II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3993 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow penalty-free 

withdrawals from retirement plans for domestic abuse victims. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 5, 2022 

Ms. CORTEZ MASTO (for herself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow penalty-free withdrawals from retirement plans for domestic 

abuse victims. 

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 ‘‘Savings Access For 

5 Escaping and Rebuilding Act of 2022’’ or the ‘‘SAFER 

6 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PENALTY-FREE WITHDRAWALS FROM RETIREMENT 

2 PLANS FOR INDIVIDUALS IN CASE OF DOMES3 TIC ABUSE. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 72(t)(2) of the Internal 

5 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 

6 the following new subparagraph: 

7 ‘‘(I) DISTRIBUTIONS FROM RETIREMENT

8 PLAN IN CASE OF DOMESTIC ABUSE.— 

9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any eligible dis10 tribution to a domestic abuse victim. 

11 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The aggregate 

12 amount which may be treated as an eligi13 ble distribution to a domestic abuse victim 

14 by any individual shall not exceed an 

15 amount equal to the lesser of— 

16 ‘‘(I) $10,000, or 

17 ‘‘(II) 50 percent of the present 

18 value of the nonforfeitable accrued 

19 benefit of the employee under the 

20 plan. 

21 ‘‘(iii) ELIGIBLE DISTRIBUTION TO A

22 DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIM.—For purposes 

23 of this subparagraph— 

24 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—A distribu25 tion shall be treated as an eligible dis26 tribution to a domestic abuse victim if 


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1 such distribution is from an applicable 

2 eligible retirement plan to an indi3 vidual and made during the 1-year pe4 riod beginning on any date on which 

5 the individual is a victim of domestic 

6 abuse by a spouse or domestic part7 ner. 

8 ‘‘(II) DOMESTIC ABUSE.—The 

9 term ‘domestic abuse’ means physical, 

10 psychological, sexual, emotional, or 

11 economic abuse, including efforts to 

12 control, isolate, humiliate, or intimi13 date the victim, or to undermine the 

14 victim’s ability to reason independ15 ently, including by means of abuse of 

16 the victim’s child or another family 

17 member living in the household. 

18 ‘‘(iv) TREATMENT OF PLAN DISTRIBU19 TIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—If a distribu21 tion to an individual would (without 

22 regard to clause (ii)) be an eligible 

23 distribution to a domestic abuse vic24 tim, a plan shall not be treated as 

25 failing to meet any requirement of 


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1 this title merely because the plan 

2 treats the distribution as an eligible 

3 distribution to a domestic abuse vic4 tim, unless the aggregate amount of 

5 such distributions from all plans 

6 maintained by the employer (and any 

7 member of any controlled group which 

8 includes the employer) to such indi9 vidual exceeds the limitation under 

10 clause (ii). 

11 ‘‘(II) CONTROLLED GROUP.—For 

12 purposes of subclause (I), the term 

13 ‘controlled group’ means any group 

14 treated as a single employer under 

15 subsection (b), (c), (m), or (o) of sec16 tion 414. 

17 ‘‘(v) AMOUNT DISTRIBUTED MAY BE

18 REPAID.— 

19 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Any indi20 vidual who receives a distribution de21 scribed in clause (i) may, at any time 

22 during the 3-year period beginning on 

23 the day after the date on which such 

24 distribution was received, make one or 

25 more contributions in an aggregate 


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1 amount not to exceed the amount of 

2 such distribution to an applicable eli3 gible retirement plan of which such 

4 individual is a beneficiary and to 

5 which a rollover contribution of such 

6 distribution could be made under sec7 tion 402(c), 403(a)(4), 403(b)(8), 

8 408(d)(3), or 457(e)(16), as the case 

9 may be. 

10 ‘‘(II) LIMITATION ON CONTRIBU11 TIONS TO APPLICABLE ELIGIBLE RE12 TIREMENT PLANS OTHER THAN

13 IRAS.—The aggregate amount of con14 tributions made by an individual 

15 under subclause (I) to any applicable 

16 eligible retirement plan which is not 

17 an individual retirement plan shall not 

18 exceed the aggregate amount of eligi19 ble distributions to a domestic abuse 

20 victim which are made from such plan 

21 to such individual. Subclause (I) shall 

22 not apply to contributions to any ap23 plicable eligible retirement plan which 

24 is not an individual retirement plan 

25 unless the individual is eligible to 


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1 make contributions (other than those 

2 described in subclause (I)) to such ap3 plicable eligible retirement plan. 

4 ‘‘(III) TREATMENT OF REPAY5 MENTS OF DISTRIBUTIONS FROM AP6 PLICABLE ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT

7 PLANS OTHER THAN IRAS.—If a con8 tribution is made under subclause (I) 

9 with respect to an eligible distribution 

10 to a domestic abuse victim from an 

11 applicable eligible retirement plan 

12 other than an individual retirement 

13 plan, then the taxpayer shall, to the 

14 extent of the amount of the contribu15 tion, be treated as having received 

16 such distribution in an eligible rollover 

17 distribution (as defined in section 

18 402(c)(4)) and as having transferred 

19 the amount to the applicable eligible 

20 retirement plan in a direct trustee to 

21 trustee transfer within 60 days of the 

22 distribution. 

23 ‘‘(IV) TREATMENT OF REPAY24 MENTS FOR DISTRIBUTIONS FROM

25 IRAS.—If a contribution is made 


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1 under subclause (I) with respect to an 

2 eligible distribution to a domestic 

3 abuse victim from an individual retire4 ment plan, then, to the extent of the 

5 amount of the contribution, such dis6 tribution shall be treated as a dis7 tribution described in section 

8 408(d)(3) and as having been trans9 ferred to the applicable eligible retire10 ment plan in a direct trustee to trust11 ee transfer within 60 days of the dis12 tribution. 

13 ‘‘(vi) DEFINITION AND SPECIAL

14 RULES.—For purposes of this subpara15 graph: 

16 ‘‘(I) APPLICABLE ELIGIBLE RE17 TIREMENT PLAN.—The term ‘applica18 ble eligible retirement plan’ means an 

19 eligible retirement plan (as defined in 

20 section 402(c)(8)(B)) other than a de21 fined benefit plan. 

22 ‘‘(II) EXEMPTION OF DISTRIBU23 TIONS FROM TRUSTEE TO TRUSTEE

24 TRANSFER AND WITHHOLDING

25 RULES.—For purposes of sections 


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1 401(a)(31), 402(f), and 3405, an eli2 gible distribution to a domestic abuse 

3 victim shall not be treated as an eligi4 ble rollover distribution. 

5 ‘‘(III) DISTRIBUTIONS TREATED

6 AS MEETING PLAN DISTRIBUTION RE7 QUIREMENTS; SELF-CERTIFICATION.— 

8 Any distribution which the employee 

9 or participant certifies as being an eli10 gible distribution to a domestic abuse 

11 victim shall be treated as meeting the 

12 requirements of sections 

13 401(k)(2)(B)(i), 403(b)(7)(A)(i), 

14 403(b)(11), and 457(d)(1)(A).’’. 

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

16 this section shall apply to distributions made after the 

17 date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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