II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 3043 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 16), 2014 

Received 

AN ACT 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify 

the treatment of general welfare benefits provided by 

Indian tribes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal General Welfare 

3 Exclusion Act of 2014’’. 

4 SEC. 2. INDIAN GENERAL WELFARE BENEFITS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part III of subchapter B of chap6 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

7 by inserting before section 140 the following new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 139E. INDIAN GENERAL WELFARE BENEFITS. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Gross income does not include 

10 the value of any Indian general welfare benefit. 

11 ‘‘(b) INDIAN GENERAL WELFARE BENEFIT.—For 

12 purposes of this section, the term ‘Indian general welfare 

13 benefit’ includes any payment made or services provided 

14 to or on behalf of a member of an Indian tribe (or any 

15 spouse or dependent of such a member) pursuant to an 

16 Indian tribal government program, but only if— 

17 ‘‘(1) the program is administered under speci18 fied guidelines and does not discriminate in favor of 

19 members of the governing body of the tribe, and 

20 ‘‘(2) the benefits provided under such pro21 gram— 

22 ‘‘(A) are available to any tribal member 

23 who meets such guidelines, 

24 ‘‘(B) are for the promotion of general wel25 fare, 

26 ‘‘(C) are not lavish or extravagant, and 


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1 ‘‘(D) are not compensation for services. 

2 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—For pur3 poses of this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—For pur5 poses of this section, the term ‘Indian tribal govern6 ment’ includes any agencies or instrumentalities of 

7 an Indian tribal government and any Alaska Native 

8 regional or village corporation, as defined in, or es9 tablished pursuant to, the Alaska Native Claims Set10 tlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.). 

11 ‘‘(2) DEPENDENT.—The term ‘dependent’ has 

12 the meaning given such term by section 152, deter13 mined without regard to subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), 

14 and (d)(1)(B). 

15 ‘‘(3) LAVISH OR EXTRAVAGANT.—The Sec16 retary shall, in consultation with the Tribal Advisory 

17 Committee (as established under section 3(a) of the 

18 Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act of 2013), es19 tablish guidelines for what constitutes lavish or ex20 travagant benefits with respect to Indian tribal gov21 ernment programs. 

22 ‘‘(4) ESTABLISHMENT OF TRIBAL GOVERNMENT

23 PROGRAM.—A program shall not fail to be treated as 

24 an Indian tribal government program solely by reaVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:33 Sep 19, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3043.RDS H3043

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1 son of the program being established by tribal cus2 tom or government practice. 

3 ‘‘(5) CEREMONIAL ACTIVITIES.—Any items of 

4 cultural significance, reimbursement of costs, or 

5 cash honorarium for participation in cultural or cer6 emonial activities for the transmission of tribal cul7 ture shall not be treated as compensation for serv8 ices.’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec10 tions for part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of such 

11 Code is amended by inserting before the item relating to 

12 section 140 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 139E. Indian general welfare benefits.’’. 

13 (c) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Ambiguities in 

14 section 139E of such Code, as added by this Act, shall 

15 be resolved in favor of Indian tribal governments and def16 erence shall be given to Indian tribal governments for the 

17 programs administered and authorized by the tribe to ben18 efit the general welfare of the tribal community. 

19 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

21 this section shall apply to taxable years for which 

22 the period of limitation on refund or credit under 

23 section 6511 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

24 has not expired. 


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1 (2) ONE-YEAR WAIVER OF STATUTE OF LIMITA2 TIONS.—If the period of limitation on a credit or re3 fund resulting from the amendments made by sub4 section (a) expires before the end of the 1-year pe5 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act, refund or credit of such overpayment (to the ex7 tent attributable to such amendments) may, never8 theless, be made or allowed if claim therefor is filed 

9 before the close of such 1-year period. 

10 SEC. 3. TRIBAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

11 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Treas12 ury shall establish a Tribal Advisory Committee (herein13 after in this subsection referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’). 

14 (b) DUTIES.— 

15 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Committee shall 

16 advise the Secretary on matters relating to the tax17 ation of Indians. 

18 (2) EDUCATION AND TRAINING.—The Secretary 

19 shall, in consultation with the Committee, establish 

20 and require— 

21 (A) training and education for internal rev22 enue field agents who administer and enforce 

23 internal revenue laws with respect to Indian 

24 tribes on Federal Indian law and the Federal 


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1 Government’s unique legal treaty and trust re2 lationship with Indian tribal governments, and 

3 (B) training of such internal revenue field 

4 agents, and provision of training and technical 

5 assistance to tribal financial officers, about im6 plementation of this Act and the amendments 

7 made thereby. 

8 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Committee shall be 

10 composed of 7 members appointed as follows: 

11 (A) Three members appointed by the Sec12 retary of the Treasury. 

13 (B) One member appointed by the Chair14 man, and one member appointed by the Rank15 ing Member, of the Committee on Ways and 

16 Means of the House of Representatives. 

17 (C) One member appointed by the Chair18 man, and one member appointed by the Rank19 ing Member, of the Committee on Finance of 

20 the Senate. 

21 (2) TERM.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

23 subparagraph (B), each member’s term shall be 

24 4 years. 


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1 (B) INITIAL STAGGERING.—The first ap2 pointments made by the Secretary under para3 graph (1)(A) shall be for a term of 2 years. 

4 SEC. 4. OTHER RELIEF FOR INDIAN TRIBES. 

5 (a) TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF EXAMINATIONS.— 

6 The Secretary of the Treasury shall suspend all audits and 

7 examinations of Indian tribal governments and members 

8 of Indian tribes (or any spouse or dependent of such a 

9 member), to the extent such an audit or examination re10 lates to the exclusion of a payment or benefit from an In11 dian tribal government under the general welfare exclu12 sion, until the education and training prescribed by section 

13 3(b)(2) of this Act is completed. The running of any pe14 riod of limitations under section 6501 of the Internal Rev15 enue Code of 1986 with respect to Indian tribal govern16 ments and members of Indian tribes shall be suspended 

17 during the period during which audits and examinations 

18 are suspended under the preceding sentence. 

19 (b) WAIVER OF PENALTIES AND INTEREST.—The 

20 Secretary of the Treasury may waive any interest and pen21 alties imposed under such Code on any Indian tribal gov22 ernment or member of an Indian tribe (or any spouse or 

23 dependent of such a member) to the extent such interest 

24 and penalties relate to excluding a payment or benefit 

25 from gross income under the general welfare exclusion. 


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1 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this subsection— 

2 (1) INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 

3 ‘‘Indian tribal government’’ shall have the meaning 

4 given such term by section 139E of such Code, as 

5 added by this Act. 

6 (2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ 

7 shall have the meaning given such term by section 

8 45A(c)(6) of such Code. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 16, 

2014. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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