H.R. 998 (119th)Bill Overview

Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act

Taxation|Congressional oversightIncome tax rates
Cosponsors
Support
Republican
Introduced
Feb 5, 2025
Discussions
Bill Text
Current stageIntroduced

Message on Senate action sent to the House.

Introduced
Committee
Floor
President
Law
Congressional Activities
01 · The brief
Plain-English summaryWhat this bill actually does

<p><strong>Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide specific information on a notice related to a math or clerical error, send a notice related to an abatement of taxes assessed due to a math or clerical error, provide procedures for requesting such an abatement, and implement a pilot program for sending notices of a math or clerical error.</p><p>Under the bill, a notice sent by the IRS regarding&nbsp;a math or clerical error must include</p><ul><li>a clear description of the error, including the type of error and the specific federal tax return line on which the error was made;</li><li>an itemized computation of adjustments required to correct the error;</li><li>the telephone number for the automated transcript service; and</li><li>the deadline for requesting an abatement of any tax assessed due to the error.</li></ul><p>Further, the bill requires the IRS to send a notice related to an abatement of tax assessed due to a math or clerical error that clearly describes the abatement and includes an itemized computation of adjustments to be made to the items described in the notice of the&nbsp;error.</p><p>This bill also requires the IRS to</p><ul><li>provide procedures for requesting in writing, electronically, by phone, or in person an abatement of tax assessed due to a math or clerical error;</li><li>implement a pilot program to send notices of a math or clerical error by certified or registered mail; and</li><li>report to Congress certain information about the pilot program.</li></ul>

Why people may split

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Watch point

The next hurdle is reproducing that support in the other chamber.

<p><strong>Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act</strong></p><p>This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide specific information on a notice related to a math or clerical error, send a notice related to an abatement of taxes assessed due to a math or clerical error, provide procedures for requesting such an abatement, and implement a pilot program for sending notices of a math or clerical error.</p><p>Under the bill, a notice sent by the IRS regarding&nbsp;a math or clerical error must include</p><ul><li>a clear description of the error, including the type of error and the specific federal tax return line on which the error was made;</li><li>an itemized computation of adjustments required to correct the error;</li><li>the telephone number for the automated transcript service; and</li><li>the deadline for requesting an abatement of any tax assessed due to the error.</li></ul><p>Further, the bill requires the IRS to send a notice related to an abatement of tax assessed due to a math or clerical error that clearly describes the abatement and includes an itemized computation of adjustments to be made to the items described in the notice of the&nbsp;error.</p><p>This bill also requires the IRS to</p><ul><li>provide procedures for requesting in writing, electronically, by phone, or in person an abatement of tax assessed due to a math or clerical error;</li><li>implement a pilot program to send notices of a math or clerical error by certified or registered mail; and</li><li>report to Congress certain information about the pilot program.</li></ul>

Passage80/100

This bill has already cleared both chambers, so the remaining risk is procedural rather than coalition-building.

CredibilityPartial

How solid the drafting looks.

Contention62/100

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

02 · What it does

Who stands to gain, and who may push back.

Likely benefits vs burdens0% / 100%
Likely helpedLikely burdened

These are examples from the analysis, not a ranked list of the most-affected groups.

Likely helped
  • No clear beneficiaries surfaced yet.
Likely burdened
  • No clear downsides surfaced yet.
03 · Why people split

Why the argument around this bill splits.

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.
Progressive

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Centrist

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
Conservative

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

Unclear
04 · Can it pass?

The path through Congress.

Introduced

Reached or meaningfully advanced

Committee

Still ahead

Floor

Still ahead

President

Still ahead

Law

Still ahead

Passage likelihood80/100

This bill has already cleared both chambers, so the remaining risk is procedural rather than coalition-building.

Why this could stall
  • The next hurdle is reproducing that support in the other chamber.
05 · Recent votes

Recent votes on the bill.

No vote history yet

The bill has not accumulated any surfaced votes yet.

06 · Go deeper

Go deeper than the headline read.

Included on this page

The main political fault lines are not fully surfaced yet, so coalition durability is still unclear.

This bill has already cleared both chambers, so the remaining risk is procedural rather than coalition-building.

Unlocked analysis

Pro readers get the full perspective split, passage barriers, legislative design review, stakeholder impact map, and lens-based policy tradeoff analysis for Internal Revenue Service Math and Taxpayer Help Act.

Go beyond the headline summary with full stakeholder mapping, legislative design analysis, passage barriers, and lens-by-lens tradeoff breakdowns.

Perspective breakdownsPassage barriersLegislative design reviewStakeholder impact map
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