Free File Program Act of 2013 - Authorizes and directs the Secretary of the Treasury to continue to implement and operate the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File program (free online individual income tax preparation and electronic filing services provided by the private sector technology industry to lower income taxpayers).
[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 495 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 495
To make the Internal Revenue Service Free File Program permanent.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
February 5, 2013
Mr. Roskam (for himself and Mr. Kind) introduced the following bill;
which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To make the Internal Revenue Service Free File Program permanent.
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 ``Free File Program Act of 2013''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Free File program as
established by the IRS pursuant to public rulemaking and set
forth in the Federal Register, Vol. 67, No. 213, Monday,
November 4, 2002, pages 67247-67251, and in implementing
agreements and governing rules and requirements between the IRS
and the tax software and electronic industry in 2002, 2005, and
2009, has been successful and significant in the efforts of the
Federal Government to increase the electronic filing of
individual income tax returns.
(2) By the end of the current tax return filing season
around 40,000,000 Federal individual income tax returns will
have been prepared and filed electronically for free under the
IRS Free File program.
(3) The IRS Free File program offers Federal individual
income tax return preparation and electronic filing services to
more than 70 percent of taxpayers, approximately 98,000,000
taxpayers at the end of the current tax filing period, at no
cost to the taxpayers or to the Federal Government from tax
software and electronic filing companies participating in the
program, currently 16 companies.
(4) By the end of the current tax return filing season, it
is estimated that the IRS Free File program will have saved
taxpayers approximately $1,110,000,000 and will have saved the
Federal Government hundreds of millions of dollars.
(5) Under the IRS Free File program, the IRS and the
companies participating in the program have made substantial
improvements to the program to provide better products and
services to eligible taxpayers.
(6) The IRS Free File program must be maintained in order
to reach and maintain Congress' goal as set forth in the
Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998
of having 80 percent of all Federal individual income tax
returns filed electronically.
(7) The IRS and the participating tax preparation companies
have integrated the IRS Free File program with State tax
systems to enable taxpayers to also file their State tax
returns in conjunction with their IRS Free File filings.
(8) Twenty-two States and the District of Columbia now
operate a Free File program patterned after the IRS Free File
program again at no cost to the State taxpayers or the State
governments.
(9) At the end of the current tax return filing season, it
is estimated that the Free File States will have saved hundreds
of millions of dollars collectively.
SEC. 3. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE FREE FILE PROGRAM.
(a) The Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate, is authorized
and directed to continue to implement and operate the Internal Revenue
Service (IRS) Free File program as established by the IRS in the public
rulemaking of November 4, 2002, and subsequent agreements and governing
rules established pursuant thereto in 2002, 2005, and 2009.
(b) The IRS Free File program shall continue to provide free online
individual income tax preparation and electronic filing services to
lower income, working poor, underprivileged, disadvantaged, or
underserved populations that comprise 70 percent of the lowest income
taxpayers.
(c) The Internal Revenue Service shall continue to work
cooperatively with the private sector technology industry through the
Free File Alliance in providing free individual income tax preparation
and electronic filing services and shall not compete with the private
sector in providing these services to taxpayers, nor acquire, develop,
or deploy enabling systems to duplicate or replace private tax
preparation services.
(d) The Secretary of the Treasury, or his delegate, may not
establish, develop, sponsor, acquire, or make available individual
income tax preparation software or electronic filing services that are
offered under the IRS Free File program, except through the IRS Free
File program, the Internal Revenue Service's Taxpayer Assistance
Centers, Tax Counseling for the Elderly, and volunteer income tax
assistance (VITA) programs.
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Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
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