I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 822 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to make improvements in 

the earned income tax credit. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2017 

Mr. NEAL (for himself, Ms. PELOSI, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. LEWIS

of Georgia, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, 

Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. KIND, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. 

DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. 

KEATING, Ms. NORTON, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. CLARK of 

Massachusetts, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. HOYER, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. 

DELBENE, and Mr. COHEN) 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 

improvements in the earned income 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Earned Income Tax Credit Improvement and Simplifica6 tion Act 2017’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Strengthening the earned income tax credit for individuals with no 

qualifying children. 

Sec. 3. Taxpayer eligible for credit for individuals with no qualifying children 

if qualifying children do not have valid Social Security numbers. 

Sec. 4. Credit allowed in case of certain separated spouses. 

Sec. 5. Taxpayer eligible for credit without qualifying child if qualifying child 

claimed by another member of family. 

Sec. 6. Elimination of disqualified investment income test. 

3 SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING THE EARNED INCOME TAX CRED4 IT FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH NO QUALIFYING 

5 CHILDREN. 

6 (a) CREDIT FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS OVER AGE

7 21.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 32(c)(1) of the In9 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

10 at the end the following new subparagraph: 

11 ‘‘(G) SPECIAL RULE FOR WORKING INDI12 VIDUALS OVER AGE 20 AND WITHOUT QUALI13 FYING CHILD.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an 

15 individual (or, if the individual is married, 

16 either the individual or the individual’s 

17 spouse) who— 

18 ‘‘(I) has attained the age of 21 

19 but not attained age 25 before the 

20 close of the taxable year, and 


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1 ‘‘(II) is not a full-time student at 

2 any time during the taxable year, 

3 paragraph (1)(A)(ii)(II) shall not apply for 

4 purposes of determining whether such indi5 vidual is an eligible individual. 

6 ‘‘(ii) STUDENT.—For purposes of this 

7 subparagraph, an individual shall be con8 sidered a full-time student if such individual is carrying more than 1 9 ⁄2 the normal 

10 full-time work load for the course of study 

11 the individual is pursuing.’’. 

12 (2) INFORMATION RETURN MATCHING.—Not 

13 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of 

14 this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall develop 

15 and implement procedures for checking an individ16 ual’s claim for a credit under section 32 of the In17 ternal Revenue Code of 1986, by reason of sub18 section (c)(1)(G) thereof, against any information 

19 return made with respect to such individual under 

20 section 6050S (relating to returns relating to higher 

21 education tuition and related expenses). 

22 (b) INCREASED CREDIT.— 

23 (1) CREDIT PERCENTAGE AND PHASEOUT PER24 CENTAGE.—The table contained in section 32(b)(1) 


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1 of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘7.65’’ each 

2 place it appears and inserting ‘‘15.3’’. 

3 (2) EARNED INCOME AMOUNT AND PHASEOUT

4 AMOUNT.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—The table contained in 

6 section 32(b)(2)(A) of such Code is amended— 

7 (i) by striking ‘‘$4,220’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘$8,820’’, and 

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘$5,280’’ and insert10 ing ‘‘$10,425’’. 

11 (B) INFLATION ADJUSTMENTS.—Section 

12 32(j)(1)(B) of such Code is amended— 

13 (i) by inserting ‘‘except as provided in 

14 clause (iii)’’ in clause (i) before ‘‘in the 

15 case of amounts’’, 

16 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of 

17 clause (i), by striking the period at the end 

18 of clause (ii) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by 

19 adding at the end the following new clause: 

20 ‘‘(iii) in the case of the $8,820 and 

21 $10,425 amounts in subsection (b)(2)(A), 

22 by substituting ‘calendar year 2012’ for 

23 ‘calendar year 1992’ in subparagraph (B) 

24 of such section 1.’’. 


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1 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 3. TAXPAYER ELIGIBLE FOR CREDIT FOR INDIVID5 UALS WITH NO QUALIFYING CHILDREN IF 

6 QUALIFYING CHILDREN DO NOT HAVE VALID 

7 SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 32(c)(1)(F) of the Inter9 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(F) INDIVIDUALS WHO DO NOT INCLUDE

11 TIN, ETC., OF ANY QUALIFYING CHILD.—In the 

12 case of any eligible individual who has one or 

13 more qualifying children, if— 

14 ‘‘(i) no qualifying child of such indi15 vidual is taken into account under sub16 section (b) by reason of paragraph (3)(D), 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(ii) no child of such individual is 

19 taken into account for purposes of any 

20 other child tax benefit under this chapter, 

21 for purposes of the credit allowed under this 

22 section, such individual may be considered an 

23 eligible individual without a qualifying child.’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

2 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

3 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

4 SEC. 4. CREDIT ALLOWED IN CASE OF CERTAIN SEPA5 RATED SPOUSES. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 32(d) of the Internal Rev7 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘MARRIED INDIVIDUALS.—In 

9 the case of’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘MARRIED

10 INDIVIDUALS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of’’, and 

12 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR SEPARATED

15 SPOUSE.—An individual shall not be treated as mar16 ried for purposes of this section if such individual— 

17 ‘‘(A) is married (within the meaning of 

18 section 7703(a)) and files a separate return for 

19 the taxable year, 

20 ‘‘(B) lives with a qualifying child of the in21 dividual for more than one-half of such taxable 

22 year, and 

23 ‘‘(C)(i) during the last 6 months such tax24 able year, does not have the same principal 

25 place of abode as the individual’s spouse, or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) has a legally binding separation 

2 agreement with the individual’s spouse and is 

3 not a member of the same household with the 

4 individual’s spouse by the end of the taxable 

5 year.’’. 

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

7 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

8 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

9 SEC. 5. TAXPAYER ELIGIBLE FOR CREDIT WITHOUT QUALI10 FYING CHILD IF QUALIFYING CHILD 

11 CLAIMED BY ANOTHER MEMBER OF FAMILY. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 32(c)(1) of the Internal 

13 Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by section 2, is 

14 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara15 graph: 

16 ‘‘(H) TAXPAYER ELIGIBLE FOR CREDIT

17 WITHOUT QUALIFYING CHILD IF QUALIFYING

18 CHILD CLAIMED BY ANOTHER MEMBER OF FAM19 ILY.— 

20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If— 

21 ‘‘(I) an individual is claimed as a 

22 qualifying child by an eligible indi23 vidual for any taxable year of such eli24 gible individual beginning in a cal25 endar year, and 


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1 ‘‘(II) such individual is the quali2 fying child of another eligible indi3 vidual for any taxable year beginning 

4 in such calendar year, 

5 such other eligible individual may be treat6 ed as an eligible individual without a quali7 fying child for purposes of this section for 

8 such taxable year. 

9 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION FOR QUALIFYING

10 CHILD CLAIMED BY PARENT.—If an indi11 vidual is claimed as a qualifying child for 

12 any taxable year by a parent of such child, 

13 clause (i) shall not apply with respect to 

14 any other custodial parent of such child.’’. 

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

16 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

17 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

18 SEC. 6. ELIMINATION OF DISQUALIFIED INVESTMENT IN19 COME TEST. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 32 of the Internal Rev21 enue Code of 1986 is amended by striking subsection (i). 

22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

23 (1) Section 32(j)(1)(B)(i) of such Code is 

24 amended by striking ‘‘subsections (b)(2)(A) and 

25 (i)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(2)(A)’’. 


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1 (2) Section 32(j)(2) of such Code is amended— 

2 (A) by striking paragraph (2), and 

3 (B) by striking ‘‘ROUNDING.—’’ and all 

4 that follows through ‘‘If any dollar amount’’ 

5 and inserting the following: ‘‘ROUNDING.—If 

6 any dollar amount’’. 

7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

8 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

9 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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