H.R. 9499 · 119th Congress

Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act

Introduced on Jun 29, 2026 by Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY-11). Latest action (Sep 16, 2026): Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Jun 29, 2026
Cosponsors
0
Policy area
Taxation
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to apply tax return preparation penalties to improperly altered returns, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Civil actions and liability
  • Fraud offenses and financial crimes
  • Service industries
  • Tax administration and collection, taxpayers

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Passed House, Sep 15, 2026). Public domain.

Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act

This bill limits the amount of time the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has to assess taxes related to fraudulent or false federal tax returns where there is no intent by the taxpayer to evade taxes.

As background, the IRS generally has three years from the date that a tax return is filed (statute of limitations) to assess taxes owed by the taxpayer for the tax year. However, if a false or fraudulent tax return is filed with the intent to evade tax (fraud exception), then the IRS may assess taxes at any time. In Murrin v. Commissioner the U.S. Tax Court held (and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit affirmed) that the fraud exception applies when a tax return preparer places false or fraudulent entries on a tax return without the taxpayer’s knowledge. In contrast, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held in BASR Partnership v. Commissioner that the fraud exception only applies if the taxpayer intends to evade taxes.

The bill limits the fraud exception to cases in which the taxpayer intends to evade taxes.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Nicole MalliotakisR-NY-11Sponsor

No cosponsors.

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Jun 29, 2026Introduced in House
  2. Jun 29, 2026Introduced in House
  3. Jun 29, 2026 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
  4. Jul 1, 2026 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  5. Jul 1, 2026 · HouseOrdered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 40 - 0.
  6. Sep 8, 2026Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. Rept. 119-806.
  7. Sep 8, 2026 · HouseReported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. Rept. 119-806.
  8. Sep 8, 2026 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 705.
  9. Sep 15, 2026 · HouseMr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
  10. Sep 15, 2026 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H5686-5687)
  11. Sep 15, 2026 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 9499.
  12. Sep 15, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
  13. Sep 15, 2026 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H5686)
  14. Sep 15, 2026 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  15. Sep 16, 2026 · SenateReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 10, 2026 · loaded Oct 10, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.