Rep. Bill Foster introduces bill to make filing taxes easier

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster wants to make filing taxes easier and cheaper for Americans.

He filed legislation this week aimed at creating a voluntary tax filing program to allow individuals to use a secure Internal Revenue Service website to download a tax form automatically populated with information the IRS already collects, according to a news release.

The information from the populated forms would be available as both a printable document file and a computer-readable file compatible with existing tax preparation software.

“Our tax code is complicated enough – we ought to make it easier for taxpayers to access the information the IRS already has on file,” Foster said in a statement. “This commonsense solution will help bring our tax filing process into the 21st century and save millions of Americans time and money.”

Foster cited a report by the Brookings Institute, which found that a national pre-filled tax return program could save taxpayers $2 billion in fees and 225 million hours of time each year.