I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1940

To provide that no Federal income tax shall be imposed on amounts received

by victims of the Nazi regime or their heirs or estates, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 22, 2001

Mr. NADLER (for himself, Mr. WELLER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr.

LATOURETTE, Mr. WEINER, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. ENGEL, and

Mr. WAXMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

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

Government Reform, 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 that no Federal income tax shall be imposed

on amounts received by victims of the Nazi regime or

their heirs or estates, 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 ‘‘Holocaust Victims Tax

5 Fairness Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. NO FEDERAL INCOME TAX ON RESTITUTION RE2 CEIVED BY VICTIMS OF THE NAZI REGIME OR

3 THEIR HEIRS OR ESTATES.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986, any excludable restitution payments

6 received by an eligible individual (or the individual’s heirs

7 or estate)—

8 (1) shall not be included in gross income; and

9 (2) shall not be taken into account for purposes

10 of applying any provision of such Code which takes

11 into account excludable income in computing ad12 justed gross income, including section 86 of such

13 Code (relating to taxation of Social Security bene14 fits).

15 For purposes of such Code, the basis of any property re16 ceived by an eligible individual (or the individual’s heirs

17 or estate) as part of an excludable restitution payment

18 shall be the fair market value of such property as of the

19 time of the receipt.

20 (b) COORDINATION WITH FEDERAL MEANS-TESTED

21 PROGRAMS.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any excludable restitution

23 payment shall be disregarded in determining eligi24 bility for, and the amount of benefits or services to

25 be provided under, any Federal or federally assisted
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1 program which provides benefits or service based, in

2 whole or in part, on need.

3 (2) PROHIBITION AGAINST RECOVERY OF

4 VALUE OF EXCESSIVE BENEFITS OR SERVICES.—No

5 officer, agency, or instrumentality of any govern6 ment may attempt to recover the value of excessive

7 benefits or services provided under a program de8 scribed in subsection (a) before January 1, 2000, by

9 reason of any failure to take account of excludable

10 restitution payments received before such date.

11 (3) NOTICE REQUIRED.—Any agency of govern12 ment that has taken into account excludable restitu13 tion payments in determining eligibility for a pro14 gram described in subsection (a) before January 1,

15 2000, shall make a good faith effort to notify any

16 individual who may have been denied eligibility for

17 benefits or services under the program of the poten18 tial eligibility of the individual for such benefits or

19 services.

20 (4) COORDINATION WITH 1994 ACT.—Nothing

21 in this Act shall be construed to override any right

22 or requirement under ‘‘An Act to require certain

23 payments made to victims of Nazi persecution to be

24 disregarded in determining eligibility for and the

25 amount of benefits or services based on need’’, ap-
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1 proved August 1, 1994 (Public Law 103–286; 42

2 U.S.C. 1437a note), and nothing in that Act shall

3 be construed to override any right or requirement

4 under this Act.

5 (c) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this sec6 tion, the term ‘‘eligible individual’’ means a person who

7 was persecuted for racial or religious reasons by Nazi Ger8 many, any other Axis regime, or any other Nazi-controlled

9 or Nazi-allied country.

10 (d) EXCLUDABLE RESTITUTION PAYMENT.—For

11 purposes of this section, the term ‘‘excludable restitution

12 payment’’ means any payment or distribution to an indi13 vidual (or the individual’s heirs or estate) which—

14 (1) is payable by reason of the individual’s sta15 tus as an eligible individual, including any amount

16 payable by any foreign country, the United States of

17 America, or any other foreign or domestic entity, or

18 a fund established by any such country or entity,

19 any amount payable as a result of a final resolution

20 of a legal action, and any amount payable under a

21 law providing for payments or restitution of prop22 erty;

23 (2) constitutes the direct or indirect return of,

24 or compensation or reparation for, assets stolen or

25 hidden from, or otherwise lost to, the individual be-
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1 fore, during, or immediately after World War II by

2 reason of the individual’s status as an eligible indi3 vidual, including any proceeds of insurance under

4 policies issued on eligible individuals by European

5 insurance companies immediately before and during

6 World War II; or

7 (3) consists of interest which is payable as part

8 of any payment or distribution described in para9 graph (1) or (2).

10 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—This section shall apply to

12 any amount received on or after January 1, 2000.

13 (2) NO INFERENCE.—Nothing in this Act shall

14 be construed to create any inference with respect to

15 the proper tax treatment of any amount received be16 fore January 1, 2000.

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