[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 137 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 137

 To amend title 31, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of the 
               Treasury to regulate tax return preparers.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 8, 2015

 Mr. Wyden (for himself and Mr. Cardin) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 31, United States Code, to direct the Secretary of the 
               Treasury to regulate tax return preparers.

    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 ``Taxpayer Protection and Preparer 
Proficiency Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. REGULATION OF TAX RETURN PREPARERS.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (a) of section 330 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking paragraph (1) and inserting the following:
            ``(1) regulate--
                    ``(A) the practice of representatives of persons 
                before the Department of the Treasury; and
                    ``(B) the practice of tax return preparers; and'', 
                and
            (2) in paragraph (2)--
                    (A) by inserting ``or tax return preparer'' after 
                ``representative'' each place it appears, and
                    (B) by inserting ``or in preparing their tax 
                returns, claims for refund, or documents in connection 
                with tax returns or claims for refund'' after ``cases'' 
                in subparagraph (D).
    (b) Authority To Sanction Regulated Tax Return Preparers.--
Subsection (b) of section 330 of title 31, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``before the Department'',
            (2) by inserting ``or tax return preparer'' after 
        ``representative'' each place it appears, and
            (3) in paragraph (4), by striking ``misleads or threatens'' 
        and all that follows and inserting ``misleads or threatens--
                    ``(A) any person being represented or any 
                prospective person being represented; or
                    ``(B) any person or prospective person whose tax 
                return, claim for refund, or document in connection 
                with a tax return or claim for refund, is being or may 
                be prepared.''.
    (c) Tax Return Preparer Defined.--Section 330 of title 31, United 
States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(e) Tax Return Preparer.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) In general.--The term `tax return preparer' has the 
        meaning given such term under section 7701(a)(36) of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
            ``(2) Tax return.--The term `tax return' has the meaning 
        given to the term `return' under section 6696(e)(1) of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
            ``(3) Claim for refund.--The term `claim for refund' has 
        the meaning given such term under section 6696(e)(2) of such 
        Code.''.
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