On Wednesday the 20th of November, Senator Max Baucus [D-MT], Chairman of
the Senate Finance Committee unveiled a series of draft tax reform
proposals. Members of the Committee may be found at:
http://www.finance.senate.gov/about/membership/

Senator Nelson (D-FL) is the sponsor of one of the other bills we are
following on curtailing access to the Death Master File (DMF) which we
access as its commercial version, the Social Security Death Index (SSDI)- S
676 and several of S 676's co-sponsors also serve on this committee: Senator
Schumer (D-NY), Cardin (D-MD) and Brown (D-OH). Co-sponsors Feinstein (D-CA)
and Gillibrand (D-NY) are not on the Senate Finance Committee. [ To read S
676 go to:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113s676is/pdf/BILLS-113s676is.pdf ]

The full series of papers is attached to the press release found at:
http://tinyurl.com/pzuq7fb
Original url:
http://www.finance.senate.gov/newsroom/chairman/release/?id=a4f8205c-d286-4a41-a61d-753d1abd23d3

Chairman Baucus also called for additional feedback >from members of
Congress, key stakeholders and the general public on the discussion draft
and on a number of additional issues, including ways to better protect
taxpayer's rights. Feedback on the tax administration discussion draft is
requested by January 17, 2014 and comments can be sent to:
Tax_Reform@....

Included in the Discussion Draft Summary is the following:

Tax-Related Identity Theft and Other Tax Fraud Prevention

The second set of reforms in the staff discussion draft provides the IRS
with new tools to combat tax-related identity theft and assist the victims
of this crime.

The draft legislative language re DMF is found at Subtitle B, Section 11
[pages 9-20] of the materials found at: http://tinyurl.com/kjvtpua

Original url:
http://www.finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Chairman%27s%20Staff%20Discussion%20Draft%20of%20Tax%20Administration%20Reform%20Language.pdf
(pages 9-20)

As the bill is in draft form we do not yet have a bill number to follow its
progress. Once it is available it will be posted to this listserve.

Tax-Related Identity Theft

Access to the Social Security Administration's public death data - the Death
Master File (DMF) - is restricted for three years. An exception is provided
for individuals or entities with a legitimate fraud prevention or business
need for the information and who agree to keep the data private. Disclosure
to third parties is permitted if they agree to protect the information.
Penalties apply to any unauthorized disclosure. In the case of unauthorized
disclosure by third parties, penalties apply to both the third party and the
original recipient of the information. Individuals and entities can use
existing customer, client, or patient information protection systems to meet
the requirements of the proposal. This proposal is based on a provision in
S.676 (113th Congress), Identity Theft and Tax Fraud Prevention Act of 2013,
sponsored by Senator Bill Nelson mentioned above. There is no provision for
genealogists to be included within the exception.

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee