US Taxpayer Protection Act Proceeds Through House Committee

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

30 March 2007

The House Ways and Means Committee has approved new legislation that aims to strengthen taxpayer protection against fraud and identity theft.

The committee passed HR 1677, the Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007, by voice vote on Wednesday. The legislation, introduced by Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-NY) and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John Lewis (D-GA) drew unanimous bipartisan support for its provisions, designed to improve communication between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and taxpayers to protect them from fraudulent or predatory behavior.

“This bill improves and increases IRS outreach to provide taxpayers with stronger protections against tax fraud and identity theft” observed Lewis, who presided over the markup. “It is a shame and a crime to use schemes to steal personal information from American taxpayers, so this legislation cracks down on misleading websites and subjects them to a higher penalty for any violations.”

“We have also worked with our colleagues in the Treasury Department on their recommendation that we strengthen outreach on the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC),” added Lewis. “As a result, the Taxpayer Protection Act expands the current outreach program to help more Americans with lower incomes realize the benefit of the EITC.”

The Taxpayer Protection Act of 2007 is the result of hearings conducted by Oversight Subcommittee. It is expected that the bill will be brought to the House Floor during the week of April 17th, the tax return filing due date this year. It is said that the bill has little or no net revenue effect.

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