[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1868 Introduced in House (IH)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1868
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone tax deadlines
and reimburse paid late fees for United States nationals who are
unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, and for other
purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 5, 2025
Mr. Hill of Arkansas (for himself, Ms. Titus, Ms. Tenney, and Mr.
Beyer) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone tax deadlines
and reimburse paid late fees for United States nationals who are
unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Tax Penalties on American
Hostages Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF TAX DEADLINES FOR HOSTAGES AND INDIVIDUALS
WRONGFULLY DETAINED ABROAD.
(a) In General.--Chapter 77 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is
amended by inserting after section 7510 the following new section:
``SEC. 7511. TIME FOR PERFORMING CERTAIN ACTS POSTPONED FOR HOSTAGES
AND INDIVIDUALS WRONGFULLY DETAINED ABROAD.
``(a) Time To Be Disregarded.--
``(1) In general.--The period during which an applicable
individual was unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad, or
held hostage abroad, shall be disregarded in determining, under
the internal revenue laws, in respect of any tax liability of
such individual--
``(A) whether any of the acts described in section
7508(a)(1) were performed within the time prescribed
thereof (determined without regard to extension under
any other provision of this subtitle for periods after
the initial date (as determined by the Secretary) on
which such individual was unlawfully or wrongfully
detained abroad or held hostage abroad),
``(B) the amount of any interest, penalty,
additional amount, or addition to the tax for periods
after such date, and
``(C) the amount of any credit or refund.
``(2) Application to spouse.--The provisions of paragraph
(1) shall apply to the spouse of any individual entitled to the
benefits of such paragraph.
``(3) Special rule for overpayments.--The rules of section
7508(b) shall apply for purposes of this section.
``(b) Applicable Individual.--
``(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term
`applicable individual' means any individual who is--
``(A) a United States national unlawfully or
wrongfully detained abroad, as determined under section
302 of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and
Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741), or
``(B) a United States national taken hostage
abroad, as determined pursuant to the findings of the
Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell (as described in section
304 of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and
Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)).
``(2) Information provided to treasury.--For purposes of
identifying individuals described in paragraph (1), not later
than January 1, 2026, and annually thereafter--
``(A) the Secretary of State shall provide the
Secretary with a list of the individuals described in
paragraph (1)(A), as well as any other information
necessary to identify such individuals, and
``(B) the Attorney General, acting through the
Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, shall provide the
Secretary with a list of the individuals described in
paragraph (1)(B), as well as any other information
necessary to identify such individuals.
``(c) Modification of Treasury Databases and Information Systems.--
The Secretary shall update, as necessary, any database or information
system of the Department of the Treasury in order to ensure that the
provisions of subsection (a) are applied with respect to each
applicable individual.
``(d) Refund and Abatement of Penalties and Fines Imposed Prior to
Identification as Applicable Individual.--In the case of any applicable
individual--
``(1) for whom any interest, penalty, additional amount, or
addition to the tax in respect to any tax liability for any
taxable year ending during the period described in subsection
(a)(1) was assessed or collected, and
``(2) who was, subsequent to such assessment or collection,
determined to be an individual described in subparagraph (A) or
(B) of subsection (b)(1),
the Secretary shall abate any such assessment and refund any amount
collected to such applicable individual in the same manner as any
refund of an overpayment of tax under section 6402.''.
(b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 77 of
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the
item relating to section 7510 the following new item:
``Sec. 7511. Time for performing certain acts postponed for hostages
and individuals wrongfully detained
abroad.''.
(c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to taxable years ending after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 3. REFUND AND ABATEMENT OF PENALTIES AND FINES PAID BY ELIGIBLE
INDIVIDUALS.
(a) In General.--Section 7511 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986,
as added by section 2, is amended by adding at the end the following
new subsection:
``(d) Refund and Abatement of Penalties and Fines Paid by Eligible
Individuals.--
``(1) In general.--
``(A) Establishment.--Not later than January 1,
2026, the Secretary (in consultation with the Secretary
of State and the Attorney General) shall establish a
program to allow any eligible individual (or the spouse
or any dependent (as defined in section 152) of such
individual) to apply for a refund or an abatement of
any amount described in paragraph (2) (including
interest) to the extent such amount was attributable to
the applicable period.
``(B) Identification of individuals.--Not later
than January 1, 2026, the Secretary of State and the
Attorney General, acting through the Hostage Recovery
Fusion Cell (as described in section 304 of the Robert
Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking
Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)), shall--
``(i) compile a list, based on such
information as is available, of individuals who
were applicable individuals during the
applicable period, and
``(ii) provide the list described in clause
(i) to the Secretary.
``(C) Notice.--For purposes of carrying out the
program described in subparagraph (A), the Secretary
(in consultation with the Secretary of State and the
Attorney General) shall, with respect to any individual
identified under subparagraph (B), provide notice to
such individual--
``(i) in the case of an individual who has
been released on or before the date of
enactment of this subsection, not later than 90
days after the date of enactment of this
subsection, or
``(ii) in the case of an individual who is
released after the date of enactment of this
subsection, not later than 90 days after the
date on which such individual is released,
that such individual may be eligible for a refund or an
abatement of any amount described in paragraph (2)
pursuant to the program described in subparagraph (A).
``(D) Authorization.--
``(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii),
in the case of any refund described in
subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall issue
such refund to the eligible individual in the
same manner as any refund of an overpayment of
tax.
``(ii) Extension of limitation on time for
refund.--With respect to any refund under
subparagraph (A)--
``(I) the 3-year period of
limitation prescribed by section
6511(a) shall be extended until the end
of the 1-year period beginning on the
date that the notice described in
subparagraph (C) is provided to the
eligible individual, and
``(II) any limitation under section
6511(b)(2) shall not apply.
``(2) Eligible individual.--For purposes of this
subsection, the term `eligible individual' means any applicable
individual who, for any taxable year ending during the
applicable period, paid or incurred any interest, penalty,
additional amount, or addition to the tax in respect to any tax
liability for such year of such individual based on a
determination that an act described in section 7508(a)(1) which
was not performed by the time prescribed therefor (without
regard to any extensions).
``(3) Applicable period.--For purposes of this subsection,
the term `applicable period' means the period--
``(A) beginning on January 1, 2021, and
``(B) ending on the date of enactment of this
subsection.''.
(b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply
to taxable years ending on or before the date of enactment of this Act.
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