AG CHAIN Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6841 To provide an exclusion from gross income for certain workers, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 12, 2020 Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. EVANS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To provide an exclusion from gross income for certain workers, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Assistance and Grati- 4 tude for Coronavirus Heroes in Agribusiness who are In- 5 valuable to the Nation Act’’ or the ‘‘AG CHAIN Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 7 For purposes of this Act— 8 (1) QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘quali- 9 fied employee’’ means any individual who is— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6841.IH H6841 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6841 IH (A) an essential food and agriculture em- 1 ployee, and 2 (B) working on his or her employer’s 3 premises or on duty delivering to customers or 4 performing tasks on the premises of a cus- 5 tomer, traveling to and from such locations, or 6 otherwise at a prescribed work place that is not 7 his or her home or a remote worksite. 8 (2) ESSENTIAL FOOD AND AGRICULTURE EM- 9 PLOYEE.—The term ‘‘essential food and agriculture 10 employee’’ means— 11 (A) an employee who provides services at a 12 business that— 13 (i) is assigned a North American In- 14 dustry Classification System code begin- 15 ning with 4451, 4471, 4247, 7225, 72233, 16 722330, 72331, or 722310, and 17 (ii) is located in a county that has at 18 least one confirmed case of COVID–19, or 19 (B) an employee identified as a member of 20 the food and agriculture workforce in the guid- 21 ance issued by the Cybersecurity and Infra- 22 structure Security Agency on April 17, 2020, 23 entitled ‘‘Guidance on the Essential Critical In- 24 frastructure Workforce: Ensuring Community 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:31 Jun 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6841.IH H6841 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6841 IH and National Resilience in COVID-19 Response 1 Version 3.0’’ (or any successor guidance). 2 SEC. 3. EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME FOR CERTAIN 3 WORKERS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of the Internal Rev- 5 enue Code of 1986, gross income shall not include speci- 6 fied income of any qualified employee. 7 (b) LIMITATION.—The aggregate amount not in- 8 cluded in the gross income of any individual by reason of 9 subsection (a) shall not exceed $25,000. 10 (c) APPLICABLE PERIOD.—The term ‘‘applicable pe- 11 riod’’ means the period beginning on February 15, 2020, 12 and ending on June 15, 2020. 13 (d) SPECIFIED INCOME.—For purposes of this sec- 14 tion, the term ‘‘specified income’’ means— 15 (1) if the services described in section 1(2) are 16 provided as an employee, the wages (as defined in 17 section 3121(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 18 1986 determined without regard to paragraph (1) 19 thereof) received by the qualified employee for the 20 applicable period, and 21 (2) in any other case, the income of the quali- 22 fied employee which is properly allocable to the serv- 23 ices described in section 1(2) which are provided by 24 such qualified employee during the applicable period. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6841.IH H6841 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6841 IH (e) EXTENSION.—The Secretary of the Treasury (or 1 the Secretary’s delegate) may extend the applicable period 2 for a period not to exceed 3 additional calendar months 3 if the Secretary (or the Secretary’s delegate) determines 4 that the emergency related to COVID-19 is likely to be 5 ongoing during such period. If such period is so extended, 6 the dollar amount in subsection (b) shall be increased by 7 $6,250 for each month of such extension (and a like rate 8 of increase with respect to any extension which is not a 9 whole number of months). 10 SEC. 4. TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF PAYROLL TAXES UP 11 TO A CAP. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi- 13 sion of law, with respect to so much of the total wages 14 (as defined in section 3121(a) of the Internal Revenue 15 Code of 1986) of the qualified employees of an employer 16 as does not exceed $75,000— 17 (1) with respect to any taxable year which be- 18 gins in the payroll tax suspension period, the rate of 19 tax under section 1401(a) of the Internal Revenue 20 Code of 1986 shall be 0 percent, 21 (2) with respect to remuneration received for 22 pay periods ending during the payroll tax suspension 23 period, the rate of tax under 3101(a) of such Code 24 shall be 0 percent (including for purposes of deter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6841.IH H6841 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6841 IH mining the applicable percentage under sections 1 3201(a) and 3211(a)(1) of such Code), and 2 (3) with respect to remuneration paid for pay 3 periods ending during the payroll tax suspension pe- 4 riod, the rate of tax under section 3111(a) of such 5 Code shall be 0 percent (including for purposes of 6 determining the applicable percentage under section 7 3221(a) of such Code). 8 (b) PAYROLL TAX SUSPENSION PERIOD.—The term 9 ‘‘payroll tax suspension period’’ means the period begin- 10 ning on February 15, 2020, and ending on June 15, 2020. 11 (c) EMPLOYER NOTIFICATION.—The Secretary of the 12 Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) shall notify employ- 13 ers of the payroll tax suspension period in any manner 14 the Secretary (or the Secretary’s delegate) deems appro- 15 priate. 16 (d) EXTENSION.—The Secretary of the Treasury (or 17 the Secretary’s delegate) may extend the payroll tax sus- 18 pension period for a period not to exceed 3 additional cal- 19 endar months if the Secretary (or the Secretary’s dele- 20 gate) determines that the emergency related to COVID- 21 19 is likely to be ongoing during such period. If such pe- 22 riod is so extended, the dollar amount in subsection (a) 23 shall be increased by $18,750 for each month of such ex- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6841.IH H6841 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6841 IH tension (and a like rate of increase with respect to any 1 extension which is not a whole number of months). 2 (e) TRANSFER OF FUNDS.— 3 (1) TRANSFERS TO FEDERAL OLD-AGE AND 4 SURVIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There are 5 hereby appropriated to the Federal Old-Age and 6 Survivors Trust Fund and the Federal Disability In- 7 surance Trust Fund established under section 201 8 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401) amounts 9 equal to the reduction in revenues to the Treasury 10 by reason of the application of subsection (a). 11 Amounts appropriated by the preceding sentence 12 shall be transferred from the general fund at such 13 times and in such manner as to replicate to the ex- 14 tent possible the transfers which would have oc- 15 curred to such Trust Fund had such amendments 16 not been enacted. 17 (2) TRANSFERS TO SOCIAL SECURITY EQUIVA- 18 LENT BENEFIT ACCOUNT.—There are hereby appro- 19 priated to the Social Security Equivalent Benefit Ac- 20 count established under section 15A(a) of the Rail- 21 road Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 231n–1(a)) 22 amounts equal to the reduction in revenues to the 23 Treasury by reason of the application of subsection 24 (a). Amounts appropriated by the preceding sentence 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6841.IH H6841 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 6841 IH shall be transferred from the general fund at such 1 times and in such manner as to replicate to the ex- 2 tent possible the transfers which would have oc- 3 curred to such Account had such amendments not 4 been enacted. 5 (3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER FEDERAL 6 LAWS.—For purposes of applying any provision of 7 Federal law other than the provisions of the Internal 8 Revenue Code of 1986, the rate of tax in effect 9 under section 3101(a) of such Code shall be deter- 10 mined without regard to the reduction in such rate 11 under this section. 12 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 13 This Act shall apply to taxable years beginning after 14 December 31, 2019. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:50 May 30, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6841.IH H6841 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS