US SB452

Electronically prepared tax returns filed on paper must include a scannable barcode that converts return data to electronic format when scanned by the IRS

IRS must use optical character recognition (OCR) technology to transcribe paper tax returns that were not prepared electronically and all paper correspondence received

Secretary of the Treasury may waive these requirements if the technology proves slower or less reliable than manual transcription, but must report such determinations to Congress within 30 days

Implementation timeline varies by document type: individual income tax returns within 180 days of enactment, estate and gift tax returns within 24 months, and all other returns and correspondence within 12 months