I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 519 

To secure the return to the United States the $179 million overpaid into 

the United Nations Tax Equalization Fund as of December 31, 2009, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 8, 2011 

Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To secure the return to the United States the $179 million 

overpaid into the United Nations Tax Equalization Fund 

as of December 31, 2009, 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 ‘‘United Nations Tax 

5 Equalization Refund Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Approximately $180 million in United 

9 States taxpayer funds overpaid to the United NaVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:25 Feb 09, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H519.IH H519

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1 tions remain in the hands of the United Nations be2 cause the United States has not requested the re3 turn of those funds. 

4 (2) The funds were paid into the United Na5 tions Tax Equalization Fund (TEF), which is used 

6 to reimburse United Nations staff members subject 

7 to United States income taxes for the cost of those 

8 taxes. 

9 (3) In recent years, the TEF has taken in con10 siderably more money than it has paid out, with the 

11 United States apparently overpaying into the TEF 

12 by $52.2 million in the 2008–2009 timeframe alone. 

13 (4) According to the United Nations Financial 

14 Report and Audited Financial Statements released 

15 on July 29, 2010, ‘‘As of 31 December 2009, an 

16 amount of $179.0 million was payable to the United 

17 States of America pending instructions as to its dis18 position.’’. 

19 (5) That balance was allowed to accrue notwith20 standing United Nations Financial Regulation 4.12, 

21 which states that any such surpluses ‘‘shall be cred22 ited against the assessed contributions due from that 

23 Member State the following year.’’. 

24 (6) Allowing the United Nations to regularly 

25 overcharge the United States and to retain those 


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1 overpayments, or to spend them on wholly unrelated 

2 activities, is a disservice to American taxpayers and 

3 a subversion of the Congressional budget process. 

4 SEC. 3. REFUND OF UNITED STATES TAXPAYER DOLLARS 

5 FROM THE UNITED NATIONS TAX EQUALI6 ZATION FUND. 

7 (a) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It shall be the policy 

8 of the United States— 

9 (1) to direct the United Nations to return to 

10 the United States the $179,010,326 overpaid into 

11 the United Nations Tax Equalization Fund (TEF) 

12 as of December 31, 2009, which the United Nations 

13 itself has identified as ‘‘payable to the United States 

14 of America’’; 

15 (2) to use the voice and vote of the United 

16 States to press the United Nations to reform its 

17 TEF assessment procedures to reduce the repeated 

18 discrepancies between TEF income and expendi19 tures; and 

20 (3) to annually instruct the United Nations to 

21 return to the United States any TEF surplus funds 

22 payable to the United States. 

23 (b) CERTIFICATION AND WITHHOLDING.—Until the 

24 Secretary of State submits to the appropriate congres25 sional committees a certification that the United Nations 


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1 has returned to the United States the $179,010,326 iden2 tified by the United Nations in its July 29, 2010 Financial 

3 Report as payable to the United States, the United States 

4 shall withhold $179,010,326 from the United States con5 tribution to the regularly assessed biennial budget of the 

6 United Nations. 

7 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act— 

9 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com10 mittees’’ means— 

11 (A) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and 

12 the Committee on Appropriations of the House 

13 of Representatives; and 

14 (B) the Committee on Foreign Relations 

15 and the Committee on Appropriations of the 

16 Senate; and 

17 (2) the term ‘‘United Nations Tax Equalization 

18 Fund’’ or ‘‘TEF’’ means the fund established under 

19 the provisions of United Nations General Assembly 

20 Resolution 973 (December 15, 1955) to equalize to 

21 net pay of United Nations staff members. 

Æ 


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