I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8314 

To provide with respect to recent disasters an employee retention credit 

for employers affected by such disasters and rules for disaster-related 

personal casualty losses. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 

Ms. FINKENAUER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on 

Small Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide with respect to recent disasters an employee 

retention credit for employers affected by such disasters 

and rules for disaster-related personal casualty losses. 

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 ‘‘Disaster Recovery for 

5 Economies, Local Individuals, Employers, and Families 

6 Act of 2020’’ or the ‘‘Disaster RELIEF Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 For purposes of this Act— 


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1 (1) QUALIFIED DISASTER AREA.— 

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

3 disaster area’’ means any area with respect to 

4 which a major disaster was declared, during the 

5 period beginning on December 28, 2019, and 

6 ending on the date which is 60 days after the 

7 date of the enactment of this Act, by the Presi8 dent under section 401 of the Robert T. Staf9 ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

10 Act if the incident period of the disaster with 

11 respect to which such declaration is made be12 gins on or before the date of the enactment of 

13 this Act. 

14 (B) COVID-19 EXCEPTION.—Such term 

15 shall not include any area with respect to which 

16 such a major disaster has been so declared only 

17 by reason of COVID-19. 

18 (2) QUALIFIED DISASTER ZONE.—The term 

19 ‘‘qualified disaster zone’’ means that portion of any 

20 qualified disaster area which was determined by the 

21 President, during the period beginning on December 

22 28, 2019, and ending on the date which is 60 days 

23 after the date of the enactment of this Act, to war24 rant individual or individual and public assistance 

25 from the Federal Government under the Robert T. 


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1 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

2 Act by reason of the qualified disaster with respect 

3 to such disaster area. 

4 (3) QUALIFIED DISASTER.—The term ‘‘quali5 fied disaster’’ means, with respect to any qualified 

6 disaster area, the disaster by reason of which a 

7 major disaster was declared with respect to such 

8 area. 

9 (4) INCIDENT PERIOD.—The term ‘‘incident pe10 riod’’ means, with respect to any qualified disaster, 

11 the period specified by the Federal Emergency Man12 agement Agency as the period during which such 

13 disaster occurred (except that for purposes of this 

14 Act such period shall not be treated as beginning be15 fore December 28, 2019, or ending after the date 

16 which is 30 days after the date of the enactment of 

17 this Act). 

18 SEC. 3. EMPLOYEE RETENTION CREDIT FOR EMPLOYERS 

19 AFFECTED BY QUALIFIED DISASTERS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38 of the 

21 Internal Revenue Code of 1986, in the case of an eligible 

22 employer, the 2020 qualified disaster employee retention 

23 credit shall be treated as a credit listed at the end of sub24 section (b) of such section. For purposes of this sub25 section, the 2020 qualified disaster employee retention 


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1 credit for any taxable year is an amount equal to 40 per2 cent of the qualified wages with respect to each eligible 

3 employee of such employer for such taxable year. The 

4 amount of qualified wages with respect to any employee 

5 which may be taken into account under this subsection 

6 by the employer for any taxable year shall not exceed 

7 $6,000 (reduced by the amount of qualified wages with 

8 respect to such employee which may be so taken into ac9 count for any prior taxable year). 

10 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

11 (1) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER.—The term ‘‘eligible 

12 employer’’ means any employer— 

13 (A) which conducted an active trade or 

14 business in a qualified disaster zone at any time 

15 during the incident period of the qualified dis16 aster with respect to such qualified disaster 

17 zone, and 

18 (B) with respect to whom the trade or 

19 business described in subparagraph (A) is inop20 erable at any time during the period beginning 

21 on the first day of the incident period of such 

22 qualified disaster and ending on the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act, as a result of damage 

24 sustained by reason of such qualified disaster. 


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1 (2) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYEE.—The term ‘‘eligible 

2 employee’’ means with respect to an eligible em3 ployer an employee whose principal place of employ4 ment with such eligible employer (determined imme5 diately before the qualified disaster referred to in 

6 paragraph (1)) was in the qualified disaster zone re7 ferred to in such paragraph. 

8 (3) QUALIFIED WAGES.—The term ‘‘qualified 

9 wages’’ means wages (as defined in section 51(c)(1) 

10 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, but without 

11 regard to section 3306(b)(2)(B) of such Code) paid 

12 or incurred by an eligible employer with respect to 

13 an eligible employee at any time on or after the date 

14 on which the trade or business described in para15 graph (1) first became inoperable at the principal 

16 place of employment of the employee (determined 

17 immediately before the qualified disaster referred to 

18 in such paragraph) and before the earlier of— 

19 (A) the date on which such trade or busi20 ness has resumed significant operations at such 

21 principal place of employment, or 

22 (B) the date which 150 days after the last 

23 day of the incident period of the qualified dis24 aster referred to in paragraph (1). 


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1 Such term shall include wages paid without regard 

2 to whether the employee performs no services, per3 forms services at a different place of employment 

4 than such principal place of employment, or per5 forms services at such principal place of employment 

6 before significant operations have resumed. Such 

7 term shall not include any wages taken into account 

8 under section 2301 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, 

9 and Economic Security Act. 

10 (c) SPECIAL RULES.— 

11 (1) EMPLOYEE NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT

12 MORE THAN ONCE.—An employee shall not be treat13 ed as an eligible employee for purposes of this sub14 section for any period with respect to any employer 

15 if such employer is allowed a credit under section 51 

16 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect 

17 to such employee for such period. 

18 (2) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Any wages 

19 taken into account in determining the credit allowed 

20 under this section shall not be taken into account as 

21 wages for purposes of sections 41, 45A, 45P, 45S, 

22 51, and 1396 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

23 (3) CERTAIN OTHER RULES TO APPLY.—For 

24 purposes of this subsection, rules similar to the rules 


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1 of sections 51(i)(1), 52, and 280C(a), of the Internal 

2 Revenue Code of 1986, shall apply. 

3 (d) ELECTION TO NOT TAKE CERTAIN WAGES INTO

4 ACCOUNT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall not apply 

6 to qualified wages paid by an eligible employer with 

7 respect to which such employer makes an election 

8 (at such time and in such manner as the Secretary 

9 may prescribe) to have this section not apply to such 

10 wages. 

11 (2) COORDINATION WITH PAYCHECK PROTEC12 TION PROGRAM.—The Secretary, in consultation 

13 with the Administrator of the Small Business Ad14 ministration, shall issue guidance providing that 

15 payroll costs paid or incurred during the covered pe16 riod shall not fail to be treated as qualified wages 

17 under this section by reason of an election under 

18 paragraph (1) to the extent that a covered loan of 

19 the eligible employer is not forgiven by reason of a 

20 decision under section 1106(g) of the CARES Act. 

21 Terms used in the preceding sentence which are also 

22 used in section 1106 of such Act shall have the same 

23 meaning as when used in such section. 

24 (e) AMENDMENT TO PAYCHECK PROTECTION PRO25 GRAM.—Section 1106(a)(8) of the CARES Act is amended 


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1 by inserting ‘‘, except that such costs shall not include 

2 qualified wages taken into account in determining the 

3 credit allowed under section 4 of the Disaster RELIEF 

4 Act’’ before the period at the end. 

5 SEC. 4. SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED DISASTER-RE6 LATED PERSONAL CASUALTY LOSSES. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual has a net disaster 

8 loss for any taxable year— 

9 (1) the amount determined under section 

10 165(h)(2)(A)(ii) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

11 1986 shall be equal to the sum of— 

12 (A) such net disaster loss, and 

13 (B) so much of the excess referred to in 

14 the matter preceding clause (i) of section 

15 165(h)(2)(A) of such Code (reduced by the 

16 amount in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph) 

17 as exceeds 10 percent of the adjusted gross in18 come of the individual, 

19 (2) in the case of qualified disaster-related per20 sonal casualty losses, section 165(h)(1) of such Code 

21 shall be applied to by substituting ‘‘$500’’ for ‘‘$500 

22 ($100 for taxable years beginning after December 

23 31, 2009)’’, 


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1 (3) the standard deduction determined under 

2 section 63(c) of such Code shall be increased by the 

3 net disaster loss, and 

4 (4) section 56(b)(1)(E) of such Code shall not 

5 apply to so much of the standard deduction as is at6 tributable to the increase under paragraph (3) of 

7 this paragraph. 

8 (b) NET DISASTER LOSS.—For purposes of this sec9 tion, the term ‘‘net disaster loss’’ means the excess of 

10 qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses over per11 sonal casualty gains (as defined in section 165(h)(3)(A) 

12 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986). 

13 (c) QUALIFIED DISASTER-RELATED PERSONAL CAS14 UALTY LOSSES.—For purposes of this section, the term 

15 ‘‘qualified disaster-related personal casualty losses’’ means 

16 losses described in section 165(c)(3) of the Internal Rev17 enue Code of 1986 which arise in a qualified disaster area 

18 on or after the first day of the incident period of the quali19 fied disaster to which such area relates, and which are 

20 attributable to such qualified disaster. 

Æ 


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