I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7821 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for a tax credit 

with respect to fighting retail crime, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2024 

Mr. GALLEGO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

for a tax credit with respect to fighting retail crime, 

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 ‘‘Safer American Family 

5 Enterprise Retail Act of 2024’’ or the ‘‘SAFE Retail Act 

6 of 2024’’. 

7 SEC. 2. RETAIL THEFT PREVENTION CREDIT FOR SMALL 

8 RETAIL BUSINESSES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub10 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 


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1 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

2 section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 45BB. RETAIL THEFT PREVENTION CREDIT FOR 

4 SMALL RETAIL BUSINESSES. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, in 

6 the case of any eligible small retail business operator, the 

7 retail theft prevention credit determined under this section 

8 for any taxable year is an amount equal to 50 percent 

9 of so much of the eligible expenditures for the taxable year 

10 as exceeds $250 but does not exceed $5,000. 

11 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The credit determined under sub12 section (a) with respect to the taxpayer for any taxable 

13 year shall not exceed the excess (if any) of $2,500 over 

14 the aggregate credits allowed under this section with re15 spect to the taxpayer for all prior taxable years. 

16 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE SMALL RETAIL BUSINESS OPER17 ATOR.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘eligible 

18 small retail business operator’ means a person that is— 

19 ‘‘(1) not an applicable large employer (as de20 fined in section 4980H(c)), and 

21 ‘‘(2) engaged in the trade or business of selling 

22 tangible personal property at retail from an office, 

23 store, or any other physical location open to the pub24 lic. 

25 ‘‘(d) ELIGIBLE EXPENDITURES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec2 tion, the term ‘eligible expenditures’ means, with re3 spect to any eligible small retail business operator 

4 for any taxable year, amounts paid or incurred by 

5 such operator during such taxable year for— 

6 ‘‘(A) conducting employee security training 

7 and background checks, 

8 ‘‘(B) limiting and preventing access to the 

9 personal property to be sold at retail in the pos10 session of the operator, 

11 ‘‘(C) acquiring non-lethal devices used to 

12 deter, prevent, or mitigate against the theft of 

13 such personal property, 

14 ‘‘(D) protecting any facility in which the 

15 operator stores such personal property, 

16 ‘‘(E) installing security lighting, cameras, 

17 recording equipment, and intrusion detection 

18 sensors, 

19 ‘‘(F) conducting a security vulnerability as20 sessment, 

21 ‘‘(G) implementing a site security plan, or 

22 ‘‘(H) taking such other measures for the 

23 prevention of theft of such personal property as 

24 the Secretary may by regulation prescribe. 


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1 ‘‘(2) PURPOSE REQUIREMENT.—Amounts de2 scribed in paragraph (1) shall be taken into account 

3 only to the extent that such amounts are paid or in4 curred for the purpose of deterring, preventing, or 

5 mitigating against the loss of personal property to 

6 be sold by the eligible small retail business operator 

7 at retail. 

8 ‘‘(e) AGGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated as a 

9 single employer under subsection (b), (c), (m), or (o) of 

10 section 414 shall be treated as one person for purposes 

11 of this section. 

12 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may prescribe 

13 such regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to 

14 carry out the purposes of this section, including regula15 tions to specify the non-lethal devices described in sub16 section (d)(1)(C). 

17 ‘‘(g) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply 

18 with respect to any amounts paid or incurred after Decem19 ber 31, 2029.’’. 

20 (b) NO DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Section 280C of such 

21 Code is amended by adding at the end the following new 

22 subsection: 

23 ‘‘(i) CREDIT FOR RETAIL THEFT PREVENTION FOR

24 SMALL BUSINESSES.—No deduction shall be allowed for 

25 that portion of the expenses otherwise allowable as a deVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:44 Apr 12, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7821.IH H7821

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1 duction taken into account in determining the amount of 

2 credit under section 45BB for the taxable year.’’. 

3 (c) CREDIT ALLOWED AS PART OF GENERAL BUSI4 NESS CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended 

5 in paragraph (40) by striking ‘‘plus’’, in paragraph (41) 

6 by striking the period and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by add7 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(42) in the case of an eligible small retail busi9 ness operator (as defined in section 45BB(c)), the 

10 retail theft prevention credit determined under sec11 tion 45BB(a).’’. 

12 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

13 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

14 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45BB. Retail theft prevention credit for small retail businesses.’’. 

16 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

17 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

18 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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