Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act
Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act
Plain Language Summary
# Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act Summary **What the bill does:** This bill extends the IRS's "mailbox rule" to electronic tax filings and payments. Currently, paper documents and payments mailed to the IRS are considered delivered on their postmark date, even if they arrive later. The bill would apply the same logic to electronic submissions—they'd be considered delivered on the date sent, not when the IRS receives them.
The bill also requires the IRS to issue official guidance on how electronically submitted documents and payments work by December 31, 2025. **Who it affects:** Taxpayers who file electronically and make electronic tax payments would benefit from clearer rules and potentially more flexibility with deadlines. The IRS would need to create guidance on these submissions, affecting how they process electronic filings. **Current status:** The bill has passed the House and is pending further action in the Senate. It's a relatively straightforward technical fix aimed at modernizing tax filing rules to match electronic submission methods with existing protections that apply to paper filings.
CRS Official Summary
Electronic Filing and Payment Fairness Act This bill provides that a federal tax document or payment that is electronically submitted to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) shall be considered delivered to the IRS on the date such document or payment is sent. Further, the bill requires the IRS to issue guidance on electronically submitted federal tax documents and payments no later than December 31, 2025.Under current law, a federal tax document or payment that is sent by mail is considered delivered to the IRS on the date that such document or payment is postmarked and is considered timely if the postmark date is on or before the due date of such document or payment. (This is known as the mailbox rule.)Further, under current law, the IRS is authorized to provide guidance on electronically submitted federal tax documents but not payments. In accordance with such authority, IRS guidance provides that the date that an authorized electronic return transmitter receives the transmission of an electronically filed document on its host system is the electronic postmark date.The bill expands the mailbox rule to include all electronically submitted federal tax documents and payments and specifically requires the IRS to provide guidance on electronically submitted payments.
Latest Action
Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.