I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4491 

To provide for MyRA accounts, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2016 

Mr. CROWLEY (for himself and Mr. ELLISON) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To provide for MyRA accounts, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Making Your Retire5 ment Accessible Act’’ or the ‘‘MyRA Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MYRA ACCOUNTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 408A of the Internal Rev8 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following: 

10 ‘‘(g) MYRA ACCOUNTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) SPECIAL RULE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS FROM

12 TAX REFUNDS.—A taxpayer may elect to contribute 


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1 any portion of an overpayment of income tax for a 

2 taxable year to a MyRA account. The amount elect3 ed under the preceding sentence— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall not exceed the amount allowed 

5 as a credit under section 25B for the taxable 

6 year, and 

7 ‘‘(B) shall not be treated as qualified re8 tirement contributions for purposes of section 

9 219. 

10 ‘‘(2) DIRECT DEPOSIT.—The Secretary shall 

11 provide for direct deposit of refunds from overpay12 ments of income tax by a taxpayer to the MyRA ac13 count of a participant. 

14 ‘‘(3) MYRA ACCOUNT DEFINED.—For purposes 

15 of this subsection, the term ‘MyRA account’ means 

16 a Roth IRA which meets the requirements of section 

17 3106(d) of title 31, United States Code.’’. 

18 (b) MYRA PROGRAM.—Section 3106 of title 31, 

19 United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 

20 following new subsection: 

21 ‘‘(d)(1) The Secretary shall, in accordance with this 

22 subsection, establish and carry out a program of individual 

23 savings accounts to be known as ‘MyRA accounts’ under 

24 which the Secretary shall, upon receipt of contributions 


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1 in cash by or on behalf of a participant, issue retirement 

2 savings bonds to the MyRA account of the participant. 

3 ‘‘(2) In carrying out the program under paragraph 

4 (1), the Secretary shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) administer a MyRA account for each par6 ticipant and credit bonds issued to the participant to 

7 the MyRA account of the participant, 

8 ‘‘(B) serve as custodian of assets in the pro9 gram, 

10 ‘‘(C) issue retirement savings bonds described 

11 in paragraph (4), and 

12 ‘‘(D) issue to each participant an annual state13 ment relating to the participant’s MyRA account. 

14 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘MyRA 

15 account’ means a Roth IRA (as defined in section 408A 

16 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986) established by the 

17 Secretary on behalf of a participant. 

18 ‘‘(4) A retirement savings bond issued under this sub19 section shall— 

20 ‘‘(A) earn interest at the same annual percent21 age rate as securities issued to the Government Se22 curities Investment Fund in the Thrift Savings Plan 

23 for Federal employees, as determined under section 

24 8438(e)(2) of title 5, United States Code, 


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‘‘(B) shall be compounded daily at 1 1 ⁄360 of the 

2 annual percentage rate, 

3 ‘‘(C) shall have a maturity date that is indeter4 minate and may differ for each bond issued, but 

5 that does not exceed the earlier of 30 years from the 

6 date the bond is first issued on behalf of the partici7 pant or when the total value of all such bonds held 

8 on behalf of the participant in the MyRA account 

9 reaches $15,000, 

10 ‘‘(D) shall cease to bear interest on the date of 

11 maturity, and 

12 ‘‘(E) shall be redeemed by the Secretary upon 

13 maturity. 

14 ‘‘(5) Upon reaching maturity the Secretary shall 

15 transfer the entire amount in the MyRA account in a man16 ner that meets the rollover requirements of section 

17 408(d)(3) to a Roth IRA (other than a MyRA account) 

18 of the participant administered by a trustee who meets 

19 the satisfaction requirements of the Secretary under sec20 tion 408(a)(2). For purposes of this paragraph, the Sec21 retary shall make transfers to eligible trustees on a rotat22 ing basis unless the participant elects otherwise. 

23 ‘‘(6) The Secretary shall accept contributions from 

24 employers on behalf of employees by direct deposit. 


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1 ‘‘(7) The Secretary shall accept contributions from 

2 participants by direct deposit. 

3 ‘‘(8) Participant information under the program 

4 under this subsection shall be exempt from disclosure to 

5 the public. 

6 ‘‘(9) The Secretary shall issue a quarterly report to 

7 Congress— 

8 ‘‘(A) listing the number of accounts created in 

9 that quarter, the total number of accounts in exist10 ence, the overall value of assets in the accounts, and 

11 the number of taxpayers per zip code (of the tax12 payer) who have created accounts; and 

13 ‘‘(B) the names of employers who paid fines for 

14 failure of the employer to notify their employees of 

15 these accounts. 

16 ‘‘(10) The Secretary shall issue such regulations or 

17 other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to 

18 carry out this subsection.’’. 

19 (c) EMPLOYER REQUIREMENTS.— 

20 (1) Chapter 43 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

21 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 4980J. FAILURE OF EMPLOYER RELATING TO MYRA 

2 ACCOUNTS. 

3 ‘‘(a) IMPOSITION OF TAX.—There is hereby imposed 

4 a tax on the failure of any employer to meet the require5 ments of subsection (e) with respect to any employee. 

6 ‘‘(b) AMOUNT OF TAX.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of tax imposed 

8 by subsection (a) on any failure with respect to any 

9 employee shall be $100 for each day in the non10 compliance period with respect to such failure. 

11 ‘‘(2) NONCOMPLIANCE PERIOD.—For purposes 

12 of this section, the term ‘noncompliance period’ 

13 means, with respect to any failure, the period begin14 ning on the date the failure first occurs and ending 

15 on the date the notice to which the failure relates is 

16 provided or the failure is otherwise corrected. 

17 ‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS ON AMOUNT OF TAX.— 

18 ‘‘(1) TAX NOT TO APPLY WHERE FAILURE NOT

19 DISCOVERED AND REASONABLE DILIGENCE EXER20 CISED.—No tax shall be imposed by subsection (a) 

21 on any failure during any period for which it is es22 tablished to the satisfaction of the Secretary that 

23 any employer subject to liability for the tax under 

24 subsection (d) did not know that the failure existed 

25 and exercised reasonable diligence to meet the re26 quirements of subsection (e). 


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1 ‘‘(2) TAX NOT TO APPLY TO FAILURES COR2 RECTED WITHIN 30 DAYS.—No tax shall be imposed 

3 by subsection (a) on any failure if— 

4 ‘‘(A) any employer subject to liability for 

5 the tax under subsection (d) exercised reason6 able diligence to meet the requirements of sub7 section (e), and 

8 ‘‘(B) such employer provides the notice de9 scribed in subsection (e) during the 30-day pe10 riod beginning on the first date such employer 

11 knew, or exercising reasonable diligence would 

12 have known, that such failure existed. 

13 ‘‘(3) OVERALL LIMITATION FOR UNINTEN14 TIONAL FAILURES.— 

15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If the employer sub16 ject to liability for tax under subsection (d) ex17 ercised reasonable diligence to meet the require18 ments of subsection (e), the tax imposed by 

19 subsection (a) for failures during the taxable 

20 year of the employer shall not exceed $500,000. 

21 ‘‘(B) TAXABLE YEARS IN THE CASE OF

22 CERTAIN CONTROLLED GROUPS.—For purposes 

23 of this paragraph, if all persons who are treated 

24 as a single employer for purposes of this section 

25 do not have the same taxable year, the taxable 


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1 years taken into account shall be determined 

2 under principles similar to the principles of sec3 tion 1561. 

4 ‘‘(4) WAIVER BY SECRETARY.—In the case of a 

5 failure which is due to reasonable cause and not to 

6 willful neglect, the Secretary may waive part or all 

7 of the tax imposed by subsection (a) to the extent 

8 that the payment of such tax would be excessive or 

9 otherwise inequitable relative to the failure involved. 

10 ‘‘(d) LIABILITY FOR TAX.—The employer shall be lia11 ble for the tax imposed by subsection (a). 

12 ‘‘(e) EMPLOYER REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO

13 MYRA ACCOUNTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An employer who pays 

15 wages to any employee through direct deposit shall 

16 make contributions through direct deposit to the 

17 MyRA account of the amount of wages designated 

18 by an employee who elects to participate in the 

19 MyRA program under section 3106(d) of title 31, 

20 United States Code. 

21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

22 apply to any employer with respect to an employee 

23 if the employer offers an employer-sponsored quali24 fied retirement plan to the employee. 


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1 ‘‘(3) NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—Each employer 

2 shall, in each paystub, provide a uniform notice to 

3 employees on how the employees can create a MyRA 

4 account.’’. 

5 (2) The table of sections for chapter 43 of such 

6 Code is amended by adding at the end the following 

7 new item: 

‘‘Sec. 4980J. Failure of employer relating to MyRA accounts.’’. 

8 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

9 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 

10 of this Act. 

Æ 


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