HR 6956 119th Congress
BARCODE Efficiency Act
To require electronically prepared tax returns to include scannable code when submitted on paper, and to require the use of optical character recognition technology for paper documents received by the Internal Revenue Service.
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Bill journey
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Introduction Congress.gov
Introduced
Introduced in the House.
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Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
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Introduced in House
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Introduced in House
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Introduced in House
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Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 42 - 0.
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Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
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Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 434.
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Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. Rept. 119-508.
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Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. Rept. 119-508.
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Reported in House
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Engrossed in House
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Mr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
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Considered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H3100-3101)
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DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 6956.
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On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3100)
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Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3100)
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Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
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Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
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Referred in Senate
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View the complete bill journey as an accessible table
| Date and time | Record | Official detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| IntroductionIntroduced | Introduced in the House. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionReferred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · House floor actions · Code H11100 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionIntroduced in House | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code Intro-H | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionIntroduced in House | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 1000 | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionIntroduced in House | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionOrdered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute by the Yeas and Nays: 42 - 0. | No additional detail supplied.Committee · House committee actions · Code H19000 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held | No additional detail supplied.Committee · House committee actions · Code H15001 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionPlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 434. | No additional detail supplied.Calendars · House floor actions · Code H12410 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionReported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. Rept. 119-508. | No additional detail supplied.Committee · House floor actions · Code H12200 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionReported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. Rept. 119-508. | No additional detail supplied.Committee · Library of Congress · Code 5000 | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionReported in House | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionEngrossed in House | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionMr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended. | No additional detail supplied.Floor · House floor actions · Code H30300 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H3100-3101) | No additional detail supplied.Floor · House floor actions · Code H30000 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 6956. | No additional detail supplied.Floor · House floor actions · Code H8D000 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3100) | No additional detail supplied.Floor · House floor actions · Code H37300 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionPassed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3100) | No additional detail supplied.Floor · Library of Congress · Code 8000 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection. | No additional detail supplied.Floor · House floor actions · Code H38310 | Congress.gov | |
| Official actionReceived in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. | No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Senate | Congress.gov | |
| Text versionReferred in Senate | A dated text-version record is available. | Congress.gov |
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Congressional Research Service
CRS summary
Barcode Automation for Revenue Collection to Organize Disbursement and Enhance Efficiency Act or the BARCODE Efficiency ActThis 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 transcription or any other IRS process, and (2) the IRS provides a report to Congress regarding the determination to not use such technology.
Official documents
Text versions
- Referred in SenateApr 28, 2026
- Engrossed in HouseApr 27, 2026
- Reported in HouseFeb 20, 2026
- Introduced in HouseJan 7, 2026