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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: (202) 225-7601 |
Congressman Amo Houghton (R-NY), Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Subcommittee is requesting written public comments for the record from all parties interested on penalty and interest provisions in the Internal Revenue Code (I.R.C.), taxpayer privacy concerns, and other taxpayer rights.
BACKGROUND:
Penalties and Interest
In 1988 and 1989, the Subcommittee held a series of hearings on the penalty and interest provisions in the I.R.C. The hearings culminated in an overhaul of the penalty and interest regimes with the enactment of the Improved Penalty Administration and Compliance Tax Act, included in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (P.L. 101-239).
In the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-206), Congress directed the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Joint Committee on Taxation to conduct studies to examine whether the current penalty and interest provisions: (1) encourage voluntary compliance, (2) operate fairly, (3) are effective deterrents to undesired behavior, and (4) are designed in a manner that promotes efficient and effective administration of the provisions by the Internal Revenue Service.
The Joint Committee on Taxation completed and released its study, Study of Present-Law Penalty and Interest Provisions as Required by Section 3801 of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (Including Provisions Relating to Corporate Tax Shelters) (JCS-3-99), on July 22, 1999. The Treasury Department completed its report, Penalty and Interest Provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, on October 25, 1999. The Subcommittee requested written comments on November 15, 1999, on the penalty and interest provisions of the I.R.C. and held a hearing on January 27, 2000.
Taxpayer Privacy
In the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998, Congress directed the Treasury Department and the Joint Committee on Taxation to examine: (1) the present protections for taxpayer privacy, (2) any need for third parties to use tax return information, (3) whether voluntary compliance could be achieved by allowing the public to know who is required, but does not, file tax returns, (4) the interrelationship of the taxpayer confidentiality provisions in the I.R.C. and other Federal privacy laws including, the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. section 552, and (5) the impact of taxpayer privacy of sharing tax return information for enforcement of State and local tax laws.
The Joint Committee on Taxation completed and released its study, Study of Present -Law Taxpayer Confidentiality and Disclosure Provisions as Required by Section 3802 of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (JCS-1-00, Vols. I, II, and III) on January 28, 2000. The Treasury Department completed its report, Report to Congress on the Scope and Use of Taxpayer Confidentiality and Disclosure Provisions, in October 2000.
On April 5, 2000, the Committee on Ways and Means marked up and favorably reported H.R. 4163, the "Taxpayer Bill of Rights 2000," which addressed several of the issues included in the studies by the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Treasury Department. The House passed the bill by a vote of 421-0 on April 11, 2000.
DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS:
Any person or organization wishing to submit a written statement for the printed record should submit six (6) single-spaced copies of their statement, along with an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, with their name, address, and comments date noted on label, by the close of business, Monday, April 2, 2001, to Allison Giles, Chief of Staff, Committee on Ways and Means, U.S. House of Representatives, 1102 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515.
FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS:
Each statement presented for printing to the Committee by a witness, any written statement or exhibit submitted for the printed record or any written comments in response to a request for written comments must conform to the guidelines listed below. Any statement or exhibit not in compliance with these guidelines will not be printed, but will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
1. All statements and any accompanying exhibits for printing must be submitted on an IBM compatible 3.5-inch diskette in WordPerfect or MS Word format, typed in single space and may not exceed a total of 10 pages including attachments. Witnesses are advised that the Committee will rely on electronic submissions for printing the official hearing record.
2. Copies of whole documents submitted as exhibit material will not be accepted for printing. Instead, exhibit material should be referenced and quoted or paraphrased. All exhibit material not meeting these specifications will be maintained in the Committee files for review and use by the Committee.
3. A witness appearing at a public hearing, or submitting a statement for the record of a public hearing, or submitting written comments in response to a published request for comments by the Committee, must include on his statement or submission a list of all clients, persons, or organizations on whose behalf the witness appears.
4. A supplemental sheet must accompany each statement listing the name, company, address, telephone and fax numbers where the witness or the designated representative may be reached. This supplemental sheet will not be included in the printed record.
The above restrictions and limitations apply only to material being submitted for printing. Statements and exhibits or supplementary material submitted solely for distribution to the Members, the press, and the public during the course of a public hearing may be submitted in other forms.
Note: All Committee advisories and news releases are available on the World Wide Web at "http://waysandmeans.house.gov".