H.R. 6956 · Passed House · Taxation

BARCODE Efficiency Act

What it does

Require the IRS to place scannable barcodes on electronically-prepared federal tax returns that are printed and filed in paper format.
Require the IRS to use barcode scanning technology to convert data from printed tax returns into electronic format.
Require the IRS to use optical character recognition or similar technology to transcribe paper-filed tax returns and correspondence received by the IRS.
Allow the IRS to waive these technology requirements if barcode scanning or OCR is slower or less reliable than manual transcription, provided the IRS reports the determination to Congress.

Official summary

Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance Efficiency Act or the BARCODE Efficiency Act This bill requires the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to use barcodes, barcode scanning technology, and optical character recognition (or similar) technology to digitize certain federal tax return information and correspondence, unless the technology is slower or less reliable than other IRS processes (subject to conditions). Specifically, the bill requires a scannable barcode on electronically-prepared federal tax returns that are printed and filed in paper format with the IRS. The bill also requires the IRS to use barcode scanning technology to convert data included on such returns into an electronic format. Further, the bill requires the IRS to use optical character recognition (or similar) technology to transcribe federal tax returns and correspondence received by the IRS that are not prepared electronically and are received in paper format. However, under the bill, the use of barcodes, barcode scanning technology, and optical character recognition (or similar) technology is not required if (1) such technology is slower or less reliable than manual…

Latest action

Apr 28, 2026: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Committee: Senate Finance