Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1152) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for the application of the mailbox rule to documents and payments electronically submitted to the Internal Revenue Service, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1152

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act''. SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF MAILBOX RULE TO DOCUMENTS AND PAYMENTS ELECTRONICALLY SUBMITTED TO THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE.

(a) In General.--Section 7502(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--

(1) in the heading, by inserting ``and Payment'' after ``Filing'',

(2) in paragraph (2)--

(A) in the heading, by striking ``; electronic filing'', and

(B) by striking ``and electronic filing'', and

(3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

``(3) Electronic filing and payment.--

``(A) In general.--If any return, claim, statement, or other document required to be filed, or any payment required to be made, within a prescribed period or on or before a prescribed date under authority of any provision of the internal revenue laws is sent electronically by any person to the agency, officer, or office with which such return, claim, statement, or other document is required to be filed, or to which such payment is required to be made, the date on which such return, claim, statement, or other document, or payment, is sent electronically by such person shall be deemed to be the date of delivery or the date of payment, as the case may be, regardless of the date on which the applicable agency, officer, or office receives or reviews such return, claim, statement, document, or payment.

``(B) Regulations.--Not later than December 31, 2025, the Secretary shall issue such regulations or other guidance as the Secretary determines necessary to carry out the purposes of this paragraph.''.

(b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to any document or payment sent after December 31, 2025.

Mr. Speaker, the April 15 deadline to file one's taxes is rapidly approaching. Right now, if a taxpayer mails a payment or tax return to the IRS that is postmarked by midnight on the due date, the payment or tax return will be considered timely even if it is received a week later. Under current law, taxpayers who file electronically do not receive the same treatment. If a taxpayer submits the same payment or return electronically on the due date, it may be considered late if the IRS receives it and processes it the next day.

In fiscal year 2023, more than 213 million returns and other forms, 79 percent of all filings, were filed electronically. Not only are electronic payments faster and easier to process, but they also eliminate the risk of theft that we have seen recently with checks, like in Representative Malliotakis' district, for example.

If Congress doesn't correct this, taxpayers could potentially be on the hook for late penalties through no fault of their own.

H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, is bipartisan legislation that will harmonize IRS deadline rules to ensure that electronic payments or documents submitted by taxpayers will be treated the same as postmarked mail.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives LaHood, Feenstra, Fitzpatrick, DelBene, Panetta, and Schneider for their leadership on this bill. This is a simple, commonsense fix to tax administration that will save taxpayers time and money.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support it, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, the bill before us is simple. Those taxpayers who will be filing their taxes electronically on April 15, just a couple of weeks from now, should be treated the same as taxpayers who use postmarked mail.

Unfortunately, under current law, that is not always the case. If a taxpayer submits a payment or return electronically by midnight on the due date, it could still be considered late if the IRS does not process it until the next day.

H.R. 1152, the Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act, will harmonize IRS deadline rules so taxpayers receive equal treatment whether they file electronically or through the mail.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense legislation to help level the playing field for American taxpayers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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