I 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7146 

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

withdrawals from retirement accounts for certain emergency expenses, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 17, 2022 

Mr. WENSTRUP (for himself and Mr. SUOZZI) 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 provide 

for penalty-free withdrawals from retirement accounts 

for certain emergency expenses, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Enhancing Emergency 

5 and Retirement Savings Act of 2022’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WITHDRAWALS FOR CERTAIN EMERGENCY EX2 PENSES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 72(t) of 

4 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

5 at the end the following new subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(I) DISTRIBUTIONS FOR CERTAIN EMER7 GENCY EXPENSES.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any emergency 

9 personal expense distribution. 

10 ‘‘(ii) ANNUAL LIMITATION.—Not more 

11 than 1 distribution per calendar year may 

12 be treated as an emergency personal ex13 pense distribution by any individual. 

14 ‘‘(iii) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—The 

15 amount which may be treated as an emer16 gency personal expense distribution by any 

17 individual in any calendar year shall not 

18 exceed the lesser of $1,000 or an amount 

19 equal to the excess of— 

20 ‘‘(I) the individual’s total non21 forfeitable accrued benefit under the 

22 plan (the individual’s total interest in 

23 the plan in the case of an individual 

24 retirement plan), determined as of the 

25 date of each such distribution, over 

26 ‘‘(II) $1,000. 


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1 ‘‘(iv) EMERGENCY PERSONAL EX2 PENSE DISTRIBUTION.—For purposes of 

3 this subparagraph, the term ‘emergency 

4 personal expense distribution’ means any 

5 distribution from an applicable eligible re6 tirement plan (as defined in subparagraph 

7 (H)(vi)(I)) to an individual for purposes of 

8 meeting unforeseeable or immediate finan9 cial needs relating to necessary personal or 

10 family emergency expenses. The adminis11 trator of an applicable eligible retirement 

12 plan may rely on an employee’s certifi13 cation that the employee satisfies the con14 ditions of the preceding sentence in deter15 mining whether any distribution is an 

16 emergency personal expense distribution. 

17 ‘‘(v) TREATMENT OF PLAN DISTRIBU18 TIONS.—If a distribution to an individual 

19 would (without regard to clause (iii)) be an 

20 emergency personal expense distribution, a 

21 plan shall not be treated as failing to meet 

22 any requirement of this title merely be23 cause the plan treats the distribution as an 

24 emergency personal expense distribution, 

25 unless the aggregate amount of such disVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:53 Mar 22, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7146.IH H7146

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1 tributions from all plans maintained by the 

2 employer (and any member of any con3 trolled group which includes the employer, 

4 determined as provided in subparagraph 

5 (H)(iv)(II)) to such individual exceeds the 

6 limitation determined under clause (iii). 

7 ‘‘(vi) AMOUNT DISTRIBUTED MAY BE

8 REPAID.— 

9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Any indi10 vidual who receives an emergency per11 sonal expense distribution may, at any 

12 time during the 3-year period begin13 ning on the day after the date on 

14 which such distribution was received, 

15 make one or more contributions in an 

16 aggregate amount not to exceed the 

17 amount of such distribution to an ap18 plicable eligible retirement plan of 

19 which such individual is a beneficiary 

20 and to which a rollover contribution of 

21 such distribution could be made under 

22 section 402(c), 403(a)(4), 403(b)(8), 

23 408(d)(3), or 457(e)(16), as the case 

24 may be. 


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1 ‘‘(II) LIMITATION ON CONTRIBU2 TIONS TO APPLICABLE ELIGIBLE RE3 TIREMENT PLANS OTHER THAN

4 IRAS.—The aggregate amount of con5 tributions made by an individual 

6 under subclause (I) to any applicable 

7 eligible retirement plan which is not 

8 an individual retirement plan shall not 

9 exceed the aggregate amount of emer10 gency personal expense distributions 

11 which are made from such plan to 

12 such individual. Subclause (I) shall 

13 not apply to contributions to any ap14 plicable eligible retirement plan which 

15 is not an individual retirement plan 

16 unless the individual is eligible to 

17 make contributions (other than those 

18 described in subclause (I)) to such ap19 plicable eligible retirement plan. 

20 ‘‘(III) TREATMENT OF REPAY21 MENTS OF DISTRIBUTIONS FROM AP22 PLICABLE ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT

23 PLANS OTHER THAN IRAS.—If a con24 tribution is made under subclause (I) 

25 with respect to an emergency personal 


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1 expense distribution from an applica2 ble eligible retirement plan other than 

3 an individual retirement plan, then 

4 the taxpayer shall, to the extent of the 

5 amount of the contribution, be treated 

6 as having received such distribution in 

7 an eligible rollover distribution (as de8 fined in section 402(c)(4)) and as 

9 having transferred the amount to the 

10 applicable eligible retirement plan in a 

11 direct trustee to trustee transfer with12 in 60 days of the distribution. 

13 ‘‘(IV) TREATMENT OF REPAY14 MENTS FOR DISTRIBUTIONS FROM

15 IRAS.—If a contribution is made 

16 under subclause (I) with respect to an 

17 emergency personal expense distribu18 tion from an individual retirement 

19 plan, then, to the extent of the 

20 amount of the contribution, such dis21 tribution shall be treated as a dis22 tribution described in section 

23 408(d)(3) and as having been trans24 ferred to the applicable eligible retire25 ment plan in a direct trustee to trustVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:53 Mar 22, 2022 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7146.IH H7146

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1 ee transfer within 60 days of the dis2 tribution. 

3 ‘‘(vii) LIMITATION ON SUBSEQUENT

4 DISTRIBUTIONS.—If a distribution is treat5 ed as an emergency personal expense dis6 tribution in any calendar year with respect 

7 to a plan, no amount may be treated as 

8 such a distribution in any subsequent cal9 endar year with respect to such plan un10 less— 

11 ‘‘(I) such previous distribution is 

12 fully repaid pursuant to clause (vi) to 

13 such plan, or 

14 ‘‘(II) the aggregate of the elective 

15 deferrals and employee contributions 

16 to the plan (the total amounts con17 tributed to the plan in the case of an 

18 individual retirement plan) subsequent 

19 to such previous distribution is at 

20 least equal to the amount of such pre21 vious distribution which has not been 

22 so repaid. 

23 ‘‘(viii) SPECIAL RULES.—Rules simi24 lar to the rules of subclauses (II) and (IV) 


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1 of subparagraph (H)(vi) shall apply to any 

2 emergency personal expense distribution.’’. 

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

4 this section shall apply to distributions made after Decem5 ber 31, 2021. 

Æ 


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