Electronic Signature Standards Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1876 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish uniform standards for the use of electronic signatures with respect to any request for disclosure of a taxpayer’s return or return information to a practitioner. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 18, 2019 Mr. PORTMAN (for himself and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish uniform stand- ards for the use of electronic signatures with respect to any request for disclosure of a taxpayer’s return or return information to a practitioner. 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 ‘‘Electronic Signature 4 Standards Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jun 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1876 IS SEC. 2. UNIFORM STANDARDS FOR THE USE OF ELEC- 1 TRONIC SIGNATURES FOR DISCLOSURE AU- 2 THORIZATIONS TO, AND OTHER AUTHORIZA- 3 TIONS OF, PRACTITIONERS. 4 Section 6061(b)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 5 1986 is amended to read as follows: 6 ‘‘(3) PUBLISHED GUIDANCE.— 7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 8 publish guidance as appropriate to define and 9 implement any waiver of the signature require- 10 ments or any method adopted under paragraph 11 (1). 12 ‘‘(B) ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES FOR DIS- 13 CLOSURE AUTHORIZATIONS TO, AND OTHER AU- 14 THORIZATIONS OF, PRACTITIONERS.—Not later 15 than 6 months after the date of the enactment 16 of this subparagraph, the Secretary shall pub- 17 lish guidance to establish uniform standards 18 and procedures for the acceptance of taxpayers’ 19 signatures appearing in electronic form with re- 20 spect to any request for disclosure of a tax- 21 payer’s return or return information under sec- 22 tion 6103(c) to a practitioner or any power of 23 attorney granted by a taxpayer to a practi- 24 tioner. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jun 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1876 IS ‘‘(C) PRACTITIONER.—For purposes of 1 subparagraph (B), the term ‘practitioner’ 2 means any individual in good standing who is 3 regulated under section 330 of title 31, United 4 States Code.’’. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:13 Jun 19, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1876.IS S1876 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS