Senator Charles E. Grassley, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Internal Revenue Service of the Senate Committee on Finance, announced today that the Subcommittee will hold a hearing on May 20, 1983 on recent efforts to ease the burden on taxpayers of compliance and further legislative and administrative options to provide additional relief.

The hearings will begin at 9:30 a.m. on May 20, 1983, in SD-215 (formerly Room 2221) of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

In announcing the hearing, Senator Grassley noted that recent legislation has made important strides toward reducing the burden on honest taxpayers. "The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982 ("TEFRA") provided important taxpayer protections. The IRS is also making an important contribution to these efforts by its simplification of income tax forms."

Particular areas of concern to the Subcommittee include:

(1) How much progress has the IRS made in reducing the complexity of tax forms and their instructions?

(2) How well has the Paperwork Reduction Act served to stimulate reduced complexity in IRS forms?

(3) Should taxpayer assistance programs be maintained or modified?

(4) Does the IRS provide timely and accurate advice to taxpayers? Can the ruling and regulations process be improved?

(5) Does the current regulations backlog create problems for taxpayers? If so, how is that backlog to be reduced?

(6) Should the IRS explore amnesty arrangements with nonfilers like those adopted by various states to bring such non taxpayers into the tax system? and

(7) Are the taxpayer safeguard amendments of TEFRA adequate? If not, how may they be improved?

Requests to testify. -- Witnesses who wish to testify at the hearing must submit a written request to Roderick A. DeArment, Chief Counsel, Committee on Finance, Room SD-221, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, to be received no later than noon on Friday, May, 13, 1983. Witnesses will be notified as soon as practicable thereafter whether it has been possible to schedule them to present oral testimony. If for some reason a witness is unable to appear at the time scheduled, the witness may file a written statement for the record in lieu of the personal appearance. In such a case, a witness should notify the Committee of his/her inability to appear as soon as possible.

Consolidated testimony. -- Senator Grassley urges all witnesses who have a common position or who have the same general interest to consolidate their testimony and designate one person to present their common viewpoint orally to the subcommittee. This procedure will enable the subcommittee to receive a wider expression of views than it might otherwise obtain. Senator Grassley urges that all witnesses exert a maximum effort to consolidate and coordinate their statements.

Legislative Reorganization Act. -- Senator Grassley stated that the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, as amended, requires all witnesses appearing before the Committees of Congress "to file in advance written statements of their proposed testimony, and to limit their oral presentations to brief summaries of their argument".

Witnesses scheduled to testify should comply with the following rules:

(1) All witnesses must submit written statements of their testimony.

(2) Written statements must be typed on letter-size paper (not legal size) and at least 100 copies must be delivered not later than noon on Thursday, May 19, 1983.

(3) All witnesses must include with their written statements a summary of the principal points included in the statement.

(4) Oral presentations should be limited to a short discussion of principal points included in the one-page Summary. Witnesses must not read their written statements. The entire prepared statement will be Included in the record of the hearing.

(5) Not more than 5 minutes will be allowed for the oral summary.

Written statements. -- Witnesses who are not scheduled to make an oral presentation, and others who desire to present their views to the subcommittee, are urged to prepare a written statement for submission and inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. These written statements should be typewritten, not more than 25 double-spaced pages in length, and mailed with five (5) copies to Roderick A. DeArment, Chief Counsel, Committee on Finance, Room SD-221, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510, not later than Friday, June 3, 1983. On the first page of your written statement, please indicate the date and subject of the hearing.