Equal Dignity for Married Taxpayers Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 515 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify that all provisions shall apply to legally married same-sex couples in the same manner as other married couples, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. BENNET, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. REED, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mrs. SHA- HEEN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. CASEY, Mr. CARPER, Ms. SMITH, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. COONS, Mr. KING, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. WARREN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. HAS- SAN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. PETERS, Mr. JONES, Mr. BROWN, Mr. TESTER, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. UDALL, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. WARNER, Mr. CARDIN, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. SCHATZ, Ms. SINEMA, and Mr. MANCHIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and re- ferred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify that all provisions shall apply to legally married same- sex couples in the same manner as other married couples, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 515 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Equal Dignity for Mar- 2 ried Taxpayers Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. RULES RELATING TO ALL LEGALLY MARRIED COU- 4 PLES. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Internal Revenue Code of 6 1986 is amended— 7 (1) in section 21(d)(2)— 8 (A) by striking ‘‘HIMSELF’’ in the heading 9 and inserting ‘‘SELF’’; and 10 (B) by striking ‘‘any husband and wife’’ 11 and inserting ‘‘any married couple’’; 12 (2) in section 22(e)(1)— 13 (A) by striking ‘‘husband and wife who 14 live’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple who lives’’; 15 and 16 (B) by striking ‘‘the taxpayer and his 17 spouse’’ and inserting ‘‘the taxpayer and the 18 spouse of the taxpayer’’; 19 (3) in section 38(c)(6)(A), by striking ‘‘husband 20 or wife who files’’ and inserting ‘‘married individual 21 who files’’; 22 (4) in section 42(j)(5)(C), by striking clause (i) 23 and inserting the following new clause: 24 ‘‘(i) MARRIED COUPLE TREATED AS 1 25 PARTNER.—For purposes of subparagraph 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 515 IS (B), individuals married to one another 1 (and their estates) shall be treated as 1 2 partner.’’; 3 (5) in section 62(b)(3)— 4 (A) in subparagraph (A)— 5 (i) by striking ‘‘husband and wife who 6 lived apart’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple 7 who lived apart’’; and 8 (ii) by striking ‘‘the taxpayer and his 9 spouse’’ and inserting ‘‘the taxpayer and 10 the spouse of the taxpayer’’; and 11 (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking ‘‘hus- 12 band and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 13 (6) in section 121— 14 (A) in subsection (b)(2), by striking ‘‘hus- 15 band and wife who make’’ and inserting ‘‘mar- 16 ried couple who makes’’; and 17 (B) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘hus- 18 band and wife make’’ and inserting ‘‘married 19 couple makes’’; 20 (7) in section 165(h)(4)(B), by striking ‘‘hus- 21 band and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 22 (8) in section 179(b)(4), by striking ‘‘a husband 23 and wife filing’’ and inserting ‘‘individuals married 24 to one another who file’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 515 IS (9) in section 213(d)(8), by striking ‘‘status as 1 husband and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘marital status’’; 2 (10) in section 219(g)(4), in the matter pre- 3 ceding subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘A husband 4 and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘Married individuals’’; 5 (11) in section 274(b)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘hus- 6 band and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 7 (12) in section 643(f), by striking ‘‘husband 8 and wife’’ in the second sentence and inserting 9 ‘‘married couple’’; 10 (13) in section 761(f)— 11 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘husband 12 and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; and 13 (B) in paragraph (2)(A), by striking ‘‘hus- 14 band and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 15 (14) in section 911— 16 (A) in subsection (b)(2), by striking sub- 17 paragraph (C) and inserting the following new 18 subparagraph: 19 ‘‘(C) TREATMENT OF COMMUNITY IN- 20 COME.—In applying subparagraph (A) with re- 21 spect to amounts received from services per- 22 formed by a married individual which are com- 23 munity income under community property laws 24 applicable to such income, the aggregate 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 515 IS amount which may be excludable from the gross 1 income of such individual and such individual’s 2 spouse under subsection (a)(1) for any taxable 3 year shall equal the amount which would be so 4 excludable if such amounts did not constitute 5 community income.’’; and 6 (B) in subsection (d)(9)(A), by striking 7 ‘‘where a husband and wife each have’’ and in- 8 serting ‘‘where both spouses have’’; 9 (15) in section 1244(b)(2), by striking ‘‘a hus- 10 band and wife filing’’; 11 (16) in section 1272(a)(2)(D), by striking 12 clause (iii) and inserting the following new clause: 13 ‘‘(iii) TREATMENT OF A MARRIED 14 COUPLE.—For purposes of this subpara- 15 graph, a married couple shall be treated as 16 1 person. The preceding sentence shall not 17 apply where the spouses lived apart at all 18 times during the taxable year in which the 19 loan is made.’’; 20 (17) in section 1313(c)(1), by striking ‘‘hus- 21 band and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘spouses’’; 22 (18) in section 1361(c)(1)(A)(i), by striking ‘‘a 23 husband and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘a married cou- 24 ple’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 515 IS (19) in section 2040(b), by striking ‘‘CERTAIN 1 JOINT INTERESTS OF HUSBAND AND WIFE’’ in the 2 heading and inserting ‘‘CERTAIN JOINT INTERESTS 3 OF MARRIED COUPLE’’; 4 (20) in section 2513— 5 (A) by striking ‘‘GIFT BY HUSBAND OR 6 WIFE TO THIRD PARTY’’ in the heading and 7 inserting ‘‘GIFT BY SPOUSE TO THIRD 8 PARTY’’; and 9 (B) by striking paragraph (1) of sub- 10 section (a) and inserting the following new 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A gift made by one indi- 13 vidual to any person other than such individual’s 14 spouse shall, for the purposes of this chapter, be 15 considered as made one-half by the individual and 16 one-half by such individual’s spouse, but only if at 17 the time of the gift each spouse is a citizen or resi- 18 dent of the United States. This paragraph shall not 19 apply with respect to a gift by an individual of an 20 interest in property if such individual creates in the 21 individual’s spouse a general power of appointment, 22 as defined in section 2514(c), over such interest. For 23 purposes of this section, an individual shall be con- 24 sidered as the spouse of another only if the indi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 515 IS vidual is married to the individual’s spouse at the 1 time of the gift and does not remarry during the re- 2 mainder of the calendar year.’’; 3 (21) in section 2516— 4 (A) by striking ‘‘Where a husband and 5 wife enter’’ and inserting the following: 6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Where a married couple enters’’; 7 and 8 (B) by adding at the end the following new 9 subsection: 10 ‘‘(b) SPOUSE.—For purposes of this section, if the 11 spouses referred to are divorced, wherever appropriate to 12 the meaning of this section, the term ‘spouse’ shall read 13 ‘former spouse’.’’; 14 (22) in section 5733(d)(2), by striking ‘‘hus- 15 band or wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married individual’’; 16 (23) in section 6013— 17 (A) by striking ‘‘JOINT RETURNS OF IN- 18 COME TAX BY HUSBAND AND WIFE’’ in the 19 heading and inserting ‘‘JOINT RETURNS OF 20 INCOME TAX BY A MARRIED COUPLE’’; 21 (B) in subsection (a), in the matter pre- 22 ceding paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘husband and 23 wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 515 IS (C) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘ei- 1 ther the husband or wife’’ and inserting ‘‘either 2 spouse’’; 3 (D) in subsection (a)(2)— 4 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 5 ‘‘husband and wife’’ and inserting 6 ‘‘spouses’’; and 7 (ii) in the second sentence, by striking 8 ‘‘his taxable year’’ and inserting ‘‘such 9 spouse’s taxable year’’; 10 (E) in subsection (a)(3)— 11 (i) in the first sentence, by striking 12 ‘‘his executor or administrator’’ and insert- 13 ing ‘‘the decedent’s executor or adminis- 14 trator’’; 15 (ii) in the first sentence, by striking 16 ‘‘with respect to both himself and the dece- 17 dent’’ and inserting ‘‘with respect to both 18 the surviving spouse and the decedent’’; 19 and 20 (iii) in the second sentence, by strik- 21 ing ‘‘constitute his separate return’’ and 22 inserting ‘‘constitute the survivor’s sepa- 23 rate return’’; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 515 IS (F) in subsection (b), by striking para- 1 graph (1) and inserting the following new para- 2 graph: 3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 4 graph (2), if an individual has filed a separate re- 5 turn for a taxable year for which a joint return 6 could have been made by the individual and the indi- 7 vidual’s spouse under subsection (a) and the time 8 prescribed by law for filing the return for such tax- 9 able year has expired, such individual and such 10 spouse may nevertheless make a joint return for 11 such taxable year. A joint return filed under this 12 subsection shall constitute the return of the indi- 13 vidual and the individual’s spouse for such taxable 14 year, and all payments, credits, refunds, or other re- 15 payments made or allowed with respect to the sepa- 16 rate return of either spouse for such taxable year 17 shall be taken into account in determining the extent 18 to which the tax based upon the joint return has 19 been paid. If a joint return is made under this sub- 20 section, any election (other than the election to file 21 a separate return) made by either spouse in a sepa- 22 rate return for such taxable year with respect to the 23 treatment of any income, deduction, or credit of 24 such spouse shall not be changed in the making of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 515 IS the joint return where such election would have been 1 irrevocable if the joint return had not been made. If 2 a joint return is made under this subsection after 3 the death of either spouse, such return with respect 4 to the decedent can be made only by the decedent’s 5 executor or administrator.’’; 6 (G) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘husband 7 and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘spouses’’; 8 (H) in subsection (d)(1), by striking ‘‘sta- 9 tus as husband and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘the 10 marital status with respect to each other’’; 11 (I) in subsection (d)(2), by striking ‘‘his 12 spouse’’ and inserting ‘‘the spouse of the indi- 13 vidual’’; 14 (J) in subsection (f)(2)(B), by striking 15 ‘‘such individual, his spouse, and his estate 16 shall be determined as if he were alive’’ and in- 17 serting ‘‘such individual, the individual’s 18 spouse, and the individual’s estate shall be de- 19 termined as if the individual were alive’’; and 20 (K) in subsection (f)(3)— 21 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 22 ‘‘for which he is entitled’’ and inserting 23 ‘‘for which such member is entitled’’; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 515 IS (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 1 ‘‘for which he is entitled’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘for which such employee is entitled’’; 3 (24) in section 6014(b), by striking ‘‘husband 4 and wife’’ in the second sentence and inserting ‘‘a 5 married couple’’; 6 (25) in section 6017, by striking ‘‘husband and 7 wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 8 (26) in section 6096(a), by striking ‘‘of hus- 9 band and wife having’’ and inserting ‘‘reporting’’; 10 (27) in section 6166(b)(2), by striking subpara- 11 graph (B) and inserting the following new subpara- 12 graph: 13 ‘‘(B) CERTAIN INTERESTS HELD BY MAR- 14 RIED COUPLE.—Stock or a partnership interest 15 which— 16 ‘‘(i) is community property of a mar- 17 ried couple (or the income from which is 18 community income) under the applicable 19 community property law of a State, or 20 ‘‘(ii) is held by a married couple as 21 joint tenants, tenants by the entirety, or 22 tenants in common, 23 shall be treated as owned by 1 shareholder or 24 1 partner, as the case may be.’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:01 Feb 23, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S515.IS S515 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 12 •S 515 IS (28) in section 6212(b)(2)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘return filed by husband 2 and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘return’’; and 3 (B) by striking ‘‘his last known address’’ 4 and inserting ‘‘the last known address of such 5 spouse’’; 6 (29) in section 7428(c)(2)(A), by striking ‘‘hus- 7 band and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 8 (30) in section 7701(a)— 9 (A) by striking paragraph (17); and 10 (B) in paragraph (38), by striking ‘‘hus- 11 band and wife’’ and inserting ‘‘married couple’’; 12 and 13 (31) in section 7872(f), by striking paragraph 14 (7) and inserting the following new paragraph: 15 ‘‘(7) MARRIED COUPLE TREATED AS 1 PER- 16 SON.—A married couple shall be treated as 1 per- 17 son.’’. 18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 19 (1) The table of sections for subchapter B of 20 chapter 12 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 21 amended by striking the item relating to section 22 2513 and inserting the following new item: 23 ‘‘Sec. 2513. Gift by spouse to third party.’’. (2) The table of sections for subpart B of part 24 II of subchapter A of chapter 61 of such Code is 25 Ver [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]