The National Taxpayers Union announced its support for most amendments to the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act being considered by the Senate Finance Committee on July 30, 2026, while opposing two proposals that would expand the IRS's role in preparing tax returns. The taxpayer advocacy organization, which calls itself America's oldest national-level group focused on taxpayer rights, released a memo detailing its positions on 15 amendments under consideration during the committee markup. The group describes the underlying legislation as "easily the most consequential package of tax administration and taxpayer rights improvements to come before Congress in decades."
Of the 15 amendments on the committee's master list, the NTU backed nine proposals that it says would strengthen taxpayer protections and IRS accountability. The supported measures include bipartisan amendments to increase penalties for unauthorized disclosure of taxpayer information, extend criminal liability to IRS contractors who fail to protect confidential data, and create a secure system for validating Electronic Filing Identification Numbers to combat tax fraud. The organization also endorsed amendments addressing fairness for Americans living abroad, requiring the National Taxpayer Advocate to publish monthly performance statistics, and establishing protections for survivors of coerced debt related to human trafficking, identity theft, and domestic violence. One amendment would ensure tax-exempt organizations receive the right to appeal IRS determinations to deny or revoke their exempt status, aligning them with protections offered to for-profit entities.
The NTU strongly opposed two amendments that would expand IRS involvement in tax return preparation. According to the memo, Amendment 5 would "pave the path for the IRS to make determinations about taxpayers' liabilities without taxpayer involvement," raising concerns about accuracy and taxpayer intimidation. The group argued that the IRS's "long history of recordkeeping mishaps" and its inherent role as the tax collection agency create serious concerns about prepopulating forms. The organization expressed even stronger opposition to Amendment 10, which would revive and rapidly expand Direct File to reach at least half of taxpayers in participating states within a year, calling the earlier pilot program cost-ineffective and duplicative of existing Free File services.
The NTU's analysis emphasizes that allowing the IRS to prepare returns would undermine taxpayers' ability to review W-2 accuracy, distinguish reportable from nonreportable transactions, and claim eligible credits and deductions. The organization warns that taxpayers could feel pressured to accept IRS-generated numbers even when errors exist, given the agency's authority and intimidation factor. On penalties for unauthorized disclosure, the report argues that current law fails to adequately recognize the importance of protecting sensitive financial information or provide sufficient deterrence against misconduct. The group's research arm has documented extensively how Direct File wasn't cost-effective even when serving only taxpayers with relatively simple returns in a handful of states, and would divert IRS funding from higher-priority modernization projects.
The taxpayer advocacy organization urged the Senate Finance Committee to adopt the amendments it supports while rejecting those that would expand IRS return preparation authority. The group framed its recommendations around preserving the bipartisan nature of the underlying bill, which it says merits support from committee members precisely because it strengthens taxpayer rights without creating conflicts of interest. The message is clear: improvements to tax administration should focus on better service and stronger protections, not on having the tax collector fill out the forms it will use to determine what citizens owe.