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Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to apply tax return preparation penalties to improperly altered returns, and for other purposes.
Summary
- Expands the definition of "return" under tax return preparer penalty provisions to include any document purporting to be a tax return, administrative adjustment request, or partnership adjustment tracking report.
- Applies tax return preparer penalties to returns that have been improperly altered by preparers, including fraudulent or falsified returns.
- Clarifies that the statute of limitations for tax assessments is not extended based on fraud committed by a tax preparer; the extended period applies only to fraud committed by the taxpayer themselves.
- Makes a technical amendment to correct subsection numbering in the disaster-related extension of deadlines provisions.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (4)
- Jul 1, 2026 Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 40 - 0. · house
- Jul 1, 2026 Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held · house
- Jun 29, 2026 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. · house
- Jun 29, 2026 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 29, 2026
Ms. Malliotakis introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to apply tax return preparation penalties to improperly altered returns, and for other purposes.
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 “Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act”.
SEC. 2. PENALTIES FOR TAX RETURN PREPARERS WHO IMPROPERLY ALTER RETURNS.
(a) In General.—Paragraph (1) of section 6696(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
“(1) Return.—The term ‘return’ means—
“(A) any return of any tax imposed by this title,
“(B) any administrative adjustment request under section 6227,
“(C) any partnership adjustment tracking report under section 6226(b)(4)(A), and
“(D) any other document purporting to be a return, request, or report described in subparagraphs (A) through (C).”.
(b) Effective Date.—The amendment made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. LIMITATION PERIOD NOT EXTENDED FOR VICTIMS OF PREPARER FRAUD.
(a) In General.—Section 6501(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting “by the taxpayer” after “intent”.
(b) Effective Date.—The amendment made by this section shall apply to assessments made or proceedings begun after the date of the enactment of this Act.
SEC. 4. TECHNICAL AMENDMENT RELATED TO THE DISASTER RELATED EXTENSION OF DEADLINES ACT.
(a) In General.—Subsection (f) of section 7508A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by the Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act) is redesignated as subsection (g).
(b) Effective Date.—The amendment made by this subsection shall take effect as if included in section 2(a) of the Disaster Related Extension of Deadlines Act. <all>
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