A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase criminal and civil penalties for unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information, and for other purposes.

This bill would raise the criminal penalties for unauthorized disclosure of federal tax return information from a fine of up to $5,000 or up to 5 years in prison to a fine of up to $250,000 or up to 7 years in prison. It would make it a felony for an IRS contractor to willfully fail to follow required safeguards if that failure leads to an unauthorized disclosure of tax information. A convicted contractor would be fined the greater of $500,000 or 25 percent of the amount obligated under its IRS contracts in the first year it had access to the information. The bill would require the IRS to notify taxpayers when someone is criminally charged under this new contractor offense, and would raise the minimum civil damages per unauthorized disclosure from $1,000 to $5,000. The changes would apply to disclosures or inspections made after the bill becomes law.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Steve Daines Republican sponsor
• 1 cosponsors