Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act”.
Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to postpone tax deadlines and reimburse paid late fees for United States nationals who are unlawfully or wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Postponement of tax deadlines for hostages and individuals wrongfully detained abroad
In general— Chapter 77 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 7510 the following new section:
“7511. Time for performing certain acts postponed for hostages and individuals wrongfully detained abroad
“(a) In general—Any applicable individual shall be entitled to the benefits of section 7508 in the same manner as if such individual was performing services described in subsection (a) of such section for any period in which such individual was—
“(1) unlawfully or wrongfully detained abroad, or
“(2) held hostage abroad.
“(b) Applicable individual
“(1) In general—For purposes of this section, the term applicable individual means any individual who is—
“(A) included on the list of United States nationals unlawfully or wrongfully detained that is included in the annual report required under section 302(c) of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741(c)), or
“(B) a United States national taken hostage abroad, as determined in a manner consistent with the findings of the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell (as described in section 304 of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)).
“(2) Information provided to Treasury—For purposes of identifying individuals described in paragraph (1), not later than January 1, 2024, and annually thereafter—
“(A) the Secretary of State shall provide the Secretary with the report described in paragraph (1)(A), as well as any other information necessary to identify the individuals described in such report, and
“(B) the Attorney General, acting through the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell, shall provide the Secretary with a list of the individuals described in paragraph (1)(B), as well as any other information necessary to identify such individuals.
“(c) Application to spouse—The provisions of this section shall apply to the spouse of any individual entitled to the benefits of subsection (a).”
Clerical amendment— The table of sections for chapter 77 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 7510 the following new item:
Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years ending after the date of enactment of this Act.
Sec. 3 Reimbursement and abatement of penalties and fines paid by eligible individuals
In general—
Establishment— Not later than January 1, 2024, the Secretary (in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General) shall establish a program to allow any eligible individual (or the spouse or any dependent (as defined in section 152 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) of such individual) to apply for reimbursement or abatement of any amount described in subsection (b) (including interest) to the extent such amount was attributable to the applicable period.
Notice— For purposes of carrying out the program described in paragraph (1), the Secretary (in consultation with the Secretary of State and the Attorney General) shall, with respect to any individual identified under subsection (c), provide notice to such individual—
in the case of an individual who has been released on or before the date of enactment of this Act, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act; or
in the case of an individual who is released after the date of enactment of this Act, not later than 90 days after the date on which such individual is released,
Authorization—
In general— Subject to subparagraph (B), in the case of any reimbursement described in paragraph (1), the Secretary shall issue such reimbursement to the eligible individual in the same manner as any refund of an overpayment of tax.
Extension of limitation on time for reimbursement— With respect to any reimbursement under paragraph (1)—
the 3-year period of limitation prescribed by section 6511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall not expire before the date which is 1 year after the date the notice described in paragraph (2) is provided to the eligible individual; and
any limitation under section 6511(b)(2) of such Code shall not apply.
Eligible individual— For purposes of this section, the term eligible individual means any applicable individual (as defined in section 7511(b)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) who, for any taxable year ending during the applicable period, paid or incurred any interest, penalty, additional amount, or addition to the tax in respect to any tax liability for such year of such individual based on a determination that an act described in paragraph (1) of section 7508(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 which was not performed by the time prescribed therefor (without regard to any extensions).
Identification of individuals— Not later than January 1, 2024, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, acting through the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell (as described in section 304 of the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act (22 U.S.C. 1741b)), shall—
compile a list, based on such information as is available, of United States nationals who, during the applicable period—
were included on the list described in section 7511(b)(1)(A) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986; or
the Attorney General determined, based on credible information, were taken hostage abroad; and
provide the list described in paragraph (1) to the Secretary.
Applicable period— For purposes of this section, the term applicable period means the period—
beginning on January 1, 2021; and
ending on the date of enactment of this Act.
Secretary— For purposes of this section, the term Secretary means the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary's delegate.