New Taxpayer's Bill of Rights Bill

Back in January of this year, I wrote about the Taxpayer Advocate’s call for a revised Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights and mentioned the Taxpayer’s Rights Corner. A new pair of bills have been introduced, one in each chamber of Congress, to update the current Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

Rep. Xavier Becerra of California and Sen. Jeff Bingham of New Mexico have introduced identical versions of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 2012 in their respective chambers of Congress along with 7 other co-sponsors. The bill will require the IRS to update the current Taxpayer Bill of Rights to clarify the rights and responsibilities taxpayers have when they deal with the IRS. Additionally, the bill will increase funding for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs and the Low-Income Taxpayer Clinics (LITCs), back up the current RTRP program within the tax code, and speed up refunds and look into the 2011 debit card trial program. There is more mentioned in the press release on Rep. Becerra’s website but as yet the actual bill isn’t on the Thomas website (HR 6050).

It will be interested to see what happens to the bill and what other provisions are included. I’m especially interested to see what they mean by the clarification of Enrolled Agent Credentials.

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