House Floor Action Passing Bills, April 27, 2026

As tax professionals, staying abreast of statutory changes to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) is essential for accurate advisory and compliance work. On April 27, 2026, the House of Representatives advanced a suite of nine bipartisan tax administration bills.

The nine bills passed by the House are as follows:

H.R. 6495, titled the Taxpayer Notification and Privacy Act.
H.R. 227, titled the Clergy Act.
H.R. 6431, titled the New Opportunities for Business Ownership and Self-Sufficiency Act.
H.R. 6956, titled the Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance Efficiency Act (or the BARCODE Efficiency Act).
H.R. 2347, titled the Survivor Justice Tax Prevention Act.
H.R. 5366, titled the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act.
H.R. 5334, titled the Supporting Early-childhood Educators’ Deductions Act (or the SEED Act).
H.R. 7971, titled the Taxpayer Experience Improvement Act.
H.R. 7959, titled the IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act.

According to a Tax Notes article authored by Katie Lobosco and Cady Stanton,[^1] these bills were passed through a fast-track procedure typically reserved for noncontroversial legislation requiring a two-thirds majority vote. However, the Tax Notes authors also observed that the fate of these bills remains unclear in the Senate, where taxwriters have introduced a broader tax administration package (S. 3931).

Below is a detailed technical review of the legislative provisions, proposed changes to the IRC, and relevant insights from the Tax Notes article regarding their passage.

Taxpayer Notification and Privacy Act

This legislation (H.R. 6495) introduces stringent requirements for third-party contact notices. It amends IRC § 7602(c)(1) by adding a new subparagraph (B), which requires that any notice seeking information to determine tax liability "identifies each specific item of information intended to be sought from such persons". Additionally, the bill amends the newly redesignated IRC § 7602(c)(1)(C) to mandate that the IRS provides the taxpayer with "a period of not less than 45 days (or more, if the taxpayer requests additional time and shows reasonable cause) to respond before contact is made with such other persons". As highlighted in the Tax Notes article by Lobosco and Stanton, this ensures taxpayers have the first opportunity to provide the requested information independently. These amendments apply to notices provided 12 months after the date of enactment.

Clergy Act

Passed by a margin of 350-5 according to the Tax Notes report, H.R. 227 allows members of the clergy to revoke their previously granted exemptions from Social Security coverage. The bill stipulates that "Notwithstanding section 1402(e)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, any exemption which has been received under section 1402(e)(1)... may be revoked". Such revocation must be executed by filing an application "no later than the due date of the Federal income tax return (including any extension thereof) for the applicant’s second taxable year beginning after December 31, 2028". The revocation becomes effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2028.

New Opportunities for Business Ownership and Self-Sufficiency Act

Introduced by Representative Mike Carey, this bill (H.R. 6431) seeks to reform self-employment assistance programs. The Tax Notes article specifies that the bill removes the tax code prerequisite requiring taxpayers to prove they are likely to exhaust regular state unemployment benefits to qualify for assistance. Technically, it achieves this by striking subparagraph (B) from IRC § 3306(t)(3). It further amends IRC § 3306(t)(3) to require that participants engage in approved activities that either "include entrepreneurial training, business counseling, and technical assistance" or "are performed pursuant to a business plan and market feasibility study". The participation limitation under IRC § 3306(t)(4) is also adjusted from 5 percent to 10 percent. These amendments take effect two years following enactment.

Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance Efficiency (BARCODE) Act

The BARCODE Efficiency Act (H.R. 6956) modernizes the processing of paper tax returns. According to the Tax Notes article, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith argued this bill simply forces the IRS to adopt "technology that has been around for decades". The statute dictates that any Federal tax return prepared electronically but filed on paper "shall bear a code which, when scanned, converts the data included in such return to electronic format". It also requires the IRS to use optical character recognition technology to transcribe paper returns and correspondence. The requirements take effect for individual income tax returns received on or after January 1 of the first calendar year beginning more than 180 days after enactment, and on longer timelines for estate, gift, and other returns.

Survivor Justice Tax Prevention Act

H.R. 2347 seeks to protect victims of sexual assault. As noted in the Tax Notes reporting, the bill ensures victims do not have to prove visible physical injuries to exclude settlement income received from their abusers. It amends IRC § 104(a)(2) to exclude damages received on account of "any sexual act... or sexual contact... whether or not there are medical records or observable injuries of such act or contact". It also adds a new IRC § 104(d) establishing that if a settlement agreement or decision states the damages are on account of a sexual act or contact, "such statement shall be treated as credible evidence" placing the burden of proof appropriately. This applies to amounts received pursuant to decisions or agreements entered into after the date of enactment.

Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act

The Tax Notes article observes that H.R. 5366 extends existing disaster tax relief allowing non-itemizers to claim disaster-related personal casualty losses through 2026. The legislation amends IRC § 165(h) by adding paragraph (6), creating a special rule for "qualified net disaster losses". To facilitate the standard deduction addition, IRC § 63(b) is amended by adding paragraph (8), allowing a deduction for "so much of the deduction allowed by section 165(a) as is attributable to the qualified net disaster loss". These changes apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024. Furthermore, the bill creates a new IRC § 139M, which excludes from gross income "any amount received by an individual as a qualified wildfire relief payment," effective for payments received in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.

Supporting Early-childhood Educators’ Deductions (SEED) Act

Addressing educator expenses, H.R. 5334 expands the $250 above-the-line educator expense deduction to pre-K teachers, a detail affirmed by Lobosco and Stanton in Tax Notes. The bill amends IRC § 62(d)(1)(A) to replace "a kindergarten through grade 12 teacher" with "an early childhood or kindergarten through grade 12 teacher". It specifically defines early childhood education facilities to include those providing services for more than two children who have not attained age 6. The expansion applies to expenses paid or incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.

Taxpayer Experience Improvement Act

H.R. 7971 focuses extensively on IRS customer service. The Tax Notes authors explain that several of its provisions mirror the Senate's broader S. 3931 package. The bill mandates the IRS to maintain a real-time public dashboard detailing "the number of callers connected," the number waiting, and "the longest amount of time that any caller has been waiting". It implements a policy to offer taxpayers a callback option if their call to the IRS is not answered within 5 minutes, slated for implementation by 2028. It also broadens digital access, requiring the IRS to provide online accounts where taxpayers and their authorized tax professionals can "view any return... document, notice, or letter" and directly transmit responses. During the floor debate, Representative Donald S. Beyer Jr. noted that while this legislation is positive, reversing recent IRS funding and staffing cuts is also necessary to fully modernize services, as reported by Tax Notes.

IRS Whistleblower Program Improvement Act

Passing 346-10 according to Tax Notes, H.R. 7959 targets severe administrative delays in the whistleblower program. Lobosco and Stanton highlighted that whistleblowers currently wait an average of 11 years for awards, prompting Representative Mike Thompson to stress the professional and personal risks these individuals face.

To strengthen protections, the bill amends IRC § 7623(b) by establishing that Tax Court reviews "shall be de novo and shall be based on the administrative record... and any additional newly discovered or previously unavailable evidence". It adds IRC § 7623(b)(6)(D), explicitly granting that "a whistleblower shall proceed anonymously before the Tax Court... absent a finding by the Tax Court that a societal interest exists" that overrides the risk of harm. To penalize administrative delays, a new IRC § 7623(b)(7) is added, dictating that if the IRS fails to provide a preliminary award recommendation within a specific 12-month period, the award "shall include interest from such date at the overpayment rate under section 6621(a)". Finally, the bill includes a technical correction to IRC § 62(a)(21)(A)(i) regarding the above-the-line deduction for attorney's fees. De novo and anonymity rules apply to pending and future petitions, while the interest provision takes effect 180 days after enactment.

Prepared with assistance from NotebookLM.

[^1]: Katie Lobosco and Cady Stanton, “House Passes Suite of Bipartisan Tax Administration Bill,” Tax Notes Today Federal, April 28, 2026, https://www.taxnotes.com/tax-notes-today-federal/legislation-and-lawmaking/house-passes-suite-bipartisan-tax-administration-bills/2026/04/28/7vry1 (subscription required)