; scanning and digitization of tax returns and correspondence (a) Returns prepared electronically and submitted on paper With respect to any Federal tax return which is prepared electronically, but is printed and filed on paper— (1) such return shall bear a code which, when scanned, converts the data included in such return to electronic format, and (2) subject to subsection (b)(1)(B), the Internal Revenue Service shall use barcode scanning technology to convert the data included in such returns to electronic format. (b) Optical character recognition software With respect to— (1) any Federal tax return which— (A) is not prepared electronically and is printed and filed on paper, or (B) is described in subsection (a)(1) but, for any reason, the data included in such return cannot be accurately converted into electronic format, or (2) any correspondence which is received by the Internal Revenue Service in a paper form, the Internal Revenue Service shall use optical character recognition technology (or any functionally similar technology) to transcribe such return or correspondence. (c) Exception (1) In general Subsection (a)(2) or (b) shall not apply to the extent that the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary's delegate determines that the technology described in such subsection is slower or less reliable than the process of manually transcribing returns or correspondence received in a paper form. (2) Report to Congress Any exception to the application of subsection (a)(2) or (b) pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not take effect until after the date on which the Secretary provides a report to the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Finance of the Senate regarding the determination made by the Secretary under such paragraph. (d) Effective date This section shall apply to— (1) any individual income tax return (as defined in section 6011(e)(3)(C) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) received after December 31, 2023, and (2) any other return or correspondence received