U.S. Senator Tina Smith’s Measures to Simplify, Update Tax Filings for Farmers and Consumers Passes Senate

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) successfully included two measures to help Minnesotans navigate their taxes in legislation that passed the Senate. Sen. Smith’s first measure would adjust the deadline for farmers to file their taxes to align with when most other Minnesotans would file theirs, while her second would require the IRS to track how often they make taxpayers re-submit the same paperwork due to bureaucratic errors. The measures were included in the Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act that passed the Senate unanimously. “Nobody enjoys filing their taxes, but what makes it even worse is how cumbersome and illogical our tax system is, particular for farmers,” said Sen. Smith. “These measures are simple, common-sense solutions. Farmers should get just as much time to prepare their tax filings as everyone else, and the IRS needs to keep track of how often it makes taxpayers submit the same document over and over again.” The Farm Tax Filing Deadline amendment will give farmers and fishers until Tax Day, April 15, to file their taxes without penalty. Under current law, farmers and fishers must file and pay estimated taxes by March 1 to avoid penalties. Meanwhile, most other taxpayers have until April 15 to file their taxes without penalty. The current earlier deadline left farmers and fishers scrambling to get all the paperwork done in time while everyone else gets an extra month and a half. The Reporting on Document Management to Avoid Duplicative Requests to Constituents amendment that requires the IRS to track how many documents the agency asks taxpayers to re-submit, even though there was nothing wrong with the documents previously submitted. This amendment won’t cost the government any extra money and will require the IRS to report how many copies of documents it requests from a single taxpayer. This information will then be presented annually to Congress for the next five years to track the progress or lack-there-of. The Taxpayer Assistance and Service Act (TAS) passed the Senate unanimously on September 30 and now heads to the House of Representatives. The TAS Act includes more than 60 bipartisan reforms to improve the taxpayer experience, including recommendations from the National Taxpayer Advocate and Finance Committee members on both sides of the aisle. ###