Portman legislation to create Taxpayer Bill of Rights and address IRS abuse included in year-end tax legislation

U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) released the following statement regarding the inclusion of three bills that he authored to create a taxpayer bill of rights and address IRS abuse in year-end tax extenders legislation.

The bills, The Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act, the Prevent Targeting at the IRS Act and the Fair Treatment for All Donations Act, were introduced by Portman on tax day, April 15, 2015.
  
“These bills clearly define taxpayer rights, terminate IRS employees who target Americans based on their political beliefs, and ensure that taxpayers aren’t taxed on their gifts to tax-exempt organizations,” Portman said. “Our tax code and its administration have become an obstacle to growth, and these reforms are a step toward ensuring that the IRS works for the American people, not the other way around. There needs to be accountability at the IRS, and I hope that these bills being enacted into law will be a start to getting there.”
 

[[In-content Ad]]When the bills were introduced this April, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said, “[s]ince 2007, I have been recommending that Congress codify a principles-based Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The 10 rights included in this legislation were developed by my office and refined on the basis of numerous focus groups we conducted with taxpayers and preparers. I believe enactment of these rights would constitute a landmark achievement for taxpayers, helping them to better understand and exercise their rights and pinpointing where gaps exist in the protection of taxpayer rights that may require additional statutory protections.”


The Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act will provide transparency, assistance, and clearly defined rights for taxpayers when dealing with the IRS. Specifically, the legislation says that taxpayers have the right to be informed; the right to be assisted; the right to be heard; the right to pay not more than the correct amount of tax; the right to appeal; the right to certainty; the right to privacy; the right to confidentiality; the right to representation; and the right to a fair and just tax system.
 
The Prevent Targeting at the IRS Act authorizes the IRS to terminate employees who target individuals based on their political beliefs. The bill will allow for the termination of any IRS employee who, for political purposes, undertakes official action with respect to a taxpayer or, depending on the circumstance, delays or fails to take action.
 
The Fair Treatment for All Donations Act will permanently ensure donations to nonprofit organizations are not subject to the gift tax. Since the gift tax’s enactment in 1932, it has been inconsistently applied to donations to tax-exempt organizations. This bill would codify the IRS’s current interpretation that the tax does not apply to these donations, giving taxpayers certainty and ensuring that the tax can’t be applied based on a donor’s political beliefs.