Bill Text: NJ A523 | 2022-2023 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Prohibits tax preparation software companies from charging fee for electronically filing State tax returns.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-05-12 - Received in the Senate, Referred to Senate Commerce Committee [A523 Detail]

Download: New_Jersey-2022-A523-Amended.html

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[First Reprint]

ASSEMBLY, No. 523

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

220th LEGISLATURE

 

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2022 SESSION

 

 

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman  ROY FREIMAN

District 16 (Hunterdon, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset)

Assemblywoman  CAROL A. MURPHY

District 7 (Burlington)

Assemblyman  CLINTON CALABRESE

District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)

 

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Reynolds-Jackson

 

 

 

SYNOPSIS

     Prohibits tax preparation software companies from charging fee for electronically filing State tax returns.

 

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

     As reported by the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee on March 7, 2022, with amendments.

  

An Act prohibiting tax preparation software companies from charging a fee for electronically filing State tax returns and supplementing Title 56 of the Revised Statutes.

 

     Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

 

     1.    a.  As used in this act:

     "Director" means the Director of the Division of Taxation in the Department of ¹the¹ Treasury. 

     "Electronic filing" means filing a tax document by the use of computer technology, including transmission through the internet.

     "Taxpayer" means any person owing or liable to pay any State tax or any person deemed by the director to be so owing or liable. 

     "Tax preparation software company" means a developer or vendor of any computer software program intended for tax return preparation purposes, including an off-the-shelf software program loaded onto a taxpayer's computer or an online tax preparation application. 

     "Tax return" means a tax document which the director has authorized to be filed electronically. 

     b.    ¹[It shall be an unlawful practice for a] A¹ tax preparation software company ¹[to] shall not¹ charge a taxpayer a fee for the electronic filing of a tax return. 

     c.     A violation of subsection b. of this section shall ¹[be an unlawful practice pursuant to P.L.1960, c.39 (C.56:8-1 et seq.)] result in a civil penalty of $500 for a first offense and $1,000 for any subsequent offense, which may be collected and enforced by the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety in a summary proceeding pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.)¹.

 

     2.    This act shall take effect ¹[February 1, 2022] immediately and shall apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022¹.