Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB655 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 655
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
10	10	FEBRUARY20, 2025
11	11	Mr. C
12	12	OONS(for himself, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. CASSIDY,
13	13	Mr. S
14	14	COTTof Florida, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr. FETTERMAN, and Mr.
15	15	M
16	16	CCORMICK) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re-
17	17	ferred to the Committee on Finance
18	18	A BILL
19	19	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone
20	20	tax deadlines and reimburse paid late fees for United
21	21	States nationals who are unlawfully or wrongfully de-
22	22	tained or held hostage abroad, and for other purposes.
23	23	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
24	24	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
25	25	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
26	26	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Tax Penalties 4
27	27	on American Hostages Act of 2025’’. 5
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30	30	•S 655 IS
31	31	SEC. 2. POSTPONEMENT OF TAX DEADLINES FOR HOS-1
32	32	TAGES AND INDIVIDUALS WRONGFULLY DE-2
33	33	TAINED ABROAD. 3
34	34	(a) I
35	35	NGENERAL.—Chapter 77 of the Internal Rev-4
36	36	enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 5
37	37	7510 the following new section: 6
38	38	‘‘SEC. 7511. TIME FOR PERFORMING CERTAIN ACTS POST-7
39	39	PONED FOR HOSTAGES AND INDIVIDUALS 8
40	40	WRONGFULLY DETAINED ABROAD. 9
41	41	‘‘(a) T
42	42	IMETOBEDISREGARDED.— 10
43	43	‘‘(1) I
44	44	N GENERAL.—The period during which 11
45	45	an applicable individual was unlawfully or wrongfully 12
46	46	detained abroad, or held hostage abroad, shall be 13
47	47	disregarded in determining, under the internal rev-14
48	48	enue laws, in respect of any tax liability of such indi-15
49	49	vidual— 16
50	50	‘‘(A) whether any of the acts described in 17
51	51	section 7508(a)(1) were performed within the 18
52	52	time prescribed thereof (determined without re-19
53	53	gard to extension under any other provision of 20
54	54	this subtitle for periods after the initial date (as 21
55	55	determined by the Secretary) on which such in-22
56	56	dividual was unlawfully or wrongfully detained 23
57	57	abroad or held hostage abroad), 24
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60	60	•S 655 IS
61	61	‘‘(B) the amount of any interest, penalty, 1
62	62	additional amount, or addition to the tax for 2
63	63	periods after such date, and 3
64	64	‘‘(C) the amount of any credit or refund. 4
65	65	‘‘(2) A
66	66	PPLICATION TO SPOUSE.—The provisions 5
67	67	of paragraph (1) shall apply to the spouse of any in-6
68	68	dividual entitled to the benefits of such paragraph. 7
69	69	‘‘(3) S
70	70	PECIAL RULE FOR OVERPAYMENTS .—The 8
71	71	rules of section 7508(b) shall apply for purposes of 9
72	72	this section. 10
73	73	‘‘(b) A
74	74	PPLICABLEINDIVIDUAL.— 11
75	75	‘‘(1) I
76	76	N GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec-12
77	77	tion, the term ‘applicable individual’ means any indi-13
78	78	vidual who is— 14
79	79	‘‘(A) a United States national unlawfully 15
80	80	or wrongfully detained abroad, as determined 16
81	81	under section 302 of the Robert Levinson Hos-17
82	82	tage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Account-18
83	83	ability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741), or 19
84	84	‘‘(B) a United States national taken hos-20
85	85	tage abroad, as determined pursuant to the 21
86	86	findings of the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell 22
87	87	(as described in section 304 of the Robert 23
88	88	Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Tak-24
89	89	ing Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)). 25
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92	92	•S 655 IS
93	93	‘‘(2) INFORMATION PROVIDED TO TREASURY .— 1
94	94	For purposes of identifying individuals described in 2
95	95	paragraph (1), not later than January 1, 2026, and 3
96	96	annually thereafter— 4
97	97	‘‘(A) the Secretary of State shall provide 5
98	98	the Secretary with a list of the individuals de-6
99	99	scribed in paragraph (1)(A), as well as any 7
100	100	other information necessary to identify such in-8
101	101	dividuals, and 9
102	102	‘‘(B) the Attorney General, acting through 10
103	103	the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, shall provide 11
104	104	the Secretary with a list of the individuals de-12
105	105	scribed in paragraph (1)(B), as well as any 13
106	106	other information necessary to identify such in-14
107	107	dividuals. 15
108	108	‘‘(c) M
109	109	ODIFICATION OFTREASURYDATABASES AND 16
110	110	I
111	111	NFORMATIONSYSTEMS.—The Secretary shall update, as 17
112	112	necessary, any database or information system of the De-18
113	113	partment of the Treasury in order to ensure that the pro-19
114	114	visions of subsection (a) are applied with respect to each 20
115	115	applicable individual. 21
116	116	‘‘(d) R
117	117	EFUND ANDABATEMENT OFPENALTIES AND 22
118	118	F
119	119	INESIMPOSEDPRIOR TOIDENTIFICATION ASAPPLICA-23
120	120	BLEINDIVIDUAL.—In the case of any applicable indi-24
121	121	vidual— 25
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124	124	•S 655 IS
125	125	‘‘(1) for whom any interest, penalty, additional 1
126	126	amount, or addition to the tax in respect to any tax 2
127	127	liability for any taxable year ending during the pe-3
128	128	riod described in subsection (a)(1) was assessed or 4
129	129	collected, and 5
130	130	‘‘(2) who was, subsequent to such assessment 6
131	131	or collection, determined to be an individual de-7
132	132	scribed in subparagraph (A) or (B) of subsection 8
133	133	(b)(1), 9
134	134	the Secretary shall abate any such assessment and refund 10
135	135	any amount collected to such applicable individual in the 11
136	136	same manner as any refund of an overpayment of tax 12
137	137	under section 6402.’’. 13
138	138	(b) C
139	139	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of sections 14
140	140	for chapter 77 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 15
141	141	amended by inserting after the item relating to section 16
142	142	7510 the following new item: 17
143	143	‘‘Sec. 7511. Time for performing certain acts postponed for hostages and indi-
144	144	viduals wrongfully detained abroad.’’.
145	145	(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 18
146	146	this section shall apply to taxable years ending after the 19
147	147	date of enactment of this Act. 20
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150	150	•S 655 IS
151	151	SEC. 3. REFUND AND ABATEMENT OF PENALTIES AND 1
152	152	FINES PAID BY ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUALS. 2
153	153	(a) I
154	154	NGENERAL.—Section 7511 of the Internal Rev-3
155	155	enue Code of 1986, as added by section 2, is amended 4
156	156	by adding at the end the following new subsection: 5
157	157	‘‘(d) R
158	158	EFUND ANDABATEMENT OFPENALTIES AND 6
159	159	F
160	160	INESPAID BYELIGIBLEINDIVIDUALS.— 7
161	161	‘‘(1) I
162	162	N GENERAL.— 8
163	163	‘‘(A) E
164	164	STABLISHMENT.—Not later than 9
165	165	January 1, 2026, the Secretary (in consultation 10
166	166	with the Secretary of State and the Attorney 11
167	167	General) shall establish a program to allow any 12
168	168	eligible individual (or the spouse or any depend-13
169	169	ent (as defined in section 152) of such indi-14
170	170	vidual) to apply for a refund or an abatement 15
171	171	of any amount described in paragraph (2) (in-16
172	172	cluding interest) to the extent such amount was 17
173	173	attributable to the applicable period. 18
174	174	‘‘(B) I
175	175	DENTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS .— 19
176	176	Not later than January 1, 2026, the Secretary 20
177	177	of State and the Attorney General, acting 21
178	178	through the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell (as 22
179	179	described in section 304 of the Robert Levinson 23
180	180	Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Ac-24
181	181	countability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)), shall— 25
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184	184	•S 655 IS
185	185	‘‘(i) compile a list, based on such in-1
186	186	formation as is available, of individuals 2
187	187	who were applicable individuals during the 3
188	188	applicable period, and 4
189	189	‘‘(ii) provide the list described in 5
190	190	clause (i) to the Secretary. 6
191	191	‘‘(C) N
192	192	OTICE.—For purposes of carrying 7
193	193	out the program described in subparagraph (A), 8
194	194	the Secretary (in consultation with the Sec-9
195	195	retary of State and the Attorney General) shall, 10
196	196	with respect to any individual identified under 11
197	197	subparagraph (B), provide notice to such indi-12
198	198	vidual— 13
199	199	‘‘(i) in the case of an individual who 14
200	200	has been released on or before the date of 15
201	201	enactment of this subsection, not later 16
202	202	than 90 days after the date of enactment 17
203	203	of this subsection, or 18
204	204	‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who 19
205	205	is released after the date of enactment of 20
206	206	this subsection, not later than 90 days 21
207	207	after the date on which such individual is 22
208	208	released, 23
209	209	that such individual may be eligible for a refund 24
210	210	or an abatement of any amount described in 25
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213	213	•S 655 IS
214	214	paragraph (2) pursuant to the program de-1
215	215	scribed in subparagraph (A). 2
216	216	‘‘(D) A
217	217	UTHORIZATION.— 3
218	218	‘‘(i) I
219	219	N GENERAL.—Subject to clause 4
220	220	(ii), in the case of any refund described in 5
221	221	subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall 6
222	222	issue such refund to the eligible individual 7
223	223	in the same manner as any refund of an 8
224	224	overpayment of tax. 9
225	225	‘‘(ii) E
226	226	XTENSION OF LIMITATION ON 10
227	227	TIME FOR REFUND .—With respect to any 11
228	228	refund under subparagraph (A)— 12
229	229	‘‘(I) the 3-year period of limita-13
230	230	tion prescribed by section 6511(a) 14
231	231	shall be extended until the end of the 15
232	232	1-year period beginning on the date 16
233	233	that the notice described in subpara-17
234	234	graph (C) is provided to the eligible 18
235	235	individual, and 19
236	236	‘‘(II) any limitation under section 20
237	237	6511(b)(2) shall not apply. 21
238	238	‘‘(2) E
239	239	LIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of 22
240	240	this subsection, the term ‘eligible individual’ means 23
241	241	any applicable individual who, for any taxable year 24
242	242	ending during the applicable period, paid or incurred 25
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245	245	•S 655 IS
246	246	any interest, penalty, additional amount, or addition 1
247	247	to the tax in respect to any tax liability for such 2
248	248	year of such individual based on a determination 3
249	249	that an act described in section 7508(a)(1) which 4
250	250	was not performed by the time prescribed therefor 5
251	251	(without regard to any extensions). 6
252	252	‘‘(3) A
253	253	PPLICABLE PERIOD.—For purposes of 7
254	254	this subsection, the term ‘applicable period’ means 8
255	255	the period— 9
256	256	‘‘(A) beginning on January 1, 2021, and 10
257	257	‘‘(B) ending on the date of enactment of 11
258	258	this subsection.’’. 12
259	259	(b) E
260	260	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 13
261	261	this section shall apply to taxable years ending on or be-14
262	262	fore the date of enactment of this Act. 15
263	263	Æ
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