Bill narrows when the IRS can audit returns altered by preparers.
H.R. 9499 — Protecting Taxpayers from Ghost Preparers Act · Filed by Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) · Introduced Jun 29, 2026 · Passed chamber
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What it does
The bill changes a tax law rule about the IRS audit window. The IRS can only extend the time to audit if the taxpayer left out income. It does not count if a preparer left out income without permission. The bill also fixes a disaster relief deadline rule.
Who it affects
Taxpayers harmed by dishonest tax preparers are affected. The IRS now has less time to catch and fix preparer fraud.
One thing to notice
The bill's title says it protects taxpayers from dishonest preparers. The bill actually makes it harder for the IRS to catch fraud after three years.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
- Jun 29, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jun 29, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
- Jul 1, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jul 1, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 40 - 0”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote”
- Sep 15, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- audit — When the IRS checks a tax return to see if it is correct.
- preparer — A person who fills out and files tax returns for other people.
- extend — To make longer or go past the normal time limit.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (930 characters) on Jul 9, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,778 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-11-02.
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