U.S. Rep. Bill Foster’s legislation aims to simplify tax filing

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, announced he was introducing legislation to simplify tax filing. His bill, H.R. 2304, the Autofill Act of 2019, would create a voluntary tax filing program to allow individuals to use a secure IRS website to download a tax form automatically populated with information the IRS already collects from employers, the Social Security Administration and financial institutions, according to a news release.

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

"There's no reason why we can't make it easier for taxpayers to access the information the IRS already has on file," Foster said. "This is a commonsense solution that will save people time, money and help bring our tax filing process into the 21st century."