RETURN Act

[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 474 Introduced in House (IH)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 474

 To ensure that employees of the Internal Revenue Service are brought 
    back to their offices until the backlog of tax returns has been 
                              eliminated.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 24, 2023

  Mr. Meuser introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To ensure that employees of the Internal Revenue Service are brought 
    back to their offices until the backlog of tax returns has been 
                              eliminated.

    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 ``Require Employees To Uniformly 
Return Now Act'' or the ``RETURN Act''.

SEC. 2. BRINGING IRS EMPLOYEES BACK TO THE OFFICE.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, in the 
case of an applicable employee, such employee shall not be authorized 
to telework during the period--
            (1) beginning on the date that is 5 business days after the 
        date of enactment of this Act, and
            (2) ending on the date on which the Commissioner of 
        Internal Revenue certifies that the processing backlog with 
        respect to income tax returns for all taxable years has been 
        eliminated.
    (b) Definitions.--In this section--
            (1) Applicable employee.--The term ``applicable employee'' 
        means an employee of the Internal Revenue Service who, as of 
        the date of enactment of this Act, is authorized to telework, 
        on a temporary or permanent basis, pursuant to a policy 
        established by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in response 
        to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
            (2) Telework.--The term ``telework'' has the same meaning 
        given such term under section 6501(3) of title 5, United States 
        Code.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON OBLIGATION OF FUNDS UNTIL IRS BACKLOG IS 
              ELIMINATED.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of the 
Treasury (or the Secretary's delegate) may not obligate the funds 
appropriated to the Internal Revenue Service under section 10301 of the 
Inflation Reduction Act (Public Law 117-169) until the date described 
in section 2(a)(2).
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