[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1337 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1337
To temporarily prohibit the hiring of additional Internal Revenue
Service employees until a certain level of taxpayer services have
improved, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 27, 2023
Mr. Thune (for himself and Ms. Collins) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To temporarily prohibit the hiring of additional Internal Revenue
Service employees until a certain level of taxpayer services have
improved, and for other purposes.
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 ``Increase Reliable Services Now
Act''.
SEC. 2. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION ON ADDITIONAL TAX ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the
Internal Revenue Service may not hire any person for the purpose of
conducting enforcement activities during the period beginning on the
date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the first date after
such date on which--
(1) the Internal Revenue Service has maintained, for 6
consecutive months--
(A) a level of access for accounts management phone
lines of not less than 90 percent; and
(B) an average speed of answering enterprise-wide
calls in 4 minutes or less; and
(2) not less than 90 percent of the regular employees of
the Internal Revenue Service perform work in person at their
job sites.
(b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
(1) Enforcement activities.--The term ``enforcement
activities'' means activities described in section
10301(a)(1)(A)(ii) of Public Law 117-169.
(2) Level of access.--The term ``level of access'' means a
telephone performance measure that reflects overall taxpayer
call demand and Internal Revenue Service assistance and is
calculated by dividing--
(A) the sum of assistor calls answered and the
automated calls answered; by
(B) the total dialed number attempts (not including
any dialed number attempts after hours).
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF ADDITIONAL INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE FUNDS
FOR TAXPAYER AUDITS.
Section 10301(a)(1)(A)(ii) of Public Law 117-169 is amended by
inserting before the period at the end the following: ``: Provided
further, That the Internal Revenue Service shall not audit taxpayers
with taxable incomes below $400,000 at a greater rate than such
taxpayers were audited for the most recent taxable year beginning
before the date of the enactment of this Act''.
SEC. 4. TEMPORARY PROHIBITION ON INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE HIRING.
(a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, the
Internal Revenue Service may not hire any person (other than for
activities related to return processing and call center operations)
during the period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act
and ending on the first date after such date on which the Internal
Revenue Service meets the requirements of subsection (b).
(b) Requirements.--The requirements specified in this subsection
are the following:
(1) With respect to the completion of processing original
and amended tax returns, the completion of processing suspended
tax returns, and the resolution of accounts management cases,
the Internal Revenue Service has an aggregate inventory not in
excess of 5,000,000 items as of the close of any calendar
quarter.
(2) With respect to tax returns eligible for a refund,
refunds are issued to taxpayers on average within six weeks or
less of the receipt of the return.
SEC. 5. REPORTS.
(a) In General.--Not later than 7 days after the last day of each
calendar quarter beginning during the applicable period, the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue, in consultation with the Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration, shall submit to the
appropriate Congressional committees report on--
(1) the level of access for accounts management phone lines
for each month during such calendar quarter;
(2) the average speed of answering enterprise-wide calls
for each month during such calendar quarter;
(3) the percentage of regular employees of the Internal
Revenue Service that perform work in person at their job sites
during such calendar quarter;
(4) the aggregate inventory of unprocessed original and
amended tax returns, unprocessed suspended tax returns, and
unresolved accounts management cases as of the last day of the
calendar quarter; and
(5) with respect to tax returns eligible for a refund, the
average length of time between receipt of a tax return and the
issuance of a refund.
(b) Applicable Period.--For purposes of this section, the term
``applicable period'' means the period beginning with the first
calendar quarter beginning after the date of the enactment of this Act
and ending with the first calendar quarter in which the Internal
Revenue Service--
(1) has met the requirements under paragraphs (1) and (2)
of section 2(a); and
(2) has met the requirements of section 4(b).
(c) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--For purposes of this
section, the term ``appropriate Congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
(2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(3) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives; and
(4) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
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