Home Office Deduction Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 9017 To temporarily allow a deduction for the trade or business expenses of employees. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DECEMBER 17, 2020 Mr. MORELLE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To temporarily allow a deduction for the trade or business expenses of employees. 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 ‘‘Home Office Deduc- 4 tion Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. TEMPORARY DEDUCTION FOR TRADE OR BUSINESS 6 EXPENSES OF EMPLOYEES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of the Internal Rev- 8 enue Code of 1986— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jan 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9017.IH H9017 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 9017 IH (1) the qualified employee trade or business de- 1 ductions of any taxpayer for any taxable year shall 2 not be treated as itemized deductions, and 3 (2) in the case of an taxpayer who does not 4 elect to itemize such taxpayer’s deductions for any 5 taxable year, the taxable income of such taxpayer for 6 such taxable shall be reduced by the qualified em- 7 ployee trade or business deductions of such taxpayer 8 for such taxable year. 9 (b) QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE TRADE OR BUSINESS DE- 10 DUCTIONS.—For purposes of this section— 11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified em- 12 ployee trade or business deductions’’ means so much 13 of the taxpayer’s employee trade or business deduc- 14 tions for the taxable year as exceed 2 percent the 15 taxpayer’s adjusted gross income (as defined in sec- 16 tion 62 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) for 17 such taxable year. 18 (2) EMPLOYEE TRADE OR BUSINESS DEDUC- 19 TIONS.—The term ‘‘employee trade or business de- 20 ductions’’ means so much of the deductions allowed 21 by section 162 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 22 (determined without regard to section 67(g) of such 23 Code) as are attributable to amounts paid or in- 24 curred— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jan 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9017.IH H9017 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 9017 IH (A) in the trade or business of being an 1 employee, and 2 (B) during the period beginning on March 3 13, 2020, and ending on December 31, 2020. 4 (c) PHASE-OUT BASED ON MODIFIED ADJUSTED 5 GROSS INCOME.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any taxpayer 7 for any taxable year, the amount of qualified em- 8 ployee trade or business deductions taken into ac- 9 count under subsection (a) (determined without re- 10 gard to this subsection) shall be reduced (but not 11 below zero) by the amount which bears the same 12 ratio to the amount of such deductions (as so deter- 13 mined) as— 14 (A) the excess of— 15 (i) the taxpayer’s modified adjusted 16 gross income for such taxable year, over 17 (ii) $200,000 ($400,000 in the case of 18 a joint return), bears to 19 (B) $50,000 ($100,000 in the case of a 20 joint return). 21 (2) MODIFIED ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME.—For 22 purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘modified ad- 23 justed gross income’’ means the adjusted gross in- 24 come of the taxpayer (as defined in section 62 of the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jan 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H9017.IH H9017 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 9017 IH Internal Revenue Code of 1986) for the taxable year 1 increased by any amount excluded from gross in- 2 come under sections 911, 931, and 933 of such 3 Code. 4 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jan 02, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H9017.IH H9017 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS