II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 489 

To require an annual report of Federal employees and retirees with delinquent 

tax debt. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 

Mr. BRAUN (for himself and Ms. ERNST) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require an annual report of Federal employees and 

retirees with delinquent tax debt. 

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 ‘‘Federal Employees and 

5 Retirees with Delinquent Tax Debt Initiative (FERDI) 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT ON FEDERAL EMPLOYEES AND 

8 RETIREES WITH DELINQUENT TAX DEBT. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury (or 

10 the Secretary’s delegate) shall submit to the relevant comVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S489.IS S489

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1 mittees and make a public on the internet an annual re2 port on current and retired Federal civilian and military 

3 employees who have delinquent tax debt or an unfiled tax 

4 return for the most recent fiscal year. 

5 (b) MATTERS INCLUDED.—The report under sub6 section (a) shall include— 

7 (1) the population of individuals who are civil8 ian employees, retired civilian employees, active duty 

9 military employees, military reserve or national 

10 guard employees, and retired military employees; 

11 (2) the number of individuals in each category 

12 listed in paragraph (1) who have delinquent tax debt 

13 (excluding those individuals who have an installment 

14 agreement) or an unfiled tax return; 

15 (3) the aggregate balance owed and the delin16 quency rate for each such category; and 

17 (4) the information described in paragraphs (2) 

18 and (3) broken down by Federal agency. 

19 (c) RELEVANT COMMITTEES.—For purposes of this 

20 section, the term ‘‘relevant committees’’ means the Com21 mittee on Finance of the Senate, the Committee on Ways 

22 and Means of the House of Representatives, the Com23 mittee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

24 of the Senate, and Committee on Oversight and Reform 

25 of the House of Representatives. 


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1 SEC. 3. INELIGIBILITY OF NONCOMPLIANT TAXPAYERS FOR 

2 FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 73 of title 5, United 

4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing: 

6 ‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—INELIGIBILITY OF NON7 COMPLIANT TAXPAYERS FOR FEDERAL EM8 PLOYMENT 

9 ‘‘§ 7381. Definitions 

10 ‘‘For purposes of this subchapter— 

11 ‘‘(1) the term ‘agency’ means— 

12 ‘‘(A) an Executive agency; 

13 ‘‘(B) the United States Postal Service; 

14 ‘‘(C) the Postal Regulatory Commission; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(D) an employing authority in the legisla17 tive branch; 

18 ‘‘(2) the term ‘employee’ means an employee in 

19 or under an agency, including an individual de20 scribed in section 2104(b) or 2105(e); and 

21 ‘‘(3) the term ‘seriously delinquent tax debt’— 

22 ‘‘(A) means a Federal tax liability that has 

23 been assessed by the Secretary of the Treasury 

24 under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and 

25 may be collected by the Secretary by levy or by 

26 a proceeding in court; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) does not include— 

2 ‘‘(i) a debt that is being paid in a 

3 timely manner pursuant to an agreement 

4 under section 6159 or section 7122 of such 

5 Code; 

6 ‘‘(ii) a debt with respect to which a 

7 collection due process hearing under sec8 tion 6330 of such Code, or relief under 

9 subsection (a), (b), or (f) of section 6015 

10 of such Code, is requested or pending; 

11 ‘‘(iii) a debt with respect to which a 

12 continuous levy has been issued under sec13 tion 6331 of such Code (or, in the case of 

14 an applicant for employment, a debt with 

15 respect to which the applicant agrees to be 

16 subject to such a levy); and 

17 ‘‘(iv) a debt with respect to which 

18 such a levy is released under section 

19 6343(a)(1)(D) of such Code. 

20 ‘‘§ 7382. Ineligibility for employment 

21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), an in22 dividual is ineligible to be appointed, or to continue serv23 ing, as an employee if that individual— 

24 ‘‘(1) has a seriously delinquent tax debt; 


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1 ‘‘(2) does not submit the certification required 

2 under subsection (b); or 

3 ‘‘(3) does not submit an authorization form re4 quested under section 7383(b)(1). 

5 ‘‘(b) DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENT.—The head of each 

6 agency shall take appropriate measures to ensure that 

7 each individual applying for employment with that agency 

8 is required to submit (as part of the application for em9 ployment) a certification that the individual does not have 

10 any seriously delinquent tax debt. 

11 ‘‘(c) REGULATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

13 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, 

14 in consultation with the Commissioner of Internal 

15 Revenue, shall, for purposes of carrying out this sec16 tion with respect to the executive branch, promul17 gate any regulations that the Office considers nec18 essary. 

19 ‘‘(2) CONTENT.—The regulations promulgated 

20 under paragraph (1) shall provide for the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) All applicable due process rights af22 forded by chapter 75 and any other provision of 

23 law shall apply with respect to a determination 

24 under this section that an applicant is ineligible 

25 to be appointed as an employee or that an emVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:35 Mar 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S489.IS S489

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1 ployee is ineligible to continue serving as an 

2 employee. 

3 ‘‘(B) Before any such determination is 

4 given effect with respect to an individual, the 

5 individual shall be afforded 180 days to dem6 onstrate that the debt of the individual is a 

7 debt described in clause (i), (ii), (iii), or (iv) of 

8 section 7381(3)(B). 

9 ‘‘(C) An employee may continue to serve, 

10 in a situation involving financial hardship, if 

11 the continued service of the employee is in the 

12 best interests of the United States, as deter13 mined on a case-by-case basis and certified as 

14 such by the head of the employing agency. 

15 ‘‘(d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 1 year 

16 after the date of enactment of this section, and annually 

17 thereafter, the Director of the Office of Personnel Man18 agement shall submit to the Committee on Homeland Se19 curity and Governmental Affairs of the Senate and the 

20 Committee on Oversight and Reform of the House of Rep21 resentatives a report regarding, for the year covered by 

22 the report, the number of exemptions requested and the 

23 number of exemptions granted under subsection (c)(2)(C). 


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1 ‘‘§ 7383. Review of public records 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each agency shall provide for 

3 such reviews of public records as the head of the agency 

4 considers appropriate to determine if a notice of lien has 

5 been filed pursuant to section 6323 of the Internal Rev6 enue Code of 1986 with respect to an employee of, or an 

7 applicant for employment with, that agency. 

8 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL REQUESTS.—If a notice of lien is 

9 discovered under subsection (a) with respect to an em10 ployee or applicant for employment, the applicable agency 

11 may— 

12 ‘‘(1) request that the employee or applicant exe13 cute and submit a form authorizing the Secretary of 

14 the Treasury to disclose to the head of the agency 

15 information limited to describing whether— 

16 ‘‘(A) the employee or applicant has a seri17 ously delinquent tax debt; or 

18 ‘‘(B) there is a final administrative or judi19 cial determination that such employee or appli20 cant committed any act described in section 

21 7385(b); and 

22 ‘‘(2) request that the Secretary of the Treasury 

23 disclose any information so authorized to be dis24 closed. 


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1 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION FORM.—The Secretary of the 

2 Treasury shall make available to all agencies a standard 

3 form for the authorization described in subsection (b)(1). 

4 ‘‘§ 7384. Confidentiality 

5 ‘‘Neither the head nor any other employee of an agen6 cy may— 

7 ‘‘(1) use any information furnished under this 

8 subchapter for any purpose other than the adminis9 tration of this subchapter; 

10 ‘‘(2) make any publication through which the 

11 information furnished by or with respect to any par12 ticular individual under this subchapter can be iden13 tified; or 

14 ‘‘(3) permit anyone who is not an employee of 

15 that agency to examine or otherwise have access to 

16 any such information. 

17 ‘‘§ 7385. Adverse actions for employees who under18 state taxes or fail to file 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

20 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), 

21 the head of an agency may take any personnel ac22 tion against an employee of that agency if there is 

23 a final administrative or judicial determination that 

24 the employee committed any act described in sub25 section (b). 


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1 ‘‘(2) PERSONNEL ACTIONS.—In paragraph (1), 

2 the term ‘personnel action’— 

3 ‘‘(A) includes separation; and 

4 ‘‘(B) does not include administrative leave 

5 or any other type of paid leave without duty or 

6 charge to leave. 

7 ‘‘(b) ACTS.—The acts described in this subsection 

8 are— 

9 ‘‘(1) willful failure to file any return of tax re10 quired under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 

11 unless such failure is due to reasonable cause and 

12 not to willful neglect; or 

13 ‘‘(2) willful understatement of Federal tax li14 ability, unless such understatement is due to reason15 able cause and not to willful neglect. 

16 ‘‘(c) PROCEDURE.—Under regulations prescribed by 

17 the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, an 

18 employee subject to a personnel action under this section 

19 shall be entitled to the procedures provided under section 

20 7513 or 7543, as applicable.’’. 

21 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sub22 chapters for chapter 73 of title 5, United States Code, 

23 is amended by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘SUBCHAPTER VIII—INELIGIBILITY OF NONCOMPLIANT 

TAXPAYERS FOR FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT 

‘‘7381. Definitions. 

‘‘7382. Ineligibility for employment. 


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‘‘7383. Review of public records. 

‘‘7384. Confidentiality. 

‘‘7385. Adverse actions for employees who understate taxes or fail to file.’’. 

1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section, and the amend2 ments made by this section, shall take effect on the date 

3 that is 270 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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