Memphis Standard

U.S. Senators Marsha Blackburn and Catherine Cortez Masto have introduced the Tax Administration Simplification Act, aiming to simplify tax filing processes for individuals and small businesses. The legislation seeks to protect taxpayers from penalties caused by IRS delays.

"Taxpayers shouldn’t be penalized when the IRS is delayed in processing their tax returns even though they submitted them on time," stated Senator Blackburn. She emphasized that the bill would "shield taxpayers from unfair penalties, streamline tax filing, and provide more flexibility for small businesses."

Senator Cortez Masto highlighted the impact on small businesses: "Small businesses in Nevada are busy enough as it is without having to worry about unfair IRS penalties and burdensome red tape." She added that the bipartisan legislation would save time for business owners contributing to economic growth in Nevada.

The proposed act includes several key measures:

- Protecting taxpayers from penalties due to IRS delays in electronic filing by extending the "mailbox rule" to electronically submitted documents.

- Simplifying S-Corp elections for small businesses by allowing these elections on their first timely filed tax return.

- Standardizing estimated tax deadlines with evenly spaced quarterly deadlines to simplify planning and income management.