I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1629 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide penalty free distributions and loans from certain retirement plans for the purchase and 

refinancing of principal residences. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2009 

Mr. MCCOTTER (for himself and Mr. MARCHANT) 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 

penalty free distributions and loans from certain retirement plans for the purchase and refinancing of principal 

residences. 

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 ‘‘Helping Americans 

5 Keep Their Homes Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF WAIVER OF TAX ON EARLY DIS2 TRIBUTIONS FROM CERTAIN RETIREMENT 

3 PLANS FOR PURCHASE OF PRINCIPAL RESI4 DENCE. 

5 (a) INCREASE IN DOLLAR LIMITATION.—Clause (i) 

6 of section 72(t)(8)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

7 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘$15,000’’. 

9 (b) TEMPORARY WAIVER OF FIRST-TIME HOME10 BUYER REQUIREMENT.—Subparagraph (D) of section 

11 72(t)(8) of such Code is amended by adding at the end 

12 the following new clause: 

13 ‘‘(iv) TEMPORARY WAIVER OF FIRST14 TIME HOMEBUYER REQUIREMENT.—In the 

15 case of distributions made before January 

16 1, 2011, all individuals shall be treated as 

17 first-time homebuyers.’’. 

18 (c) EXPANSION OF PENALTY WAIVER TO ALL QUALI19 FIED RETIREMENT PLANS.—Subparagraph (F) of section 

20 72(t)(2) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘from an 

21 individual retirement plan’’ and inserting ‘‘from a quali22 fied retirement plan (as defined in section 4974(c))’’. 

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

24 this section shall apply to distributions made after the 

25 date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. LOANS FROM INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT PLANS FOR 

2 REFINANCING OF A PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 408 of 

4 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to tax treat5 ment of accounts and annuities) is amended by adding at 

6 the end the following new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(7) EXCEPTION FOR LOANS FROM INDIVIDUAL

8 RETIREMENT PLANS FOR QUALIFIED PRINCIPAL

9 RESIDENCE REFINANCING.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraphs (2) and 

11 (3) of this subsection and section 4975 shall 

12 not apply with respect to any qualified principal 

13 residence refinancing loan from an individual 

14 retirement plan to the individual for whose ben15 efit the plan is maintained to the extent that 

16 such loan (when added to the outstanding bal17 ance of all other such loans) does not exceed 

18 $5,000 reduced by the excess (if any) of— 

19 ‘‘(i) the highest outstanding balance 

20 of such loans during the 1-year period end21 ing on the day before the date on which 

22 such loan was made, over 

23 ‘‘(ii) the outstanding balance of such 

24 loans on the date on which such loan was 

25 made. 


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1 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE

2 REFINANCING LOAN.—For purposes of this 

3 paragraph, the term ‘qualified principal resi4 dence refinancing loan’ means a loan the pro5 ceeds of which are used by the individual for 

6 whose benefit the individual retirement plan is 

7 established to pay costs associated with the refi8 nancing of indebtedness which is secured by the 

9 principal residence (within the meaning of sec10 tion 121) of the taxpayer (including payment of 

11 such indebtedness if such payment is in connec12 tion with the refinancing of the remaining in13 debtedness). 

14 ‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO LOAN

15 REPAYMENTS.— 

16 ‘‘(i) REQUIREMENT THAT LOAN BE

17 REPAID WITHIN 5 YEARS.—Paragraph (1) 

18 shall not apply to any loan unless such 

19 loan is required, by its terms, to be repaid 

20 within 5 years. 

21 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT OF LEVEL AMOR22 TIZATION.—Rules similar to the rules of 

23 section 72(p)(2)(C) shall apply for pur24 poses of this subsection. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) FAILURE TO REPAY TREATED AS

2 DISTRIBUTION.—A qualified principal resi3 dence refinancing loan shall not be treated 

4 as a distribution from the individual retire5 ment plan except that any repayment of a 

6 qualified principal residence refinancing 

7 loan which is not made on the date that 

8 such payment is due shall be treated as a 

9 distribution from the individual retirement 

10 plan on such date. 

11 ‘‘(D) TERMINATION.—Subparagraph (A) 

12 shall not apply to any loan made after Decem13 ber 31, 2010.’’. 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

15 this section shall apply to loans made after the date of 

16 the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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