I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5537 

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

emergency service volunteers as independent contractors. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 16, 2010 

Mr. WU 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 emergency service volunteers as independent contractors. 

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 ‘‘Volunteer Firefighter 

5 Fairness Act of 2010’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds that— 

8 (1) the number of volunteer firefighters in the 

9 United States has decreased from 880,000 in 1984 


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1 to 827,150 in 2008 according to the National Fire 

2 Protection Association; 

3 (2) according to the National Fire Protection 

4 Association, volunteers comprise 72 percent of our 

5 Nation’s fire and emergency service; 

6 (3) the fire service is witnessing a reduced 

7 number of volunteers due to increasing emergency 

8 call volumes, the large time demands that accom9 pany ongoing training, and the struggle to balance 

10 the career and family obligations of today’s two-in11 come families; 

12 (4) to help recruit and retain volunteer fire13 fighters, some State and local governments may 

14 offer paid expenses, reasonable benefits, a nominal 

15 payment, or any combination thereof; 

16 (5) historically, fire departments used the Inter17 nal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Form 1099 to report 

18 these reasonable benefits and nominal payments for 

19 their volunteers; 

20 (6) increasingly, many volunteer fire depart21 ments are being instructed by local offices of the 

22 IRS that they must use the Form W–2 to report 

23 these nominal payments and reasonable benefits, in24 stead of the Form 1099; 


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1 (7) the use of IRS Form 1099 for volunteer 

2 firefighters has been the long-standing practice of 

3 many volunteer fire departments because it accu4 rately reflects the relationship between the volunteer 

5 firefighter and the volunteer fire department; 

6 (8) by requiring the use of W–2 forms, the IRS 

7 is putting an onerous burden on fire departments 

8 and redefining the treatment of volunteer fire9 fighters by Federal, State, and local regulations; 

10 (9) because of this reason, IRS Form W–2s 

11 may greatly alter the historic role of volunteer re12 sponders and the cost-saving benefits that they pro13 vide to their local communities; 

14 (10) a volunteer firefighter performing specific 

15 duties should not be considered as an employee, and 

16 the fire department for whom such services are per17 formed should not be considered as an employer of 

18 their services; and 

19 (11) fire departments should be allowed to fol20 low their historic practice of issuing Form 1099s to 

21 their volunteers. 

22 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF EMERGENCY SERVICE VOLUN23 TEERS AS INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 3508 of 

25 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to treatment 


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1 of real estate agents and direct sellers) is amended by 

2 striking ‘‘or as a direct seller’’ and inserting ‘‘, as a direct 

3 seller, or as a qualified emergency service volunteer’’. 

4 (b) QUALIFIED EMERGENCY SERVICE VOLUN5 TEER.—Subsection (b) of section 3508 of such Code is 

6 amended by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4) 

7 and by inserting after paragraph (2) the following new 

8 paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED EMERGENCY SERVICE VOLUN10 TEER.— 

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

12 emergency service volunteer’ means any bona 

13 fide volunteer performing qualified services for 

14 an eligible employer. 

15 ‘‘(B) DEFINITIONS.—Terms used in sub16 paragraph (A) shall have the respective mean17 ings given such terms by paragraphs (1) and 

18 (11)(B) and (C) of section 457(e).’’. 

19 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

20 (1) The section heading for section 3508 of 

21 such Code is amended by striking ‘‘AND DIRECT

22 SELLERS’’ and inserting ‘‘, DIRECT SELLERS, 

23 AND CERTAIN EMERGENCY SERVICE VOLUN24 TEERS’’. 


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1 (2) The item relating to section 3508 in the 

2 table of sections for chapter 25 of such Code is 

3 amended by striking ‘‘and direct sellers’’ and insert4 ing ‘‘, direct sellers, and certain emergency service 

5 volunteers’’. 

6 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

7 this section shall apply to services performed after Decem8 ber 31, 2010. 

Æ 


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