I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2491 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income 

any enlistment, accession, reenlistment, retention, or incentive bonus 

paid to a member of the Armed Forces. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 19, 2009 

Mr. KING of New York 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 exclude 

from gross income any enlistment, accession, reenlistment, retention, or incentive bonus paid to a member 

of the Armed Forces. 

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 ‘‘Tax Relief and Ful5 filling Our Obligation to Patriotic Soldiers Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME OF ENLISTMENT 

2 AND REENLISTMENT BONUSES FOR MEM3 BERS OF THE ARMED FORCES. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 112 of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986 (relating to certain combat zone com6 pensation of members of the Armed Forces) is amended 

7 by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) 

8 and (e), respectively, and by inserting after subsection (b) 

9 the following new subsection: 

10 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED BONUS.—Gross income does not in11 clude a qualified bonus.’’. 

12 (b) QUALIFIED BONUS DEFINED.—Subsection (d) of 

13 section 112 of such Code (relating to definitions), as re14 designated by subsection (a), is amended by adding at the 

15 end the following new paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(6) QUALIFIED BONUS.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

18 bonus’ means an enlistment, accession, reenlist19 ment, retention, incentive, or other bonus paid 

20 by the Secretary concerned to a member of the 

21 Armed Forces of the United States in exchange 

22 for the agreement of the member to accept a 

23 commission as an officer, extend an active serv24 ice commitment as an officer, enlist, reenlist, or 

25 extend an enlistment as an enlisted member in 


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•HR 2491 IH

1 an active or reserve component, or enter into a 

2 reserve affiliation agreement. 

3 ‘‘(B) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes 

4 of subparagraph (A), the terms ‘active service’, 

5 ‘enlisted member’, ‘officer’, and ‘Secretary con6 cerned’ have the meanings given to such terms 

7 in section 101 of title 10, United States Code.’’. 

8 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

9 (1) Section 2201 of such Code is amended by 

10 striking ‘‘section 112(c)’’ both places it appears and 

11 inserting ‘‘section 112(d)’’. 

12 (2) The heading for section 112 of such Code 

13 is amended by inserting ‘‘AND OTHER’’ before 

14 ‘‘COMPENSATION’’. 

15 (3) Section 3401(a)(1) of such Code is amended 

16 by inserting ‘‘and other’’ before ‘‘compensation’’. 

17 (4) The table of sections for part III of sub18 chapter B of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 

19 striking the item relating to section 112 and insert20 ing the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 112. Certain combat zone and other compensation of members of the 

Armed Forces.’’. 

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

22 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

23 December 31, 2008. 

Æ 


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