II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1632 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a look back rule 

in the case of federally declared disasters for determining earned income 

for purposes of the child tax credit and the earned income credit, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011 

Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. LEAHY, and Mr. CARDIN) 

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 

Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 

a look back rule in the case of federally declared disasters for determining earned income for purposes of the 

child tax credit and the earned income credit, 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 ‘‘Tax Relief for Victims 

5 of Disasters Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SPECIAL RULE FOR DETERMINING EARNED IN2 COME MADE APPLICABLE GENERALLY TO 

3 FEDERALLY DECLARED DISASTERS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1400S(d)(2)(A) of the In5 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

6 (1) by striking ‘‘and any’’ and inserting ‘‘any’’, 

7 and 

8 (2) by inserting before the period at the end ‘‘, 

9 and any qualified federally declared disaster indi10 vidual’’. 

11 (b) QUALIFIED FEDERALLY DECLARED DISASTER

12 INDIVIDUAL.—Section 1400S(d)(2) of the Internal Rev13 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(E) QUALIFIED FEDERALLY DECLARED

16 DISASTER INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘qualified 

17 federally declared disaster individual’ means 

18 with respect to a federally declared disaster oc19 curring after December 31, 2010, and before 

20 January 1, 2013, any individual— 

21 ‘‘(i) whose principal place of abode on 

22 the applicable date was located in the dis23 aster area and such individual was dis24 placed from such principal place of abode 

25 by reason of the federally declared dis26 aster, or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) who performed substantially all 

2 employment services in the disaster area 

3 and was so employed on the applicable 

4 date. 

5 For purposes of the preceding sentence and 

6 paragraph (3)(D), the terms ‘federally declared 

7 disaster’ and ‘disaster area’ have the meanings 

8 given such terms in section 165(h)(3).’’. 

9 (c) APPLICABLE DATE.—Section 1400S(d)(3) of the 

10 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

11 ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (B), by striking the 

12 period at the end of subparagraph (C) and inserting ‘‘, 

13 and’’, and by inserting after subparagraph (C) the fol14 lowing: 

15 ‘‘(D) in the case of a qualified federally de16 clared disaster individual, the date of the feder17 ally declared disaster.’’. 

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

19 this section shall apply with respect to federally declared 

20 disasters occurring after December 31, 2010. 

21 SEC. 3. LOSSES ATTRIBUTABLE TO FEDERALLY DECLARED 

22 DISASTERS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1400S(b) of the Internal 

24 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and (2)(A)’’ in the matter pre2 ceding paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘, (2)(A), and 

3 (3)’’, 

4 (2) by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of paragraph 

5 (2), 

6 (3) by striking the period at the end of para7 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and 

8 (4) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol9 lowing new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(4) which arise in the disaster area (as defined 

11 in section 165(h)(3)(C)(ii)) and which are attrib12 utable to a federally declared disaster (as defined in 

13 section 165(h)(3)((C)(i)) occurring after December 

14 31, 2010, and before January 1, 2013.’’. 

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

16 this section shall apply with respect to federally declared 

17 disasters occurring after December 31, 2010. 

18 SEC. 4. ADDITIONAL EXEMPTION FOR HOUSING QUALIFIED 

19 FEDERALLY DECLARED DISASTER DIS20 PLACED INDIVIDUALS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of taxable years of a 

22 natural person beginning in 2011 or 2012, for purposes 

23 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, taxable income 

24 shall be reduced by $500 for each qualified federally deVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:34 Sep 28, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1632.IS S1632

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1 clared disaster displaced individual of the taxpayer for the 

2 taxable year. 

3 (b) LIMITATIONS.— 

4 (1) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—The reduction under 

5 subsection (a) shall not exceed $2,000, reduced by 

6 the amount of the reduction under this section for 

7 all prior taxable years. 

8 (2) INDIVIDUALS TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT ONLY

9 ONCE.—An individual shall not be taken into ac10 count under subsection (a) if such individual was 

11 taken into account under such subsection by the tax12 payer for any prior taxable year. 

13 (3) IDENTIFYING INFORMATION REQUIRED.— 

14 An individual shall not be taken into account under 

15 subsection (a) for a taxable year unless the taxpayer 

16 identification number of such individual is included 

17 on the return of the taxpayer for such taxable year. 

18 (c) QUALIFIED FEDERALLY DECLARED DISASTER

19 DISPLACED INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this section, 

20 the term ‘‘qualified federally declared disaster displaced 

21 individual’’ means, with respect to any taxpayer for any 

22 taxable year, any qualified federally declared disaster indi23 vidual (as defined in section 1400S(d)(2)(E)(i)) if such 

24 individual is provided housing free of charge by the tax25 payer in the principal residence of the taxpayer for a peVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:34 Sep 28, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1632.IS S1632

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1 riod of 60 consecutive days which ends in such taxable 

2 year. Such term shall not include the spouse or any de3 pendent of the taxpayer. 

4 (d) COMPENSATION FOR HOUSING.—No deduction 

5 shall be allowed under this section if the taxpayer receives 

6 any rent or other amount (from any source) in connection 

7 with the providing of such housing. 

Æ 


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