Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Darin LaHood (IL-16) – a member of the House Ways and Means Committee – introduced the Tax Administration Simplification Act to simplify the tax filing and payment processes for American families and small businesses.
Representative LaHood was joined by Representatives Suzan DelBene (WA-04), Randy Feenstra (IA-04), Brad Schneider (IL-10), Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), and Jimmy Panetta (CA-19) in introducing the legislation.
“Part of our work in strengthening the tax code is to find ways to improve tax administration and filing systems being used by millions of Americans,” said Rep. LaHood. “I am proud to introduce the bipartisan Tax Administration Simplification Act, which incorporates commonsense reforms to better streamline the tax filing process for American families, workers, and small businesses. I look forward to working with my colleagues in Congress to make government more effective, efficient, and accountable.”
Background:
The Tax Administration Simplification Act incorporates three recommendations from the National Taxpayer Advocate’s annual "Purple Book" and builds off of previous legislation aimed at streamlining the tax filing process.
The bill makes the following changes to the tax code:
- Applies the “mailbox rule” to documents and payments electronically submitted to the IRS.
- Under current law, if a taxpayer submits certain payments or documents to the IRS electronically on a given due date, but they are not processed until the next day, they would be considered late.
- The Tax Administration Simplification Act would ensure that documents and payments submitted electronically are considered made on the date submitted, even if they are not received or reviewed until a later date.
- Extends the time for making S Corporation elections.
- Under current law, many small business owners miss the deadline for electing to be treated as an S Corporation because the election deadline generally precedes the filing deadline for the corporation’s first income tax return.
- The Tax Administration Simplification Act would allow taxpayers to elect “S” status on their first timely-filed income tax return.
- Revises estimated income tax payment deadlines.
- Under current law, estimated tax payment deadlines are spaced at uneven intervals throughout the year. While these payments are often referred to as “quarterly payments,” they are currently spaced at three-month, two-month, three-month, and four-month intervals (April 15, June 15, September 15, and January 15).
- The Tax Administration Simplification Act would change the estimated tax payment deadlines to actually fall on a quarterly basis, making it easier for taxpayers to calculate their net income (April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 15).
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