II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3995 

To limit the authority of States or other taxing jurisdictions to tax certain 

income of employees for employment duties performed in other States 

or taxing jurisdictions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 18, 2020 

Mr. THUNE (for himself and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To limit the authority of States or other taxing jurisdictions 

to tax certain income of employees for employment duties 

performed in other States or taxing jurisdictions, 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 ‘‘Remote and Mobile 

5 Worker Relief Act of 2020’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. LIMITATIONS ON WITHHOLDING AND TAXATION OF 

2 EMPLOYEE INCOME. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—No part of the wages or other re4 muneration earned by an employee who performs employ5 ment duties in more than one taxing jurisdiction shall be 

6 subject to income tax in any taxing jurisdiction other 

7 than— 

8 (1) the taxing jurisdiction of the employee’s res9 idence; and 

10 (2) the taxing jurisdiction within which the em11 ployee is present and performing employment duties 

12 for more than 30 days during the calendar year in 

13 which the wages or other remuneration is earned. 

14 (b) WAGES OR OTHER REMUNERATION.—Wages or 

15 other remuneration earned in any calendar year shall not 

16 be subject to income tax withholding and reporting re17 quirements with respect to any taxing jurisdiction unless 

18 the employee is subject to income tax in such taxing juris19 diction under subsection (a). Income tax withholding and 

20 reporting requirements under subsection (a)(2) shall apply 

21 to wages or other remuneration earned as of the com22 mencement date of employment duties in the taxing juris23 diction during the calendar year. 

24 (c) OPERATING RULES.—For purposes of deter25 mining penalties related to an employer’s income tax withVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3995.IS S3995

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1 holding and reporting requirements with respect to any 

2 taxing jurisdiction— 

3 (1) an employer may rely on an employee’s an4 nual determination of the time expected to be spent 

5 by such employee in the taxing jurisdictions in which 

6 the employee will perform duties absent— 

7 (A) the employer’s actual knowledge of 

8 fraud by the employee in making the determina9 tion; or 

10 (B) collusion between the employer and the 

11 employee to evade tax; 

12 (2) except as provided in paragraph (3), if 

13 records are maintained by an employer in the reg14 ular course of business that record the location of an 

15 employee, such records shall not preclude an employ16 er’s ability to rely on an employee’s determination 

17 under paragraph (1); and 

18 (3) notwithstanding paragraph (2), if an em19 ployer, at its sole discretion, maintains a time and 

20 attendance system that tracks where the employee 

21 performs duties on a daily basis, data from the time 

22 and attendance system shall be used instead of the 

23 employee’s determination under paragraph (1). 

24 (d) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—For pur25 poses of this Act: 


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1 (1) DAY.— 

2 (A) Except as provided in subparagraph 

3 (B), an employee is considered present and per4 forming employment duties within a taxing ju5 risdiction for a day if the employee performs 

6 more of the employee’s employment duties with7 in such taxing jurisdiction than in any other 

8 taxing jurisdiction during a day. 

9 (B) If an employee performs employment 

10 duties in a resident taxing jurisdiction and in 

11 only one nonresident taxing jurisdiction during 

12 one day, such employee shall be considered to 

13 have performed more of the employee’s employ14 ment duties in the nonresident taxing jurisdic15 tion than in the resident taxing jurisdiction for 

16 such day. 

17 (C) For purposes of this paragraph, the 

18 portion of the day during which the employee is 

19 in transit shall not be considered in determining 

20 the location of an employee’s performance of 

21 employment duties. 

22 (2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 

23 same meaning given to it by the taxing jurisdiction 

24 in which the employment duties are performed, ex25 cept that the term ‘‘employee’’ shall not include a 


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1 professional athlete, professional entertainer, quali2 fied production employee, or certain public figures. 

3 (3) PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE.—The term ‘‘pro4 fessional athlete’’ means a person who performs 

5 services in a professional athletic event, provided 

6 that the wages or other remuneration are paid to 

7 such person for performing services in his or her ca8 pacity as a professional athlete. 

9 (4) PROFESSIONAL ENTERTAINER.—The term 

10 ‘‘professional entertainer’’ means a person of promi11 nence who performs services in the professional per12 forming arts for wages or other remuneration on a 

13 per-event basis, provided that the wages or other re14 muneration are paid to such person for performing 

15 services in his or her capacity as a professional en16 tertainer. 

17 (5) QUALIFIED PRODUCTION EMPLOYEE.—The 

18 term ‘‘qualified production employee’’ means a per19 son who performs production services of any nature 

20 directly in connection with a taxing jurisdiction 

21 qualified, certified or approved film, television or 

22 other commercial video production for wages or 

23 other remuneration, provided that the wages or 

24 other remuneration paid to such person are qualified 

25 production costs or expenditures under such taxing 


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1 jurisdiction’s qualified, certified or approved film in2 centive program, and that such wages or other re3 muneration must be subject to withholding under 

4 such film incentive program as a condition to treat5 ing such wages or other remuneration as a qualified 

6 production cost or expenditure. 

7 (6) CERTAIN PUBLIC FIGURES.—The term 

8 ‘‘certain public figures’’ means persons of promi9 nence who perform services for wages or other remu10 neration on a per-event basis, provided that the 

11 wages or other remuneration are paid to such person 

12 for services provided at a discrete event, in the na13 ture of a speech, public appearance, or similar event. 

14 (7) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ has the 

15 meaning given such term in section 3401(d) of the 

16 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 3401(d)), 

17 unless such term is defined by the taxing jurisdiction 

18 in which the employee’s employment duties are per19 formed, in which case the taxing jurisdiction’s defi20 nition shall prevail. 

21 (8) TAXING JURISDICTION.—The term ‘‘taxing 

22 jurisdiction’’ means any of the several States, the 

23 District of Columbia, or any territory or possession 

24 of the United States, any municipality, city, county, 

25 township, parish, transportation district, or assessVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3995.IS S3995

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1 ment jurisdiction, or any other political subdivision 

2 within the territorial limits of the United States with 

3 the authority to impose a tax, charge, or fee. 

4 (9) TIME AND ATTENDANCE SYSTEM.—The 

5 term ‘‘time and attendance system’’ means a system 

6 in which— 

7 (A) the employee is required on a contem8 poraneous basis to record his work location for 

9 every day worked outside of the taxing jurisdic10 tion in which the employee’s employment duties 

11 are primarily performed; and 

12 (B) the system is designed to allow the em13 ployer to allocate the employee’s wages for in14 come tax purposes among all taxing jurisdic15 tions in which the employee performs employ16 ment duties for such employer. 

17 (10) WAGES OR OTHER REMUNERATION.—The 

18 term ‘‘wages or other remuneration’’ may be limited 

19 by the taxing jurisdiction in which the employment 

20 duties are performed. 

21 (e) ADJUSTMENT DURING CORONAVIRUS PAN22 DEMIC.—With respect to calendar year 2020, in the case 

23 of any employee who performs employment duties in any 

24 taxing jurisdiction other than the taxing jurisdiction of the 

25 employee’s residence during such year as a result of the 


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1 COVID–19 public health emergency, subsection (a)(2) 

2 shall be applied by substituting ‘‘90 days’’ for ‘‘30 days’’. 

3 SEC. 3. STATE AND LOCAL TAX CERTAINTY. 

4 (a) STATUS OF EMPLOYEES DURING COVERED PE5 RIOD.—Notwithstanding section 2(a)(2) or any provision 

6 of law of a taxing jurisdiction, with respect to any em7 ployee who is working remotely within such taxing juris8 diction during the covered period— 

9 (1) except as provided under paragraph (2), 

10 any wages earned by such employee during such pe11 riod shall be deemed to have been earned at the pri12 mary work location of such employee; and 

13 (2) if an employer, at its sole discretion, main14 tains a system that tracks where such employee per15 forms duties on a daily basis, wages earned by such 

16 employee may, at the election of such employer, be 

17 treated as earned at the location in which such du18 ties were remotely performed. 

19 (b) STATUS OF BUSINESSES DURING COVERED PE20 RIOD.—Notwithstanding any provision of law of a taxing 

21 jurisdiction— 

22 (1) in the case of an out-of-state business which 

23 has any employees working remotely within such ju24 risdiction during the covered period, the duties per25 formed by such employees within such jurisdiction 


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1 during such period shall not be sufficient to create 

2 any nexus or establish any minimum contacts or 

3 level of presence that would otherwise subject such 

4 business to any registration, taxation, or other re5 lated requirements for businesses operating within 

6 such jurisdiction; and 

7 (2) except as provided under subsection (a)(2), 

8 with respect to any tax imposed by such taxing ju9 risdiction which is determined, in whole or in part, 

10 based on net or gross receipts or income, for pur11 poses of apportioning or sourcing such receipts or 

12 income, any duties performed by an employee of an 

13 out-of-state business while working remotely during 

14 the covered period— 

15 (A) shall be disregarded with respect to 

16 any filing requirements for such tax; and 

17 (B) shall be apportioned and sourced to 

18 the tax jurisdiction which includes the primary 

19 work location of such employee. 

20 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

21 (1) COVERED PERIOD.—The term ‘‘covered pe22 riod’’ means, with respect to any employee working 

23 remotely, the period— 

24 (A) beginning on the date on which such 

25 employee began working remotely; and 


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1 (B) ending on the earlier of— 

2 (i) the date on which the employer al3 lows, at the same time— 

4 (I) such employee to return to 

5 their primary work location; and 

6 (II) not less than 90 percent of 

7 their permanent workforce to return 

8 to such work location; or 

9 (ii) December 31, 2020. 

10 (2) EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘employee’’ has the 

11 same meaning given to it by the taxing jurisdiction 

12 in which the employment duties are performed. 

13 (3) EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘employer’’ has the 

14 same meaning given such term under section 

15 2(d)(7). 

16 (4) OUT-OF-STATE BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘out17 of-state business’’ means, with respect to any tax ju18 risdiction, any business entity which, excepting any 

19 employees of such business who are working re20 motely within such jurisdiction during the covered 

21 period, would not otherwise be subject to any tax fil22 ing requirements under the existing law of such tax23 ing jurisdiction. 

24 (5) PRIMARY WORK LOCATION.—The term ‘‘pri25 mary work location’’ means, with respect to an emVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:14 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3995.IS S3995

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1 ployee, the address of the employer where the em2 ployee is regularly assigned to work when such em3 ployee is not working remotely during the covered 

4 period. 

5 (6) TAXING JURISDICTION.—The term ‘‘taxing 

6 jurisdiction’’ has the same meaning given such term 

7 under section 2(d)(8). 

8 (7) WAGES.—The term ‘‘wages’’ means all 

9 wages and other remuneration paid to an employee 

10 that are subject to tax or withholding requirements 

11 under the law of the taxing jurisdiction in which the 

12 employment duties are deemed to be performed 

13 under subsection (a) during the covered period. 

14 (8) WORKING REMOTELY.—The term ‘‘working 

15 remotely’’ means the performance of duties by an 

16 employee at a location other than the primary work 

17 location of such employee at the direction of their 

18 employer due to conditions resulting from the public 

19 health emergency relating to the virus SARS–CoV– 

20 2 or coronavirus disease 2019 (referred to in this 

21 paragraph as ‘‘COVID–19’’), including— 

22 (A) to comply with any government order 

23 relating to COVID–19; 

24 (B) to prevent the spread of COVID–19; 

25 and 


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1 (C) due to the employee or a member of 

2 the employee’s family contracting COVID–19. 

3 (d) PRESERVATION OF AUTHORITY OF TAXING JU4 RISDICTIONS.—This section shall not be construed as 

5 modifying, impairing, superseding, or authorizing the 

6 modification, impairment, or supersession of the law of 

7 any taxing jurisdiction pertaining to taxation except as ex8 pressly provided in subsections (a) through (c). 

9 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE; APPLICABILITY. 

10 (a) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act shall apply to cal11 endar years beginning after December 31, 2019. 

12 (b) APPLICABILITY.—This Act shall not apply to any 

13 tax obligation that accrues before January 1, 2020. 

Æ 


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