House Passes Taxpayer Rights Legislation

On April 15, 2008, in what has become something of an annual ritual on April 15, the House passed this year’s version of taxpayer rights legislation -- the Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Bill of 2008 (H.R. 5719). Among the provisions included in the legislation are a modification of the standard for imposition of tax return preparer penalties, a extension of the time limit for return of property for wrongful levy, an individual hold harmless on an improper levy on an individual retirement plan, taxpayer notification of suspected identity theft, a prohibition of the misuse of Treasury Department names and symbols, a clarification of IRS unclaimed refund authority, employment tax treatment of home care service recipients, a prohibition on providing IRS debt indicators for predatory refund anticipation loans, and a couple of provisions to help low-income taxpayers get tax assistance.

The two most controversial provisions in the legislation are a repeal of private tax collection contracts and a health savings account substantiation requirement. The presence of these two provisions has made its future in the Senate cloudy and has resulted in a White House veto threat.