,,ii  #aaith ,,congress  #ast ,session  
,s4 #deb  ,,in ,,the ,,senate ,,of ,,the
 ,,united ,,states  ,february #f        
7legislative day1 ,february #e71        
#bjbe,mr4 ,young 7for himself and ,mr4  
,warnock7 introduced the following bill2
 which was read twice and referred to   
the ,committee on ,finance  ,a ,,bill   
,to require electronically prepared tax 
returns to include scannable code when  
submitted on paper1 and to require the  
use of optical character recognition    
technology for paper documents received 
by the ,internal ,revenue ,service4  #a4
 ,short title ,this ,act may be cited as
 the ,barcode ,automation for ,revenue  
,collection to ,organize ,disbursement  
and ,enhance ,efficiency ,act or the    
,,barcode ,efficiency ,act4  #b4        
,scanning and digitization of tax       
returns and correspondence  7a7 ,returns
 prepared electronically and submitted  
on paper ,with respect to any ,federal  
tax return which is prepared            
electronically1 but is printed and filed

 on paper-- 7#a7 such return shall bear 
a code which1 when scanned1 converts the
 data included in such return to        
electronic format1 and  7#b7 subject to 
subsection 7b77#a77;,b71 the ,internal  
,revenue ,service shall use barcode     
scanning technology to convert the data 
included in such returns to electronic  
format4  7b7 ,optical character         
recognition software ,with respect to-- 
7#a7 any ,federal tax return which--    
7,a7 is not prepared electronically and 
is printed and filed on paper1 or  7,b7 
is described in subsection 7a77#a7 but1 
for any reason1 the data included in    
such return cannot be accurately        
converted into electronic format1 or    
7#b7 any correspondence which is        
received by the ,internal ,revenue      
,service in a paper form 7with the      
exception of any such correspondence    
which has been received by the ,internal
 ,revenue ,service in electronic        
format71  the ,internal ,revenue        
,service shall use optical character    

recognition technology 7or any          
functionally similar technology7 to     
transcribe such return or               
correspondence4  7c7 ,exception  7#a7   
,in general ,subsection 7a7 or 7b7 shall
 not apply to the extent that the       
,secretary of the ,treasury or the      
,secretary's delegate determines that   
the technology described in such        
subsection is slower or less reliable   
than-- 7,a7 the process of manually     
transcribing returns or correspondence  
received in a paper form1 or  7,b7 any  
other process that the ,internal        
,revenue ,service is using or would     
otherwise use4  7#b7 ,report to congress
 ,any exception to the application of   
subsection 7a7 or 7b7 pursuant to       
paragraph 7#a7 shall not take effect    
unless the ,secretary provides a report 
to the ,committee on ,ways and ,means of
 the ,house of ,representatives and the 
,committee on ,finance of the ,senate   
regarding the determination made by the 
,secretary under such paragraph within  

#cj days of such determination4  7d7    
,effective date ,this section shall     
apply to-- 7#a7 any individual income   
tax return 7as defined in section       
#fjaa7;e77#c77;,c7 of the ,internal     
,revenue ,code of #aihf7 received on or 
after ,january #a of the first calendar 
year beginning more than #ahj days after
 the date of enactment of this ,act1    
7#b7 any estate tax return 7as described
 in section #fjah of such ,code7 or gift
 tax return 7as described in section    
#fjai of such ,code7 received on or     
after ,january #a of the first calendar 
year beginning more than #bd months     
after the date of enactment of this     
,act1 and  7#c7 any other return or     
correspondence received on or after     
,january #a of the first calendar year  
beginning more than #ab months after the
 date of enactment of this ,act4