Emergency Family Relief Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3516 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide emergency family relief in response to the outbreak of the NCOV–19. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 18, 2020 Mr. HAWLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide emergency family relief in response to the outbreak of the NCOV–19. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Emergency Family Re- 4 lief Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF NCOV–19 EMERGENCY FAMILY 6 RELIEF. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF NCOV–19 EMERGENCY 8 FAMILY RELIEF CREDIT.—Subpart C of part IV of sub- 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3516 IS chapter A of chapter 1 of subtitle A of such Code is 1 amended by inserting the following new section: 2 ‘‘SEC. 36D. NCOV–19 EMERGENCY FAMILY RELIEF. 3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable and not 4 later than two weeks after the date of the enactment of 5 this section, the Secretary shall establish a program for 6 making emergency family relief credit payments, including 7 electronic payments, on a monthly basis, without respect 8 to tax liability, for each citizen residing with a dependent 9 qualifying child equal to the sum of— 10 ‘‘(1) with respect to a two-person household, 11 $1,288 per full emergency family relief period and a 12 pro rata amount for each partial emergency family 13 relief period. 14 ‘‘(2) with respect to a three-person household, 15 $1,446 per full emergency family relief period and a 16 pro rata amount for each partial emergency family 17 relief period. 18 ‘‘(3) with respect to a four-person household, 19 $1,786 per full emergency family relief period and a 20 pro rata amount for each partial emergency family 21 relief period. 22 ‘‘(4) with respect to a household larger than a 23 four-person household, an amount equaling $1,786, 24 plus $420 per each additional household member be- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3516 IS yond the fourth, per full emergency family relief pe- 1 riod and a pro rata amount for each partial emer- 2 gency family relief period 3 ‘‘(b) PRO RATA AMOUNTS.—The pro rata amount for 4 each partial emergency family relief period shall be cal- 5 culated by multiplying the monthly amount for a full 6 emergency family relief period that would be paid to the 7 beneficiary based on household size for such a period by 8 the percentage calculated by dividing the number of days 9 of the partial emergency family relief period by the num- 10 ber of days of the month during which the majority of 11 the emergency family relief period occurs, or, if the emer- 12 gency family relief period is an even number of days, by 13 the number of days of the shorter month during which 14 it falls. 15 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.— 16 ‘‘(1) CREDIT PHASE OUT.—The amount of the 17 credit allowable under subsection (a) shall be re- 18 duced (but not below zero) by $50 for each $1,000 19 (or fraction thereof) by which the beneficiary’s modi- 20 fied adjusted gross income exceeds the threshold 21 amount. For purposes of the preceding sentence, the 22 term ‘modified adjusted gross income’ means ad- 23 justed gross income based on the most recent infor- 24 mation submitted by the beneficiary in a form 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3516 IS deemed appropriate for the application process by 1 the Secretary of the Treasury and increased by any 2 amount excluded from gross income under section 3 911, 931, or 933. 4 ‘‘(2) THRESHOLD AMOUNT.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para- 6 graph (1), the term ‘threshold amount’ 7 means— 8 ‘‘(i) $100,000 in the case of a joint 9 return; and 10 ‘‘(ii) $50,000 in the case of an indi- 11 vidual return. 12 ‘‘(3) HOUSEHOLD LIMIT.—Emergency family 13 relief credit payments may only be claimed by one 14 member of a household, and only one credit may be 15 claimed per residence. 16 ‘‘(A) MARITAL STATUS.—For purposes of 17 this paragraph, marital status shall be deter- 18 mined under section 7703. 19 ‘‘(d) QUALIFYING CHILD.— 20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term 21 ‘qualifying child’ means a qualifying child of the filer 22 (as defined in section 152(c)) who has not attained 23 18 years of age. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3516 IS ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN NON-CITI- 1 ZENS.—The term ‘qualifying child’ shall not include 2 any individual who would not be a dependent if sub- 3 paragraph (A) of section 152(b)(3) were applied 4 without regard to all that follows ‘resident of the 5 United States’. 6 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION AND VERIFICATION.— 7 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION.—The Secretary of Treasury 8 shall establish an expedited process by which citizens 9 may apply for and provide all necessary information 10 to maintain access to installments of the emergency 11 family relief credit outside the annual tax return 12 process utilizing— 13 ‘‘(A) information from the beneficiary’s 14 most recent tax return if the beneficiary has 15 filed previously and such return is for 2018 or 16 2019, and 17 ‘‘(B) any additional or alternative informa- 18 tion submissions deemed necessary by the Sec- 19 retary of the Treasury to facilitate application, 20 verification of eligibility for, and prompt deliv- 21 ery of the emergency family relief credit. 22 ‘‘(2) VERIFICATION.—No credit shall be allowed 23 under this section to a taxpayer on the basis of his 24 or her residing with other household members unless 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3516 IS the taxpayer has provided the name and taxpayer 1 identification number of each such household mem- 2 ber in a manner deemed appropriate for the applica- 3 tion process by the Secretary of the Treasury. 4 ‘‘(f) RELIEF PERIODS.— 5 ‘‘(1) EMERGENCY FAMILY RELIEF PERIOD.— 6 Beginning on the date of enactment, an emergency 7 family relief period shall encompass any monthlong 8 period prior to January 1, 2021— 9 ‘‘(A) during which time an elementary or 10 secondary school as such terms are defined in 11 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 12 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) or 13 place of care attended by a dependent child has 14 been closed, or a child care provider of such 15 child who receives compensation for providing 16 child care services on a regular basis is unavail- 17 able, due to an emergency with respect to 18 COVID–19 declared by a Federal, state, or 19 local authority, or 20 ‘‘(B) during which time the filer or the fil- 21 er’s spouse has experienced economic hardship 22 including job loss, lost wages, or lost self-em- 23 ployment income, due to an emergency with re- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 3516 IS spect to COVID–19 declared by a Federal, 1 state, or local authority. 2 ‘‘(2) PARTIAL EMERGENCY FAMILY RELIEF PE- 3 RIOD.—Beginning on the date of enactment, a par- 4 tial emergency family relief period shall encompass 5 any period shorter than one month prior to January 6 1, 2021— 7 ‘‘(A) during which time an elementary or 8 secondary school as such terms are defined in 9 section 8101 of the Elementary and Secondary 10 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801) or 11 place of care attended by a dependent child has 12 been closed, or a child care provider of such 13 child who receives compensation for providing 14 child care services on a regular basis is unavail- 15 able, due to an emergency with respect to 16 COVID–19 declared by a Federal, state, or 17 local authority, or 18 ‘‘(B) during which time the filer or the fil- 19 er’s spouse has experienced economic hardship 20 including job loss, lost wages, or lost self-em- 21 ployment income, due to an emergency with re- 22 spect to COVID–19 declared by a Federal, 23 state, or local authority. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 3516 IS ‘‘(3) OVERLAP.—For the purpose of calculating 1 a filer’s emergency family relief credits, no emer- 2 gency family relief period or partial emergency fam- 3 ily relief period may overlap with another emergency 4 family relief period or partial emergency family relief 5 period, nor shall multiple partial emergency family 6 relief periods be counted both immediately prior to 7 and immediately subsequent to a full emergency 8 family relief period. 9 ‘‘(g) TREATMENT OF EMERGENCY FAMILY RELIEF 10 CREDITS FOR INCOME TAX PURPOSES.— 11 ‘‘(1) PAYMENTS NOT TO BE TAXED .—Notwith- 12 standing any other provision of law, no amount re- 13 ceived as an emergency family relief credit shall be 14 treated as income for the purpose of calculating 15 Federal, state, or local tax liability.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:13 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3516.IS S3516 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS