I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 217 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make permanent certain 

changes made by Public Law 115–97 to the child tax credit. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2019 

Mr. SMITH of Missouri 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 make 

permanent certain changes made by Public Law 115– 

97 to the child tax credit. 

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 ‘‘Permanent Tax Relief 

5 for Working Families Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INCREASE IN AND MODIFICATION OF CHILD TAX 

7 CREDIT. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 24 of the Internal Rev9 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 


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1 (1) by amending subsection (a) to read as fol2 lows: 

3 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—There shall be al4 lowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter 

5 for the taxable year an amount equal to the sum of— 

6 ‘‘(1) $2,000 for each qualifying child of the tax7 payer, and 

8 ‘‘(2) $500 for each dependent of the taxpayer 

9 (as defined in section 152, without regard to all that 

10 follows ‘resident of the United States’ in section 

11 152(b)(3)(A)) other than a qualifying child.’’, 

12 (2) in subsection (b)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘the threshold amount’’ in 

14 paragraph (1) and inserting ‘‘$400,000 in the 

15 case of a joint return ($200,000 in any other 

16 case)’’, 

17 (B) by striking paragraph (2), and 

18 (C) by striking ‘‘LIMITATIONS’’ and all 

19 that follows through ‘‘The amount’’ and insert20 ing ‘‘LIMITATION BASED ON ADJUSTED GROSS

21 INCOME.—The amount’’, 

22 (3) in subsection (d)(1)(A), by striking all that 

23 follows ‘‘under this section’’ and inserting the fol24 lowing: ‘‘determined— 


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1 ‘‘(i) by substituting ‘$1,400’ for 

2 ‘$2,000’ in subsection (a)(1), 

3 ‘‘(ii) without regard to subsection 

4 (a)(2), and 

5 ‘‘(iii) without regard to this subsection 

6 and the limitation under section 26(a).’’, 

7 (4) in subsection (d)(1)(B)(i), by striking 

8 ‘‘$3,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$2,500’’, 

9 (5) by inserting after subsection (d)(2) the fol10 lowing new paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(3) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION.—In the 

12 case of a taxable year beginning after 2018, the 

13 $1,400 amount in paragraph (1)(A) shall be in14 creased by an amount equal to— 

15 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

16 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter17 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 

18 year in which the taxable year begins, deter19 mined by substituting ‘2017’ for ‘2016’ in sub20 paragraph (A)(ii) thereof. 

21 If any increase under this paragraph is not a mul22 tiple of $100, such increase shall be rounded to the 

23 next lowest multiple of $100.’’, 

24 (6) by amending subsection (e) to read as fol25 lows: 


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1 ‘‘(e) IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) TAXPAYER.—No credit shall be allowed 

3 under this section if the identifying number of the 

4 taxpayer was issued after the due date for filing the 

5 return for the taxable year. 

6 ‘‘(2) QUALIFYING CHILD.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No credit shall be al8 lowed under this section to a taxpayer with re9 spect to any qualifying child unless the taxpayer 

10 includes the social security number of such 

11 child on the return of tax for the taxable year. 

12 ‘‘(B) SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER DE13 FINED.—For purposes of this subsection, the 

14 term ‘social security number’ means a social se15 curity number issued to an individual by the 

16 Social Security Administration, but only if the 

17 social security number is issued— 

18 ‘‘(i) to a citizen of the United States 

19 or pursuant to subclause (I) (or that por20 tion of subclause (III) that relates to sub21 clause (I)) of section 205(c)(2)(B)(i) of the 

22 Social Security Act, and 

23 ‘‘(ii) before the due date for such re24 turn. 


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1 ‘‘(C) TREATMENT OF QUALIFYING CHIL2 DREN DISALLOWED CREDIT.—In the case of 

3 any qualifying child with respect to whom a 

4 credit is not allowed under this section by rea5 son of subparagraph (A), such child shall be 

6 treated as a dependent to whom subsection 

7 (a)(2) applies.’’, and 

8 (7) by striking subsection (h). 

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

10 this section shall take effect as if included in the enact11 ment of section 11022 of Public Law 115–97. 

Æ 


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