Automatic Cash Assistance Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4495 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for automatic advance refunds of additional stimulus tax credits for specified individ- uals, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Ms. HASSAN (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, and Ms. SINEMA) 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 for automatic advance refunds of additional stimulus tax credits for specified individuals, 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 ‘‘Automatic Cash Assist- 4 ance Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4495 IS SEC. 2. ENSURING AUTOMATIC ADVANCE REFUNDS OF AD- 1 DITIONAL STIMULUS TAX CREDITS FOR SPEC- 2 IFIED INDIVIDUALS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other law, 4 with respect to any stimulus tax credit which is allowed 5 to any specified individual who, at the time of any deter- 6 mination of any advance refund of such credit (as de- 7 scribed in subsection (b)(1)(C)), has not filed a tax return 8 for such individual’s first taxable year beginning in 2018 9 or 2019— 10 (1) determine the amount of such advance re- 11 fund with respect to such individual without regard 12 to any limitation based on income and on the basis 13 of information with respect to such individual which 14 is provided by— 15 (A) in the case of a specified social secu- 16 rity beneficiary or a specified supplemental se- 17 curity income recipient, the Commissioner of 18 Social Security, 19 (B) in the case of a specified railroad re- 20 tirement beneficiary, the Railroad Retirement 21 Board, and 22 (C) in the case of a specified veterans ben- 23 eficiary, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (in 24 coordination with, and with the assistance of, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4495 IS the Commissioner of Social Security if appro- 1 priate), and 2 (2) with respect to any amount of such advance 3 refund which is determined based upon the number 4 of dependents of the taxpayer, disburse any payment 5 with respect to such amount under rules similar to 6 the rules of paragraph (7) of section 6428(f) of the 7 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as added by section 8 3). 9 (b) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 10 (1) STIMULUS TAX CREDIT.—For purposes of 11 this section, the term ‘‘stimulus tax credit’’ means 12 any tax credit allowed under the Internal Revenue 13 Code of 1986 which— 14 (A) is enacted after March 27, 2020, and 15 before December 31, 2020, 16 (B) is allowed to any eligible individual (as 17 defined in section 6428(d) of such Code), and 18 (C) provides for an advanced refund of 19 such credit in a manner similar to that provided 20 under section 6428(f) of such Code. 21 (2) SPECIFIED INDIVIDUAL.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 23 section, the term ‘‘specified individual’’ means 24 any individual who is— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4495 IS (i) a specified social security bene- 1 ficiary, 2 (ii) a specified supplemental security 3 income recipient, 4 (iii) a specified railroad retirement 5 beneficiary, or 6 (iv) a specified veterans beneficiary. 7 (B) SPECIFIED SOCIAL SECURITY BENE- 8 FICIARY.—For purposes of this section— 9 (i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘specified 10 social security beneficiary’’ means any indi- 11 vidual who, for the last month that ends 12 prior to the date of enactment of the stim- 13 ulus tax credit, is entitled to any monthly 14 insurance benefit payable under title II of 15 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401 et 16 seq.), including payments made pursuant 17 to sections 202(d), 223(g), and 223(i)(7) 18 of such Act. 19 (ii) EXCEPTION.—Such term shall not 20 include any individual if such benefit is not 21 payable for such month by reason of sec- 22 tion 202(x) of the Social Security Act (42 23 U.S.C. 402(x)) or section 1129A of such 24 Act (42 U.S.C. 1320a–8a). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4495 IS (C) SPECIFIED SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY 1 INCOME RECIPIENT.—For purposes of this sec- 2 tion— 3 (i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘specified 4 supplemental security income recipient’’ 5 means any individual who, for the last 6 month that ends prior to the date of enact- 7 ment of the stimulus tax credit, is eligible 8 for a monthly benefit payable under title 9 XVI of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 10 1381 et seq.) (other than a benefit to an 11 individual described in section 12 1611(e)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 13 1382(e)(1)(B))), including— 14 (I) payments made pursuant to 15 section 1614(a)(3)(C) of such Act (42 16 U.S.C. 1382c(a)(3)(C)), 17 (II) payments made pursuant to 18 section 1619(a) (42 U.S.C. 1382h) or 19 subsections (a)(4), (a)(7), or (p)(7) of 20 section 1631 (42 U.S.C. 1383) of 21 such Act, and 22 (III) State supplementary pay- 23 ments of the type referred to in sec- 24 tion 1616(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4495 IS 1382e(a)) (or payments of the type 1 described in section 212(a) of Public 2 Law 93–66) which are paid by the 3 Commissioner under an agreement re- 4 ferred to in such section 1616(a) (or 5 section 212(a) of Public Law 93–66). 6 (ii) EXCEPTION.—Such term shall not 7 include any individual if such monthly ben- 8 efit is not payable for such month by rea- 9 son of subsection (e)(1)(A) or (e)(4) of sec- 10 tion 1611 (42 U.S.C. 1382) or section 11 1129A of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1320a–8a). 12 (D) SPECIFIED RAILROAD RETIREMENT 13 BENEFICIARY.—For purposes of this section, 14 the term ‘‘specified railroad retirement bene- 15 ficiary’’ means any individual who, for the last 16 month that ends prior to the date of enactment 17 of the stimulus tax credit, is entitled to a 18 monthly annuity or pension payment payable 19 (without regard to section 5(a)(ii) of the Rail- 20 road Retirement Act of 1974 (45 U.S.C. 21 231d(a)(ii))) under— 22 (i) section 2(a)(1) of such Act (45 23 U.S.C. 231a(a)(1)), 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4495 IS (ii) section 2(c) of such Act (45 1 U.S.C. 231a(c)), 2 (iii) section 2(d)(1) of such Act (45 3 U.S.C. 231a(d)(1)), or 4 (iv) section 7(b)(2) of such Act (45 5 U.S.C. 231f(b)(2)) with respect to any of 6 the benefit payments described in subpara- 7 graph (B)(i). 8 (E) SPECIFIED VETERANS BENEFICIARY.— 9 For purposes of this section— 10 (i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘specified 11 veterans beneficiary’’ means any individual 12 who, for the last month that ends prior to 13 the date of enactment of the stimulus tax 14 credit, is entitled to a compensation or 15 pension payment payable under— 16 (I) section 1110, 1117, 1121, 17 1131, 1141, or 1151 of title 38, 18 United States Code, 19 (II) section 1310, 1312, 1313, 20 1315, 1316, or 1318 of title 38, 21 United States Code, 22 (III) section 1513, 1521, 1533, 23 1536, 1537, 1541, 1542, or 1562 of 24 title 38, United States Code, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4495 IS (IV) section 1805, 1815, or 1821 1 of title 38, United States Code, 2 to a veteran, surviving spouse, child, or 3 parent as described in paragraph (2), (3), 4 (4)(A)(ii), or (5) of section 101, title 38, 5 United States Code. 6 (ii) EXCEPTION.—Such term shall not 7 include any individual if such compensa- 8 tion or pension payment is not payable, or 9 was reduced, for such month by reason of 10 section 1505, 5313, or 5313B of title 38, 11 United States Code. 12 (F) SUBSEQUENT DETERMINATIONS AND 13 REDETERMINATIONS NOT TAKEN INTO AC- 14 COUNT.—For purposes of this section, any indi- 15 vidual’s status as a specified social security ben- 16 eficiary, a specified supplemental security in- 17 come recipient, a specified railroad retirement 18 beneficiary, or a specified veterans beneficiary 19 shall be unaffected by any determination or re- 20 determination of any entitlement to, or eligi- 21 bility for, any benefit, payment, or compensa- 22 tion, if such determination or redetermination 23 occurs after the last month that ends prior to 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4495 IS the date of enactment of the stimulus tax cred- 1 it. 2 (G) PAYMENT TO REPRESENTATIVE PAY- 3 EES AND FIDUCIARIES.— 4 (i) IN GENERAL.—If the benefit, pay- 5 ment, or compensation referred to in sub- 6 paragraph (B)(i), (C)(i), (D), or (E)(i) 7 with respect to any specified individual is 8 paid to a representative payee or fiduciary, 9 payment by the Secretary of any advance 10 refund with respect to such specified indi- 11 vidual shall be made to such individual’s 12 representative payee or fiduciary and the 13 entire payment shall be used only for the 14 benefit of the individual who is entitled to 15 the payment. 16 (ii) APPLICATION OF ENFORCEMENT 17 PROVISIONS.— 18 (I) In the case of a payment de- 19 scribed in clause (i) which is made 20 with respect to a specified social secu- 21 rity beneficiary or a specified supple- 22 mental security income recipient, sec- 23 tion 1129(a)(3) of the Social Security 24 Act (42 U.S.C. 1320a–8(a)(3)) shall 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4495 IS apply to such payment in the same 1 manner as such section applies to a 2 payment under title II or XVI of such 3 Act. 4 (II) In the case of a payment de- 5 scribed in clause (i) which is made 6 with respect to a specified railroad re- 7 tirement beneficiary, section 13 of the 8 Railroad Retirement Act (45 U.S.C. 9 231l) shall apply to such payment in 10 the same manner as such section ap- 11 plies to a payment under such Act. 12 (III) In the case of a payment 13 described in clause (i) which is made 14 with respect to a specified veterans 15 beneficiary, sections 5502, 6106, and 16 6108 of title 38, United States Code, 17 shall apply to such payment in the 18 same manner as such sections apply 19 to a payment under such title. 20 SEC. 3. ALLOWING MULTIPLE PAYMENTS FOR RECOVERY 21 REBATES TO SPECIFIED INDIVIDUALS. 22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (f) of section 6428 of 23 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4495 IS 2201 of the CARES Act (Public Law 116–136), is amend- 1 ed by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 2 ‘‘(7) MULTIPLE PAYMENTS.—In the case of any 3 specified individual (as defined in section 2(b)(2) of 4 the Automatic Cash Assistance Act), the Secretary 5 shall, upon receipt of any information necessary to 6 determine the number of qualifying children of such 7 individual, disburse any payment as soon as prac- 8 ticable to such individual pursuant to this subsection 9 with respect to any amounts described in subsection 10 (a)(2), regardless of whether any payment pursuant 11 to this subsection has been previously made to such 12 individual.’’. 13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 14 this section shall take effect as if included in section 2201 15 of the CARES Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:15 Aug 26, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4495.IS S4495 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS