Earned Income and Child Tax Credits Outreach Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 574 To require the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct outreach to inform certain individuals of their potential eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin (for herself, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. BEYER, Mr. SUOZZI, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. COHEN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. BONAMICI, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. HAS- TINGS, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. CARSON, Mr. RUSH, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. WELCH, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. HORSFORD, Mr. NADLER, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. POCAN, Mr. RYAN, Mr. LAR- SON of Connecticut, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Mrs. LAWRENCE, and Ms. DELAURO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Ways and Means A BILL To require the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct outreach to inform certain individuals of their potential eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Earned Income and 4 Child Tax Credits Outreach Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 574 IH SEC. 2. OUTREACH TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS REGARDING 1 THE EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT AND THE 2 CHILD TAX CREDIT. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1, 2021, the 4 Secretary of the Treasury shall carry out a program of 5 public outreach, including on the Internet and through 6 mailed notices, to inform identified individuals of their po- 7 tential eligibility for the earned income tax credit under 8 section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the 9 child tax credit under section 24 of such Code. 10 (b) IDENTIFIED INDIVIDUALS.— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘identified individ- 12 uals’’— 13 (A) means individuals— 14 (i) who used the non-filer portal to 15 provide their identifying information and 16 receive recovery rebate payments, and 17 (ii) whose identity has been verified by 18 the Internal Revenue Service, and 19 (B) does not include individuals who— 20 (i) are age 65 or older as of December 21 31, 2020, and 22 (ii) did not claim a dependent in tax 23 year 2019. 24 (c) NON-FILER PORTAL.—The term ‘‘non-filer por- 25 tal’’ means the electronic portal established by the Sec- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 574 IH retary of the Treasury for the purpose of making pay- 1 ments under section 6428 of the Internal Revenue Code 2 of 1986 to individuals who did not file a return of tax 3 for 2018 or 2019. 4 (d) FORM AND MANNER OF NOTICE.—Mailed notices 5 sent to identified individuals under subsection (a) may be 6 sent to individuals in such form and manner as the Sec- 7 retary of the Treasury may require, including as an at- 8 tachment to, or in conjunction with, any mailed cor- 9 respondence providing information on recovery rebate pay- 10 ments. 11 (e) NOTICE CONTENTS.—Mailed notices sent to iden- 12 tified individuals under subsection (a) shall provide— 13 (1) a description of the earned income tax cred- 14 it and the qualifications for receiving such credit, 15 (2) a description of the child tax credit and the 16 qualifications for receiving such credit, 17 (3) information on the availability of, and eligi- 18 bility requirements for receiving, advice and assist- 19 ance from qualified return preparation programs as 20 defined in section 7526A(e)(1) of the Internal Rev- 21 enue Code of 1986, and information regarding how 22 to locate and contact such programs, and 23 (4) information on the availability of, and eligi- 24 bility requirements for receiving, advice and assist- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 574 IH ance from organizations that provide tax counseling 1 for the elderly pursuant to a cooperative agreement 2 with the Internal Revenue Service under section 163 3 of the Revenue Act of 1978 (Public Law 95–600), 4 and information regarding how to locate and contact 5 such organizations. 6 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVENESS STUDY. 7 (a) STUDY.—The Treasury Inspector General for 8 Tax Administration shall conduct a study to— 9 (1) evaluate the outreach conducted under sec- 10 tion 2(a), including— 11 (A) a description of communications the 12 Internal Revenue Service issued, 13 (B) the date the Internal Revenue Service 14 issued communications on the Internet and the 15 date mailed notices were sent, 16 (C) whether the information provided on 17 the Internet and in mailed notices adequately 18 described the earned income tax credit and the 19 child tax credit and the qualifications for receiv- 20 ing such credits, 21 (D) in what languages such communica- 22 tions were offered, 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 574 IH (E) the number of filers who used the non- 1 filer portal to properly claim recovery rebate 2 payments, and 3 (F) the number of mailed notices that were 4 returned to the IRS as undeliverable, and 5 (2) make recommendations for improving out- 6 reach to expand the use of the credits by identified 7 individuals. 8 (b) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2022, 9 the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration 10 shall submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the 11 House of Representatives and the Senate Committee on 12 Finance a report on the results of the study conducted 13 under subsection (a). 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:24 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H574.IH H574 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS