HR 5349 United States House · 119th Congress

Tax Court Improvement Act

This bill updates procedures at the U.S. Tax Court. It gives judges more power to issue subpoenas before hearings to help settle tax disputes, allows special trial judges to handle additional cases and address contempt (with penalties limited to Class C misdemeanor fines), and requires judges to recuse themselves if conflicts arise. It also clarifies that the court can delay filing deadlines when physical or online filing locations are inaccessible, extending deadlines by 14 days beyond the period of unavailability. These changes apply to current and future tax cases heard by the Tax Court.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Sep 2025

Committee Review

Dec 2025

House Passage

Dec 2025

Senate Passage

President

Introduced Sep 15, 2025 Last action Dec 2, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced in House → Engrossed in House · 3 edits · Dec 1, 2025

MINOR

The engrossed version of HR 5349 (Tax Court Improvement Act) makes three substantive changes from the introduced version: it removes the 'References to Secretary' definitional subsection, corrects a singular/plural error in the effective date provision for special trial judge consent procedures, and fixes a scope reference in the equitable tolling effective date clause from 'this subsection' to 'this section.' These are minor technical corrections that do not alter the bill's core policy.

DEFINITION

Removed the definitional provision stating that 'Secretary' means the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary's delegate. This term is already defined in the Internal Revenue Code, making the redundant definition unnecessary.

TECHNICAL

In Section 3(d) (effective date for special trial judge consent procedures), changed 'The amendment made by subsections (a) and (b)' to 'The amendments made by subsections (a) and (b)' - correcting singular to plural since two separate amendments are referenced.

SCOPE

In Section 5(c) (effective date for equitable tolling provisions), changed 'The amendments made by this subsection' to 'The amendments made by this section.' This corrects the scope of the effective date rule so it applies to all amendments in Section 5, not just a single subsection.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the House by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Amendments

Dec 2, 2025

Committee

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

upper

Dec 1, 2025

Introduced

On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4942-4944)

lower

Dec 1, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H4942-4944)

lower

Dec 1, 2025

Introduced

Mr. Smith (MO) moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.

lower

Oct 3, 2025

Lower · Passed

Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Ways and Means. H. Rept. 119-335.

lower

Sep 17, 2025

Introduced

Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by the Yeas and Nays: 40 - 0.

lower

Sep 17, 2025

Lower · Passed

Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held

lower

Sep 15, 2025

Committee

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

lower

Sep 15, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

1 primary · 1 co-sponsor