BARCODE AUTOMATION FOR REVENUE COLLECTION TO ORGANIZE DISBURSEMENT AND ENHANCE EFFICIENCY ACT

On 2026-04-27, Representative Jason Smith (R-MO-8) delivered a floor speech titled "BARCODE AUTOMATION FOR REVENUE COLLECTION TO ORGANIZE DISBURSEMENT AND ENHANCE EFFICIENCY ACT" in the House. The speech addressed taxes and also covered the environment, labor policy. It referenced legislation: HR6956.

BARCODE AUTOMATION FOR REVENUE COLLECTION TO ORGANIZE DISBURSEMENT AND ENHANCE EFFICIENCY ACT

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 73 (Monday, April 27, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 73 (Monday, April 27, 2026)] [House] [Pages H3100-H3101] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] BARCODE AUTOMATION FOR REVENUE COLLECTION TO ORGANIZE DISBURSEMENT AND ENHANCE EFFICIENCY ACT Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6956) to require electronically prepared tax returns to include scannable code when submitted on paper, and to require the use of optical character recognition technology for paper documents received by the Internal Revenue Service, as amended. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 6956 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 ``Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance Efficiency Act'' or the ``BARCODE Efficiency Act''. SEC. 2. SCANNING AND DIGITIZATION OF TAX RETURNS AND CORRESPONDENCE. (a) Returns Prepared Electronically and Submitted on Paper.--With respect to any Federal tax return which is prepared electronically, but is printed and filed on paper-- (1) such return shall be formatted in a manner that is compatible with the scanning technology referred to in paragraph (2), and (2) subject to subsection (b)(1)(B), the Internal Revenue Service shall use scanning technology to convert the data included in such return to electronic format. (b) Optical Character Recognition Software.--With respect to-- (1) any Federal tax return which-- (A) is not prepared electronically and is printed and filed on paper, or (B) is described in subsection (a)(1) but, for any reason, the data included in such return cannot be accurately converted into electronic format, or (2) any correspondence which is received by the Internal Revenue Service in a paper form (with the exception of any such correspondence which has been received by the Internal Revenue Service in electronic format), the Internal Revenue Service shall use optical character recognition technology (or any functionally similar technology) to transcribe such return or correspondence. (c) Exception.-- (1) In general.--Subsection (a) or (b) 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-- (A) the process of manually transcribing returns or correspondence received in a paper form, or (B) any other process that the Internal Revenue Service is using or would otherwise use. (2) Report to congress.--Any exception to the application of subsection (a) or (b) pursuant to paragraph (1) 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 under such paragraph within 30 days of such determination. (d) Effective Date.--This section shall apply to-- (1) any individual income tax return (as defined in section 6011(e)(3)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) received on or after January 1 of the first calendar year beginning more than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, (2) any estate tax return (as described in section 6018 of such Code) or gift tax return (as described in section 6019 of such Code) received on or after January 1 of the first calendar year beginning more than 24 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and (3) any other return or correspondence received on or after January 1 of the first calendar year beginning more than 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Missouri. General Leave Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on this bill under consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri? There was no objection. {time} 1510 Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6956, the Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance Efficiency Act, also known as the BARCODE Efficiency Act, which is a bipartisan piece of legislation introduced by Representatives Rudy Yakym and Brad Schneider. Many government agencies have had to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. The IRS is no exception. However, in the case of the BARCODE Efficiency Act, all we are really asking the IRS to do is to adopt technology that has been around for decades. By requiring the IRS to deploy scanning technology for certain returns and correspondence, this bill will streamline the tax filing process for millions of Americans and go a long way to improving accuracy over the previous method of manually entering data from paper tax returns. This most recent tax filing season, where Americans saw a historic 11 percent increase in refunds, with the average refund of over $3,200, has just concluded. Had this legislation been in law already, Americans would have gotten back what they were owed even faster. As a key leader on the Ways and Means Committee's oversight efforts, Representative Yakym has been a strong advocate for improving customer service at the IRS and battling to save taxpayers time and money. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. SCHNEIDER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6956, the BARCODE Efficiency Act, which I am proud to introduce with my friend and colleague, Representative Yakym from Indiana. This bill would help expedite the digital transition at IRS, requiring the IRS to implement scanning technology to speed up paper return processing. In tax year 2023, the IRS reports that around 7 percent of tax returns were filed on paper. Now, 7 percent may sound like a small number, Mr. Speaker, until you realize it represents approximately 10 million paper returns to be opened and processed. That is more than the entire population of New York City, our most populous city. In fact, that is more than the population of all but 10 U.S. States. This bill will help expedite the process of these 10 million returns by directing the IRS to adopt barcode scanning and optical character recognition, or OCR, technology. For those wondering why this bill is necessary, you only need to learn about the current intake process for paper returns in the IRS. Millions of Americans still use paper returns, including both returns prepared electronically but printed and filed on paper and any handwritten returns and paper correspondence. Currently, when a paper return arrives at the IRS, an employee manually transcribes the data into IRS systems line by line by line by line. This process is not only time-consuming, it is costly and often inaccurate. Data entry errors from manual transcription are common and cost the American taxpayers money. Return processing delays translates directly into refund delays, needlessly [[Page H3101]] causing financial hardship for taxpayers with limited savings or fixed incomes. Data transcription errors can lead to prolonged disputes, and the issues compound from there. A data entry error can cause math error notices requiring taxpayers to respond to the IRS if they disagree with the adjustments made. Errors also cause taxpayers to wait even longer for resolution, requiring more documentation from the taxpayer, more calls, and more correspondence to the IRS as delays continue to build. These extra steps all add to the backlog at the IRS costing all taxpayers more money and eroding trust in the overall tax system. The good news is that we have a solution. The BARCODE Efficiency Act will require the IRS to implement scanning technology and dramatically reduce the number of paper tax returns that require manual data entry, thereby accelerating processing and improving taxpayer service. IRS' problems with digitization and processing paper returns have long been an area of focus for the National Taxpayer Advocate, which listed the IRS' challenges in processing and digitization as the first and second most serious problems at the IRS in last year's annual report to Congress. I, again, extend my appreciation to my friend, Representative Yakym, for his partnership working to address this problem with commonsense solutions. I thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Neal for their support of this bipartisan legislation. I also extend my thanks to the Taxpayer Advocate Service for their recommendation that led to the creation of this bill and for their critical, ongoing work to reduce taxpayer burden and improve the IRS' performance. I am proud that this bill has the support of both the National Taxpayers Union and the American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights, the national trade association made up of retail tax preparation and tax software companies. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill to help the IRS operate more efficiently and better serve the American taxpayer, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Yakym), who is the co-lead of this legislation and who is a critical member of the Ways and Means Committee fighting for oversight and keeping his eye on the IRS. Mr. YAKYM. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6956, the BARCODE Efficiency Act. I am proud to co-lead this act with my friend from Illinois (Mr. Schneider). This is a simple

Referenced legislation: HR6956, HR6956