IRS Advocate can now hire lawyers to help taxpayers.
H.R. 997 — National Taxpayer Advocate Enhancement Act of 2025 · Filed by Randy Feenstra (R-IA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Feb 5, 2025 · Passed both chambers
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What it does
This bill clarifies the National Taxpayer Advocate's power to hire lawyers. The Advocate is an official inside the IRS who helps taxpayers in disputes. The law was unclear before about this hiring power. Congress meant to allow it in 1998 but the original law was not clear.
Who it affects
The National Taxpayer Advocate helps regular taxpayers in disputes with the IRS. Lawyers who work for the Advocate will help represent taxpayers.
One thing to notice
The bill says the Advocate's power to hire lawyers goes back to 1998. This may cover hiring decisions the Advocate already made.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Feb 5, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 5, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”
- Feb 12, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Feb 12, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 43 - 0”
- Mar 31, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required)…”
- Mar 31, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
- Sep 28, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S5123)”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- National Taxpayer Advocate — An independent official inside the IRS who helps taxpayers in disputes.
- lawyers — People trained in law who give legal advice and represent people in disputes.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,085 characters) on Jun 8, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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 2026-10-20.
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