Newhouse Introduces Legislation to Ensure Accountability from the IRS
Statement
Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) released the following statement after introducing the System Transparency and Accountability for the IRS (STAIRS) Act. Currently, tax preparers have no obligation to receive tax education, training, or competency requirements in tax return preparation, leaving families and individuals who rely on these services at risk. This legislation would establish minimum competency standards for employees of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and move the taxpayer bill of rights to the very front of the tax code.
"The IRS is not working for the American people. Before this year's tax season even began, the IRS still had millions of unprocessed returns, mainly due to input errors. In Central Washington alone, I have received numerous calls from concerned constituents who are unable to communicate with the IRS on their own, and receive threatening, misleading letters from the agency even after their cases were supposedly resolved. This is no way to run an organization, and American taxpayers deserve better." said Rep. Newhouse. "This legislation will require tax preparers to have the proper training and qualifications to fulfil their role on behalf of the American people--an important step in reducing this unnecessary and enormous backlog. It is time that the IRS works for us again."
Currently, Rep. Newhouse has over 70 open cases with the IRS on behalf of Central Washingtonians.
In January, Rep. Newhouse joined 190 Members of the House of Representatives in sending a letter to Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, urging them to address the enormous backlog the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) currently has and bring certainty and relief to American taxpayers as tax filing season begins.
In December 2021, Rep. Newhouse joined 98 of his colleagues in sending a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Charles Rettig requesting information on how the agency plans to resolve its process and prepare for the upcoming 2022 tax filing season, given the current backlog of unprocessed returns.
So far this year, there is a backlog of more than 9.6 million paper returns, and district representatives in Rep. Newhouse's office have been informed there is a processing wait time of up to 30 days for congressional inquiries.
Source