I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3068

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide relief with respect 

to rent and mortgage payments for members of the reserve components 

who are called to active duty and to amend the Internal Revenue Code 

of 1986 to allow a refundable credit to lessors for payments foregone 

by reason of such relief. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 24, 2005

Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. MURTHA, and Mrs. MCCARTHY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 

and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for 

a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 

consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL

To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide 

relief with respect to rent and mortgage payments for 

members of the reserve components who are called to 

active duty and to amend the Internal Revenue Code 

of 1986 to allow a refundable credit to lessors for payments foregone by reason of such relief.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
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1 SECTION 1. RELIEF WITH RESPECT TO RENT AND MORT2 GAGE PAYMENTS FOR RESERVE COMPO3 NENTS MEMBERS ORDERED TO ACTIVE 

4 DUTY. 

5 (a) RENT AND MORTGAGE RELIEF.—Title III of the 

6 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 531 et 

7 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

8 section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 309. RENT AND MORTGAGE RELIEF. 

10 ‘‘(a) RENT.—A member of a reserve component who 

11 is ordered to report for military service for a period of 

12 more than 90 days and who on the date of such order 

13 is a lessee of real property that is occupied by the member 

14 or dependents of the member as the primary residence of 

15 the member or dependents shall not be required to pay 

16 rent under that lease for any period of such military serv17 ice during which the member is assigned to duty at a loca18 tion sufficiently distant from such property that the mem19 ber is unable to reside at such property. 

20 ‘‘(b) MORTGAGES.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A member of a reserve 

22 component who is ordered to report for military 

23 service for a period of more than 90 days and who 

24 on the date of such order resides at real property 

25 that is occupied by the member or dependents of the 

26 member as the primary residence of the member or 
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1 dependents, is owned by the member, and is secured 

2 by a mortgage shall be not be required during the 

3 period of such military service to make any payment 

4 of principal or interest on the mortgage. Any pay5 ment not paid by reason of the preceding sentence 

6 shall be deferred and shall be appended, on a month7 for-month basis, to the end of the term of the mort8 gage, in the same amount as originally due. 

9 ‘‘(2) MORTGAGE.—In this subsection, the term 

10 ‘mortgage’ includes a trust deed or other security in 

11 the nature of a mortgage.’’. 

12 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

13 in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 

14 the item relating to section 308 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 309. Rent and mortgage relief.’’.

15 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 309 of the 

16 Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, as added by subsection 

17 (a), shall apply with respect to obligations to make lease 

18 payments or mortgage payments that become due on or 

19 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

20 SEC. 2. REFUNDABLE TAX CREDIT FOR LESSORS WITH RE21 SPECT TO RENT RELIEF FOR RESERVE COM22 PONENTS MEMBERS ORDERED TO ACTIVE 

23 DUTY. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub25 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
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1 1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by redes2 ignating section 36 as section 37 and by inserting after 

3 section 35 the following new section: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 36. CREDIT FOR LESSORS WITH RESPECT TO RENT 

5 RELIEF FOR RESERVE COMPONENTS MEM6 BERS ORDERED TO ACTIVE DUTY. 

7 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—In the case of a lessor, there 

8 shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by 

9 this chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to the 

10 reserve component rent relief credit. 

11 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION BASED ON PREVIOUS RENT.—For 

12 purposes of this section—

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a property 

14 which was rented for the entire preceding taxable 

15 year, the amount taken into account under this sec16 tion as rent not received with respect to such prop17 erty shall not exceed the amount for which such 

18 property was rented for the preceding taxable year. 

19 ‘‘(2) PROPERTY RENTED FOR LESS THAN FULL

20 YEAR.—In the case of a property which was rented 

21 for less than the entire preceding taxable year, the 

22 amount taken into account under this section as 

23 rent not received with respect to such property shall 

24 not exceed the amount for which such property was 

25 rented for the preceding taxable year, annualized 
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1 under such methods as the Secretary may prescribe 

2 by regulation. 

3 ‘‘(3) PROPERTY NOT RENTED DURING PRE4 CEDING YEAR.—This subsection shall not apply in 

5 the case of a property which was not rented during 

6 the preceding taxable year. 

7 ‘‘(c) RESERVE COMPONENT RENT RELIEF CRED8 IT.—For purposes of subsection (a), the reserve compo9 nent rent relief credit for a taxable year is the aggregate 

10 amount of rent not received on leases held by the taxpayer 

11 by reason of section 309(a) of the Servicemembers Civil 

12 Relief Act. 

13 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction 

14 shall be allowed under this chapter with respect to 

15 amounts taken into account in determining the credit al16 lowed under this section. 

17 ‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue such 

18 regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to carry 

19 out this section.’’. 

20 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (2) of 

21 section 1324(b) of title 31, United States Code, is amend22 ed by inserting ‘‘or from section 36 of such Code’’ before 

23 the period at the end. 

24 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

25 for subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
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1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by re2 designating the item relating to section 36 as an item re3 lating to section 37 and by inserting after the item relat4 ing to section 35 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 36. Credit for lessors with respect to rent relief for reserve components 

members ordered to active duty.’’.

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

6 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act.

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