Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB1868 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 1868
5	5	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone tax deadlines
6	6	and reimburse paid late fees for United States nationals who are unlaw-
7	7	fully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, and for other pur-
8	8	poses.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	MARCH5, 2025
11	11	Mr. H
12	12	ILLof Arkansas (for himself, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TENNEY, and Mr. BEYER)
13	13	introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
14	14	Ways and Means
15	15	A BILL
16	16	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone
17	17	tax deadlines and reimburse paid late fees for United
18	18	States nationals who are unlawfully or wrongfully de-
19	19	tained or held hostage abroad, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Tax Penalties 4
24	24	on American Hostages Act of 2025’’. 5
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27	27	•HR 1868 IH
28	28	SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF TAX DEADLINES FOR HOS-1
29	29	TAGES AND INDIVIDUALS WRONGFULLY DE-2
30	30	TAINED ABROAD. 3
31	31	(a) I
32	32	NGENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev-4
33	33	enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 5
34	34	7510 the following new section: 6
35	35	‘‘SEC. 7511. TIME FOR PERFORMING CERTAIN ACTS POST-7
36	36	PONED FOR HOSTAGES AND INDIVIDUALS 8
37	37	WRONGFULLY DETAINED ABROAD. 9
38	38	‘‘(a) T
39	39	IMETOBEDISREGARDED.— 10
40	40	‘‘(1) I
41	41	N GENERAL.—The period during which 11
42	42	an applicable individual was unlawfully or wrongfully 12
43	43	detained abroad, or held hostage abroad, shall be 13
44	44	disregarded in determining, under the internal rev-14
45	45	enue laws, in respect of any tax liability of such indi-15
46	46	vidual— 16
47	47	‘‘(A) whether any of the acts described in 17
48	48	section 7508(a)(1) were performed within the 18
49	49	time prescribed thereof (determined without re-19
50	50	gard to extension under any other provision of 20
51	51	this subtitle for periods after the initial date (as 21
52	52	determined by the Secretary) on which such in-22
53	53	dividual was unlawfully or wrongfully detained 23
54	54	abroad or held hostage abroad), 24
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57	57	•HR 1868 IH
58	58	‘‘(B) the amount of any interest, penalty, 1
59	59	additional amount, or addition to the tax for 2
60	60	periods after such date, and 3
61	61	‘‘(C) the amount of any credit or refund. 4
62	62	‘‘(2) A
63	63	PPLICATION TO SPOUSE.—The provisions 5
64	64	of paragraph (1) shall apply to the spouse of any in-6
65	65	dividual entitled to the benefits of such paragraph. 7
66	66	‘‘(3) S
67	67	PECIAL RULE FOR OVERPAYMENTS .—The 8
68	68	rules of section 7508(b) shall apply for purposes of 9
69	69	this section. 10
70	70	‘‘(b) A
71	71	PPLICABLEINDIVIDUAL.— 11
72	72	‘‘(1) I
73	73	N GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-12
74	74	tion, the term ‘applicable individual’ means any indi-13
75	75	vidual who is— 14
76	76	‘‘(A) a United States national unlawfully 15
77	77	or wrongfully detained abroad, as determined 16
78	78	under section 302 of the Robert Levinson Hos-17
79	79	tage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Account-18
80	80	ability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741), or 19
81	81	‘‘(B) a United States national taken hos-20
82	82	tage abroad, as determined pursuant to the 21
83	83	findings of the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell 22
84	84	(as described in section 304 of the Robert 23
85	85	Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Tak-24
86	86	ing Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)). 25
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89	89	•HR 1868 IH
90	90	‘‘(2) INFORMATION PROVIDED TO TREASURY .— 1
91	91	For purposes of identifying individuals described in 2
92	92	paragraph (1), not later than January 1, 2026, and 3
93	93	annually thereafter— 4
94	94	‘‘(A) the Secretary of State shall provide 5
95	95	the Secretary with a list of the individuals de-6
96	96	scribed in paragraph (1)(A), as well as any 7
97	97	other information necessary to identify such in-8
98	98	dividuals, and 9
99	99	‘‘(B) the Attorney General, acting through 10
100	100	the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, shall provide 11
101	101	the Secretary with a list of the individuals de-12
102	102	scribed in paragraph (1)(B), as well as any 13
103	103	other information necessary to identify such in-14
104	104	dividuals. 15
105	105	‘‘(c) M
106	106	ODIFICATION OFTREASURYDATABASES AND 16
107	107	I
108	108	NFORMATIONSYSTEMS.—The Secretary shall update, as 17
109	109	necessary, any database or information system of the De-18
110	110	partment of the Treasury in order to ensure that the pro-19
111	111	visions of subsection (a) are applied with respect to each 20
112	112	applicable individual. 21
113	113	‘‘(d) R
114	114	EFUND ANDABATEMENT OFPENALTIES AND 22
115	115	F
116	116	INESIMPOSEDPRIOR TOIDENTIFICATION ASAPPLICA-23
117	117	BLEINDIVIDUAL.—In the case of any applicable indi-24
118	118	vidual— 25
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121	121	•HR 1868 IH
122	122	‘‘(1) for whom any interest, penalty, additional 1
123	123	amount, or addition to the tax in respect to any tax 2
124	124	liability for any taxable year ending during the pe-3
125	125	riod described in subsection (a)(1) was assessed or 4
126	126	collected, and 5
127	127	‘‘(2) who was, subsequent to such assessment 6
128	128	or collection, determined to be an individual de-7
129	129	scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection 8
130	130	(b)(1), 9
131	131	the Secretary shall abate any such assessment and refund 10
132	132	any amount collected to such applicable individual in the 11
133	133	same manner as any refund of an overpayment of tax 12
134	134	under section 6402.’’. 13
135	135	(b) C
136	136	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 14
137	137	for chapter 77 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 15
138	138	amended by inserting after the item relating to section 16
139	139	7510 the following new item: 17
140	140	‘‘Sec. 7511. Time for performing certain acts postponed for hostages and indi-
141	141	viduals wrongfully detained abroad.’’.
142	142	(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 18
143	143	this section shall apply to taxable years ending after the 19
144	144	date of enactment of this Act. 20
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147	147	•HR 1868 IH
148	148	SEC. 3. REFUND AND ABATEMENT OF PENALTIES AND 1
149	149	FINES PAID BY ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS. 2
150	150	(a) I
151	151	NGENERAL.—Section 7511 of the Internal Rev-3
152	152	enue Code of 1986, as added by section 2, is amended 4
153	153	by adding at the end the following new subsection: 5
154	154	‘‘(d) R
155	155	EFUND ANDABATEMENT OFPENALTIES AND 6
156	156	F
157	157	INESPAID BYELIGIBLEINDIVIDUALS.— 7
158	158	‘‘(1) I
159	159	N GENERAL.— 8
160	160	‘‘(A) E
161	161	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 9
162	162	January 1, 2026, the Secretary (in consultation 10
163	163	with the Secretary of State and the Attorney 11
164	164	General) shall establish a program to allow any 12
165	165	eligible individual (or the spouse or any depend-13
166	166	ent (as defined in section 152) of such indi-14
167	167	vidual) to apply for a refund or an abatement 15
168	168	of any amount described in paragraph (2) (in-16
169	169	cluding interest) to the extent such amount was 17
170	170	attributable to the applicable period. 18
171	171	‘‘(B) I
172	172	DENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS .— 19
173	173	Not later than January 1, 2026, the Secretary 20
174	174	of State and the Attorney General, acting 21
175	175	through the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell (as 22
176	176	described in section 304 of the Robert Levinson 23
177	177	Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Ac-24
178	178	countability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)), shall— 25
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181	181	•HR 1868 IH
182	182	‘‘(i) compile a list, based on such in-1
183	183	formation as is available, of individuals 2
184	184	who were applicable individuals during the 3
185	185	applicable period, and 4
186	186	‘‘(ii) provide the list described in 5
187	187	clause (i) to the Secretary. 6
188	188	‘‘(C) N
189	189	OTICE.—For purposes of carrying 7
190	190	out the program described in subparagraph (A), 8
191	191	the Secretary (in consultation with the Sec-9
192	192	retary of State and the Attorney General) shall, 10
193	193	with respect to any individual identified under 11
194	194	subparagraph (B), provide notice to such indi-12
195	195	vidual— 13
196	196	‘‘(i) in the case of an individual who 14
197	197	has been released on or before the date of 15
198	198	enactment of this subsection, not later 16
199	199	than 90 days after the date of enactment 17
200	200	of this subsection, or 18
201	201	‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who 19
202	202	is released after the date of enactment of 20
203	203	this subsection, not later than 90 days 21
204	204	after the date on which such individual is 22
205	205	released, 23
206	206	that such individual may be eligible for a refund 24
207	207	or an abatement of any amount described in 25
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210	210	•HR 1868 IH
211	211	paragraph (2) pursuant to the program de-1
212	212	scribed in subparagraph (A). 2
213	213	‘‘(D) A
214	214	UTHORIZATION.— 3
215	215	‘‘(i) I
216	216	N GENERAL.—Subject to clause 4
217	217	(ii), in the case of any refund described in 5
218	218	subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 6
219	219	issue such refund to the eligible individual 7
220	220	in the same manner as any refund of an 8
221	221	overpayment of tax. 9
222	222	‘‘(ii) E
223	223	XTENSION OF LIMITATION ON 10
224	224	TIME FOR REFUND .—With respect to any 11
225	225	refund under subparagraph (A)— 12
226	226	‘‘(I) the 3-year period of limita-13
227	227	tion prescribed by section 6511(a) 14
228	228	shall be extended until the end of the 15
229	229	1-year period beginning on the date 16
230	230	that the notice described in subpara-17
231	231	graph (C) is provided to the eligible 18
232	232	individual, and 19
233	233	‘‘(II) any limitation under section 20
234	234	6511(b)(2) shall not apply. 21
235	235	‘‘(2) E
236	236	LIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of 22
237	237	this subsection, the term ‘eligible individual’ means 23
238	238	any applicable individual who, for any taxable year 24
239	239	ending during the applicable period, paid or incurred 25
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242	242	•HR 1868 IH
243	243	any interest, penalty, additional amount, or addition 1
244	244	to the tax in respect to any tax liability for such 2
245	245	year of such individual based on a determination 3
246	246	that an act described in section 7508(a)(1) which 4
247	247	was not performed by the time prescribed therefor 5
248	248	(without regard to any extensions). 6
249	249	‘‘(3) A
250	250	PPLICABLE PERIOD.—For purposes of 7
251	251	this subsection, the term ‘applicable period’ means 8
252	252	the period— 9
253	253	‘‘(A) beginning on January 1, 2021, and 10
254	254	‘‘(B) ending on the date of enactment of 11
255	255	this subsection.’’. 12
256	256	(b) E
257	257	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 13
258	258	this section shall apply to taxable years ending on or be-14
259	259	fore the date of enactment of this Act. 15
260	260	Æ
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