BY ALEX ORTIZ |
U.S. Rep. Bill Foster wants to make filing taxes easier and cheaper for Americans.
“Our tax code is complicated enough – we ought to make it easier for taxpayers to access the information the IRS already has on file,” Foster said in a statement.
He filed legislation this week aimed at creating a voluntary tax filing program to allow individuals to use a secure Internal Revenue Service website to download a tax form automatically populated with information the IRS already collects, according to a news release.
The information from the populated forms would be available as both a printable document file and a computer-readable file compatible with existing tax preparation software.
“Our tax code is complicated enough – we ought to make it easier for taxpayers to access the information the IRS already has on file,” Foster said in a statement. “This commonsense solution will help bring our tax filing process into the 21st century and save millions of Americans time and money.”
Foster cited a report by the Brookings Institute, which found that a national pre-filled tax return program could save taxpayers $2 billion in fees and 225 million hours of time each year.