Earned Income and Child Tax Credits Outreach Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7551 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 JULY 9, 2020 Ms. MOORE (for herself, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. BEYER, Ms. NORTON, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. NADLER, Mrs. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. RICHMOND, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. FUDGE, Mr. DOGGETT, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SUOZZI, Mrs. LAW- RENCE, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. COHEN, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Mr. KIND, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. CARSON of Indiana, Mr. RYAN, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. BLUMENAUER, and Mr. SCHNEIDER) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Jul 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7551.IH H7551 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7551 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Earned Income and 2 Child Tax Credits Outreach Act of 2020’’. 3 SEC. 2. OUTREACH TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS REGARDING 4 THE EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT AND THE 5 CHILD TAX CREDIT. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 31, 2021, 7 and again before January 31, 2022, the Secretary of the 8 Treasury shall carry out a program of public outreach, 9 including on the internet and through mailed notices, to 10 inform identified individuals of their potential eligibility 11 for the earned income tax credit under section 32 of the 12 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the child tax credit 13 under section 24 of such Code. 14 (b) IDENTIFIED INDIVIDUALS.—The term ‘‘identified 15 individuals’’ means individuals who used the non-filer por- 16 tal to provide their identifying information and receive re- 17 covery rebate payments. 18 (c) NON-FILER PORTAL.—The term ‘‘non-filer por- 19 tal’’ means the electronic portal established by the Sec- 20 retary of the Treasury for the purpose of making pay- 21 ments under section 6428 of the Internal Revenue Code 22 of 1986 to individuals who did not file a return of tax 23 for 2018 or 2019. 24 (d) NOTICE CONTENTS.—Mailed notices sent to iden- 25 tified individuals under subsection (a) shall provide— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Jul 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7551.IH H7551 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7551 IH (1) a description of the earned income tax cred- 1 it and the qualifications for receiving such credit, 2 (2) a description of the child tax credit and the 3 qualifications for receiving such credit, 4 (3) information on the availability of, and eligi- 5 bility requirements for receiving, advice and assist- 6 ance from qualified return preparation programs as 7 defined in section 7526A(e)(1) of the Internal Rev- 8 enue Code of 1986, and information regarding how 9 to locate and contact such programs, and 10 (4) information on the availability of, and eligi- 11 bility requirements for receiving, advice and assist- 12 ance from organizations that provide tax counseling 13 for the elderly pursuant to a cooperative agreement 14 with the Internal Revenue Service under section 163 15 of the Revenue Act of 1978 (Public Law 95–600), 16 and information regarding how to locate and contact 17 such organizations. 18 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVENESS STUDY. 19 (a) STUDY.—The Treasury Inspector General for 20 Tax Administration shall conduct a study to— 21 (1) evaluate the outreach conducted under sec- 22 tion 2(a), including— 23 (A) a description of communications the 24 Internal Revenue Service issued, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Jul 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7551.IH H7551 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7551 IH (B) the date the Internal Revenue Service 1 issued communications on the internet and the 2 date mailed notices were sent, 3 (C) whether the information provided on 4 the internet and in mailed notices adequately 5 described the earned income tax credit and the 6 child tax credit and the qualifications for receiv- 7 ing such credits, 8 (D) in what languages such communica- 9 tions were offered, 10 (E) the number of filers who used the non- 11 filer portal to properly claim recovery rebate 12 payments, 13 (F) the number of mailed notices that were 14 returned to the IRS as undeliverable each year, 15 and 16 (G) whether, in year 2021, the Secretary 17 of the Treasury developed and applied perform- 18 ance measurement standards and evaluated the 19 effectiveness of the outreach, and what changes 20 were made in 2022 as a result of such evalua- 21 tion, and 22 (2) make recommendations for improving out- 23 reach to expand the use of the credits by identified 24 individuals. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Jul 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7551.IH H7551 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7551 IH (b) REPORT.—Not later than December 31, 2022, 1 the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration 2 shall submit to the Committee on Ways and Means of the 3 House of Representatives and the Senate Committee on 4 Finance a report on the results of the study conducted 5 under subsection (a). 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Jul 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7551.IH H7551 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS