H.R. 9499: Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act

119th Congress · introduced 2026-06-29 · Taxation · Latest: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

federal

What does this mean?

Official title

Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act

Plain summary

Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act This bill limits the amount of time the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has to assess taxes related to fraudulent or false federal tax returns where there is no intent by the taxpayer to evade taxes. As background, the IRS generally has three years from the date that a tax return is filed (statute of limitations) to assess taxes owed by the taxpayer for the tax year. However, if a false or fraudulent tax return is filed with the intent to evade tax (fraud exception), then the IRS may assess taxes at any time. In Murrin v. Commissioner the U.S. Tax Court held (and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed) that the fraud exception applies when a tax return preparer places false or fraudulent entries on a tax return without the taxpayer’s knowledge. In contrast, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held in BASR Partnership v. Commissioner that the fraud exception only applies if the taxpayer intends to evade taxes. The bill limits the fraud exception to cases in which the taxpayer intends to evade taxes.

Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

What a vote does

A “Yea” vote

If it passes both chambers and is signed, it becomes law.

A “Nay” vote

If it is not passed, current law stays as it is.

PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House)

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The strongest published arguments

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Malliotakis, Nicole [R-NY-11] · 0 cosponsors

Money: CBO cost estimate: H.R. 9499, Protecting Taxpayers From Ghost Preparers Act (2026-08-20) No linked contracts or vendors yet.

Words on this page, explained (2)

Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
Statute: A written law passed by a legislature. A statute can be changed by a later law; changing a constitution needs an amendment.

Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.

Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Passed House)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119hr9499.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr>

Record fed-us-cong119-hr9499 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills