Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Free File program has made vital contributions to the public.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. RES. 810 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Free File program has made vital contributions to the public. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 27, 2020 Mr. CONAWAY (for himself and Mr. BUTTERFIELD) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Free File program has made vital contributions to the public. Whereas the Free File program is an innovative public-pri- vate partnership between tax preparation software com- panies, also known as the Free File Alliance, and the In- ternal Revenue Service (IRS) to offer free online tax preparation and e-filing services to low- and moderate-in- come taxpayers at no cost to the Government; Whereas a recent independent study over the Free File pro- gram stated that this critical public-private partnership provides ‘‘substantial’’ benefits, and that without this partnership, the ‘‘IRS would sustain prohibitive costs in funding such a program itself, with added risk of com- peting with a highly competitive private sector’’; VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR810.IH HR810 2 •HRES 810 IH Whereas 100,000,000 individuals, or 70 percent of taxpayers, are eligible to qualify for the Free File program each year; Whereas, since 2003, over 53,000,000 American taxpayers have filed their taxes for free through the Free File pro- gram, saving them over $1,600,000,000 in tax prepara- tion fees; Whereas 22 States and the District of Columbia have also created their own Free File program modeled after the IRS Free File Program; Whereas the Free File program compliments other free tax preparation services, such as the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, that work to promote the welfare of our Nation’s most vulnerable populations; Whereas these populations that are impacted by VITA in- clude those who are disabled, the elderly, and limited English-speaking taxpayers who need assistance in pre- paring their own tax returns; Whereas the Free File program is featured on a wide range of tax preparation products donated by the best known and most trusted industry-leading private sector tax preparation companies; Whereas through these donations, these companies allow tax- payers to choose who they file with and promote competi- tion within their industry; Whereas the Free File program has also actively engaged in a collaborative effort to fight stolen identity tax refund fraud through the IRS Security Summit; Whereas this summit consists of the IRS, State tax agencies, and various entities from the tax industry; VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR810.IH HR810 3 •HRES 810 IH Whereas the Security Summit consists of 6 working groups that address identity theft, and in the first 2 years after the summit’s establishment, the number of reported iden- tity theft victims fell by 65 percent, tax returns with con- firmed identity theft decreased, and the IRS withheld $6,000,000,000 in fraudulent refunds; and Whereas the benefits of the Free File program have shown that the Free File program encourages consumer choice and savings for the Government, and promotes strong cy- bersecurity protections for individuals filing a tax return: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That the House of Representatives recog- 1 nizes the vital contributions the Free File program has 2 made to the public and fully supports the continued suc- 3 cess of the program. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:48 Jan 28, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR810.IH HR810