Sherman & Porter Lead 48 Colleagues in Introducing the Tax Filing Simplification Act of 2022

Press Release

Today Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA) led 48 colleagues in introducing the Tax Filing Simplification Act of 2022, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) leading 22 Senate colleagues to introduce the Senate companion. This legislation would simplify the tax filing process for millions of Americans, saving them time and money. Along with lowering costs and eliminating red tape for all taxpayers, simplified filing tools would ensure that more eligible people -- including millions of low-income Americans -- receive important tax refunds, like the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. According to recent polling, 77% of Americans support this legislation.

The Tax Filing Simplification Act makes several commonsense changes to simplify and decrease the costs of the tax filing process for millions of American taxpayers. Under the Tax Filing Simplification Act, most Americans would receive a tax return preprepared by the IRS, using the information the agency already has from employer W2s and bank 1099s. These taxpayers could hit "submit" and they would be done, or they could make changes and then hit "submit." Or they could simply ignore the IRS pre-prepared return and submit their returns just as they do now. The bill would also make a number of other important improvements to the tax filing system, including directing the IRS to develop a free, online tax preparation and filing service that would allow all taxpayers to prepare and file their taxes directly with the federal government.

"American taxpayers spend too much time and money preparing their tax returns. It doesn't have to be this way," said Congressman Brad Sherman, a CPA and Co-Chair of the Bipartisan CPA Caucus. "The Tax Filing Simplification Act represents a common-sense solution to a problem that's burdened taxpayers for too long -- simplifying the tax filing process with fewer costs and complications. Pleased to team up with Senator Warren and Congresswoman Porter in this effort to help government work better for the people."

"The average American spends 13 hours and $240 every year to file their taxes -- that's too much time and too much money. This is the result of corporations like Intuit sabotaging the Free File program to rake in large profits. Congress should pass my Tax Filing Simplification Act, and the IRS itself can and should adopt my plan to simplify the tax filing process for millions of Americans and lower their costs." said Senator Warren.

"It should be free and easy for Americans to file their taxes; instead, Orange County families have to waste time and money each year," said Congresswoman Katie Porter, a member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. "The IRS already has the information it needs to calculate tax liabilities and refunds, but corporate special interests like TurboTax have lobbied Congress for years to allow them to keep abusing taxpayers to line their pockets. Our Tax Filing Simplification Act puts people first and makes government work better for taxpayers."

[This legislation follows years of issues with the Free File program, which was outsourced by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to the tax prep industry and serves just 3% of taxpayers when 70% are eligible. Longtime Free File Alliance member Intuit has been sued for scamming taxpayers into paying for filing services that should have been free, and faced reports of ongoing abuse of revolving door tactics to defend the broken tax filing system. The Government Accountability Office recently recommended that the IRS develop additional options for free online filing, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen agreed that investing in truly free and simple tax filing tools like those proposed in this legislation is "definitely a priority".]

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