Recovery of Stolen Checks Act

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1155) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow taxpayers to elect to receive certain replacement refunds electronically, as amended.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 1155

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Recovery of Stolen Checks Act''. SEC. 2. ELECTION TO RECEIVE CERTAIN REPLACEMENT REFUNDS ELECTRONICALLY.

(a) In General.--Section 6402 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:

``(o) Election to Receive Certain Replacement Refunds by Direct Deposit.--Not later than the date which is 6 months after the date of the enactment of this subsection, the Secretary shall prescribe regulations to establish procedures to allow for taxpayers, which are otherwise eligible to receive an amount by paper check in replacement of a lost or stolen paper check which was previously sent by the Secretary as a refund of an overpayment of tax, to elect to receive such amount by direct deposit in lieu of receiving such replacement paper check.''.

(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1155, the Recovery of Stolen Checks Act.

With the April 15 tax filing deadline right around the corner, we are reminded of the need to make the IRS more responsive to the American people. Unfortunately, the manner in which the IRS currently responds to stolen tax refund checks is truly insane.

Right now, if someone has their refund check stolen out of the mail, the IRS will replace that stolen check by sending another one through the mail. It should surprise no one to learn that quite often that replacement check is also stolen out of the mail.

There is no law keeping the IRS from sending a replacement check through a direct deposit to a bank. However, the IRS currently does not have procedures in place for a taxpayer to make such a request. This bill fixes that flaw.

I wish to commend my Ways and Means Committee colleagues, Representatives Malliotakis, Kustoff, and Sewell, for their bipartisan leadership on this issue.

In Representative Malliotakis' district alone, they have seen $3.8 million in IRS tax refund checks stolen. Taxpayers that are victims of this crime need to be made whole. They do not need to jump through more hoops or deal with the hassle of seeing their replacement refund checks stolen as well.

This legislation received unanimous approval in the Ways and Means Committee, and I encourage my colleagues to give it an equally strong bipartisan vote here in the House.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Malliotakis), the sponsor of this legislation.

This legislation will not only help taxpayers who have been victims of fraud, but it will also help combat fraud by eliminating opportunities for criminals to strike a second time.

Check fraud is a major challenge in this country, and it has grown exponentially over the past several years. In fact, in 2022, the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network reported over 680,000 instances of check fraud, doubling the previous year's total. In such an environment, it is unacceptable that at this moment the IRS does not have processes and procedures in place for taxpayers to request a replacement check through direct deposit.

This bill is a simple solution to a serious and costly problem. I encourage all of my colleagues to support its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source