Taxpayer Abuse Prevention Act

The Taxpayer Abuse Prevention Act (H.R. 969) aims to protect low- and moderate-income taxpayers from high-cost financial products associated with tax refunds. The bill would prohibit lenders from using a person’s federal tax refund to collect debts through "refund anticipation loans" and would ban mandatory arbitration clauses in those loan contracts. Additionally, it seeks to expand access to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) by allowing benefits to be paid through electronic transfer accounts and encouraging the creation of low-cost bank accounts for direct deposits.