On September 30 the U.S. Senate approved the Taxpayer Assistance and Service (TAS) Act by unanimous consent. The package of 65 reforms aims to modernize the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), strengthen taxpayer rights and improve how the agency administers the tax code. The House of Representatives must act on the bill in the lame duck session of the 119^th Congress or the legislation will effectively die at the end of the current session. The bill could be reintroduced in the 120^th Congress, which will be seated in early January 2027.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) wrote the bill together. “The process of filing your tax return and receiving your refund should be simple and fast,” Sen. Crapo said in a statement. “These reforms will improve the taxpayer experience and help the IRS better serve Idahoans and all Americans.”

Sen. Wyden concurred, saying this legislation has been in the works for years. He called it a “major opportunity” for improved IRS service. “One of the most absurd things about our tax system is that its complexity forces millions of Americans to turn to paid tax return preparers ever year, but there are zero minimum standards in place to ensure those paid preparers actually know what they’re doing or follow the law,” Wyden said. “Crooked tax return preparers are regularly exploiting taxpayers to pad their own bottom lines, and the worst part is, taxpayers might not even realize they’ve been ripped off until it’s too late.”

The package includes provisions to:

• Offer online dashboards and callbacks, and require continuing education and background checks for all paid preparers.
• Require the IRS to publish a taxpayer dashboard with real-time information on backlogs, and to expand electronic status information for return and refund processing.
• Allow the Tax Court to hear lawsuits over refunds and credits.
• Require the IRS to give the Taxpayer Advocate Service timely access to internal records, legal advice and meetings.

Crapo and Wyden introduced the bipartisan bill on February 26 of this year, and the Senate Finance Committee approved it by a vote of 26-1 on July 30. The bill has the backing of the National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, who helped shape the legislation, as well as organizations such as the American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights and the National Taxpayer Union.

The House can take up the bill after it returns on November 9, although its path there is uncertain. The House Ways and Means Committee and the full House have approved various individual taxpayer-service bills over the past year, but the House has not yet considered the full package. Ways and Means has mostly been moving pieces of tax legislation separately, some of which overlap with the TAS Act. It remains unclear whether the House will take up the Senate bill as written, seek changes, or use it as a framework for a broader year-end package. If the House passes the identical text, the bill would go to the president for his signature.