 interest on erroneous refund checks without regard to the size of the 
                                refund.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 9, 2005

 Ms. Loretta Sanchez of California (for herself, Mr. Butterfield, Ms. 
Millender-McDonald, Mr. Moore of Kansas, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota, and 
  Mr. Evans) 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 require the abatement of 
 interest on erroneous refund checks without regard to the size of the 
                                refund.

    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 ``Erroneous Tax Refund Fairness Act''.

SEC. 2. ABATEMENT OF INTEREST.

    (a) Abatement of Interest With Respect to Erroneous Refund Check 
Without Regard to Size of Refund.--Paragraph (2) of section 6404(e) of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``unless--'' 
and all that follows and inserting ``unless the taxpayer (or a related 
party) has in any way caused such erroneous refund. Notwithstanding the 
preceding sentence, the Secretary is authorized in his discretion not 
to abate all or any part of such interest if the Secretary establishes 
that the taxpayer received notice of the erroneous refund before the 
date of demand and the taxpayer did not attempt to resolve the issue 
with the Internal Revenue Service within 30 days after receipt of such 
notice.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
with respect to interest accruing on or after the date of the enactment 
of this Act.
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