Taxpayer Notification and Privacy Act
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Steube (for himself and Mr. Panetta) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill strengthens privacy protections for taxpayers by requiring the IRS to provide detailed advance notice before contacting third parties (like employers, banks, or business partners) about a taxpayer. The IRS must now tell taxpayers exactly what information they are seeking and give them at least 45 days to provide the information directly, rather than having the IRS contact others.
Who Benefits and How
Individual taxpayers and small business owners benefit from enhanced privacy and due process protections. Instead of the IRS contacting their employers, banks, or clients without warning, taxpayers now get advance notice of what information is needed and the opportunity to provide it themselves. Tax professionals and accountants may see increased business as clients seek help responding to these notices.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The IRS faces new procedural requirements that may slow some enforcement activities. The agency must now issue more detailed notices, track 45-day response windows, and document exceptions when they determine third-party contact is necessary regardless of taxpayer response. This adds administrative burden to IRS operations.
Key Provisions
- Requires IRS to specify each item of information sought before contacting third parties
- Gives taxpayers at least 45 days to respond (with extensions available for reasonable cause)
- Creates exceptions for tax collection activities and when the Secretary deems contact necessary
- Applies to notices issued 12 months after enactment
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Strengthens taxpayer privacy protections by requiring the IRS to provide detailed notices specifying what information will be sought before contacting third parties, and gives taxpayers at least 45 days to respond with the information themselves.
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Enhance taxpayer due process rights and privacy by requiring the IRS to be more transparent and give taxpayers opportunity to provide information directly before contacting employers, banks, or other third parties."
Likely Beneficiaries
- Individual taxpayers
- Small business owners
- Self-employed individuals
- Privacy advocates
Likely Burden Bearers
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
- IRS enforcement operations
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_secretary"
- → Secretary of the Treasury (IRS)
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology