I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3043 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify the treatment of 

general welfare benefits provided by Indian tribes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 2, 2013 

Mr. NUNES (for himself, Ms. JENKINS, Mr. KIND, Mr. GERLACH, Mr. 

REICHERT, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. COLE, Ms. MOORE, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. 

CA ́RDENAS, Mr. KILMER, Mr. VALADAO, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MULLIN, 

and Mr. GOSAR) 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 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Exclusion Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INDIAN GENERAL WELFARE BENEFITS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part III of subchapter B of chap3 ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 

4 by inserting before section 140 the following new section: 

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

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

7 the value of any Indian general welfare benefit. 

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

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

10 benefit’ includes any payment made or services provided 

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

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

13 Indian tribal government program, but only if— 

14 ‘‘(1) the program is administered under speci15 fied guidelines and does not discriminate in favor of 

16 members of the governing body of the tribe, and 

17 ‘‘(2) the benefits provided under such pro18 gram— 

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

20 who meets such guidelines, 

21 ‘‘(B) are for the promotion of general wel22 fare, 

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

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

25 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.—For pur26 poses of this section— 


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1 ‘‘(1) INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—For pur2 poses of this section, the term ‘Indian tribal govern3 ment’ includes any agencies or instrumentalities of 

4 an Indian tribal government and any Alaska Native 

5 regional or village corporation, as defined in, or es6 tablished pursuant to, the Alaska Native Claims Set7 tlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601, et seq.). 

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

9 the meaning given such term by section 152, deter10 mined without regard to subsections (b)(1), (b)(2), 

11 and (d)(1)(B). 

12 ‘‘(3) LAVISH OR EXTRAVAGANT.—The Sec13 retary shall, in consultation with the Tribal Advisory 

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

15 Tribal General Welfare Exclusion Act of 2013), es16 tablish guidelines for what constitutes lavish or ex17 travagant benefits with respect to Indian tribal gov18 ernment programs. 

19 ‘‘(4) ESTABLISHMENT OF TRIBAL GOVERNMENT

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

21 an Indian tribal government program solely by rea22 son of the program being established by tribal cus23 tom or government practice. 

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

25 cultural significance, reimbursement of costs, or 


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1 cash honorarium for participation in cultural or cer2 emonial activities for the transmission of tribal cul3 ture shall not be treated as compensation for serv4 ices.’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec6 tions for part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of such 

7 Code is amended by inserting before the item relating to 

8 section 140 the following new item: 

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

9 (c) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Ambiguities in 

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

11 be resolved in favor of Indian tribal governments and def12 erence shall be given to Indian tribal governments for the 

13 programs administered and authorized by the tribe to ben14 efit the general welfare of the tribal community. 

15 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

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

17 this section shall apply to taxable years for which 

18 the period of limitation on refund or credit under 

19 section 6511 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

20 has not expired. 

21 (2) ONE-YEAR WAIVER OF STATUTE OF LIMITA22 TIONS.—If the period of limitation on a credit or re23 fund resulting from the amendments made by sub24 section (a) expires before the end of the 1-year pe25 riod beginning on the date of the enactment of this 


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1 Act, refund or credit of such overpayment (to the ex2 tent attributable to such amendments) may, never3 theless, be made or allowed if claim therefor is filed 

4 before the close of such 1-year period. 

5 SEC. 3. TRIBAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE. 

6 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary of the Treas7 ury shall establish a Tribal Advisory Committee (herein8 after in this subsection referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’). 

9 (b) DUTIES.— 

10 (1) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Committee shall 

11 advise the Secretary on matters relating to the tax12 ation of Indians. 

13 (2) EDUCATION AND TRAINING.—The Secretary 

14 shall, in consultation with the Committee, establish 

15 and require— 

16 (A) training and education for internal rev17 enue field agents who administer and enforce 

18 internal revenue laws with respect to Indian 

19 tribes on Federal Indian law and the Federal 

20 Government’s unique legal treaty and trust re21 lationship with Indian tribal governments, and 

22 (B) training of such internal revenue field 

23 agents, and provision of training and technical 

24 assistance to tribal financial officers, about imVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:01 Aug 10, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3043.IH H3043

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1 plementation of this Act and the amendments 

2 made thereby. 

3 (c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

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

5 composed of 7 members appointed as follows: 

6 (A) Three members appointed by the Sec7 retary of the Treasury. 

8 (B) One member appointed by the Chair9 man, and one member appointed by the Rank10 ing Member, of the Committee on Ways and 

11 Means of the House of Representatives. 

12 (C) One member appointed by the Chair13 man, and one member appointed by the Rank14 ing Member, of the Committee on Finance of 

15 the Senate. 

16 (2) TERM.— 

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

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

19 4 years. 

20 (B) INITIAL STAGGERING.—The first ap21 pointments made by the Secretary under para22 graph (1)(A) shall be for a term of 2 years. 

23 SEC. 4. OTHER RELIEF FOR INDIAN TRIBES. 

24 (a) TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF EXAMINATIONS.— 

25 The Secretary of the Treasury shall suspend all audits and 


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1 examinations of Indian tribal governments and members 

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

3 member), to the extent such an audit or examination re4 lates to the exclusion of a payment or benefit from an In5 dian tribal government under the general welfare exclu6 sion, until the education and training prescribed by section 

7 3(b)(2) of this Act is completed. The running of any pe8 riod of limitations under section 6501 of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986 with respect to Indian tribal govern10 ments and members of Indian tribes shall be suspended 

11 during the period during which audits and examinations 

12 are suspended under the preceding sentence. 

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

14 Secretary of the Treasury may waive any interest and pen15 alties imposed under such Code on any Indian tribal gov16 ernment or member of an Indian tribe (or any spouse or 

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

18 and penalties relate to excluding a payment or benefit 

19 from gross income under the general welfare exclusion. 

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

21 (1) INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 

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

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

24 added by this Act. 


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

2 shall have the meaning given such term by section 

3 45A(c)(6) of such Code. 

Æ 


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