I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2953 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow individuals either 

a credit against income tax or a deduction for expenses paid or incurred 

by reason of a voluntary or mandatory evacuation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 18, 2009 

Mr. PAUL 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 allow individuals either a credit against income tax or a deduction 

for expenses paid or incurred by reason of a voluntary 

or mandatory evacuation. 

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 ‘‘Evacuees Tax Relief 

5 Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EVACUATION EXPENSES. 

7 (a) CREDIT FOR EVACUATION EXPENSES.—Subpart 

8 A of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal 


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1 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to nonrefundable personal 

2 credits) is amended by inserting after section 25D the fol3 lowing new section: 

4 ‘‘SEC. 25E. EVACUATION EXPENSES. 

5 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an in6 dividual, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax 

7 imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an amount 

8 equal to the qualified evacuation expenses paid or incurred 

9 by the individual during the taxable year. 

10 ‘‘(b) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—With respect to an indi11 vidual, the aggregate amount of qualified evacuation ex12 penses which may be taken into account under subsection 

13 (a) for all taxable years during the credit allowance period 

14 shall not exceed $5,000. 

15 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED EVACUATION EXPENSES.—For pur16 poses of this section— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified evacu18 ation expenses’ means, with respect to any taxable 

19 year during the credit allowance period, the sum of 

20 all expenses paid or incurred by the individual dur21 ing such taxable year by reason of a qualified evacu22 ation. Such expenses shall include travel and lodging 

23 expenses as do not exceed $1,000, lost wages, and 

24 any property damage not compensated for by insur25 ance or otherwise. 


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1 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED EVACUATION.—With respect to 

2 an individual, the term ‘qualified evacuation’ means 

3 a voluntary or mandatory evacuation ordered by rea4 son of a qualified disaster (as defined in section 

5 139(c)) of an area in which such individual resides 

6 on the date of such disaster. 

7 ‘‘(3) CREDIT ALLOWANCE PERIOD.—With re8 spect to a qualified evacuation, the term ‘credit al9 lowance period’ means the taxable year or years dur10 ing which the evacuation occurred and each of the 

11 3 succeeding taxable years. 

12 ‘‘(d) PORTION OF CREDIT REFUNDABLE.— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The aggregate credits al14 lowed to an individual under subpart C shall be in15 creased by the lesser of— 

16 ‘‘(A) the credit which would be allowed 

17 under this section without regard to this sub18 section, or 

19 ‘‘(B) the amount by which the aggregate 

20 amount of credits allowed by this subpart (de21 termined without regard to this subsection) 

22 would increase if the limitation imposed by sec23 tion 26(a) were increased by the individual’s so24 cial security taxes for the taxable year. 


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1 The amount of the credit allowed under this sub2 section shall not be treated as a credit allowed under 

3 this subpart and shall reduce the amount of credit 

4 otherwise allowable under subsection (a). 

5 ‘‘(2) SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES.—For purposes 

6 of paragraph (1)— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘social secu8 rity taxes’ means, with respect to any taxpayer 

9 for any taxable year— 

10 ‘‘(i) the amount of the taxes imposed 

11 by section 3101 and 3201(a) on amounts 

12 received by the taxpayer during the cal13 endar year in which the taxable year be14 gins, 

15 ‘‘(ii) 50 percent of the taxes imposed 

16 by section 1401 on the self-employment in17 come of the taxpayer for the taxable year, 

18 and 

19 ‘‘(iii) 50 percent of the taxes imposed 

20 by section 3211(a)(1) on amounts received 

21 by the taxpayer during the calendar year 

22 in which the taxable year begins. 

23 ‘‘(B) COORDINATION WITH SPECIAL RE24 FUND OF SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES.—The term 

25 ‘social security taxes’ shall not include any 


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1 taxes to the extent the taxpayer is entitled to 

2 a special refund of such taxes under section 

3 6413(c). 

4 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE.—Any amounts paid 

5 pursuant to an agreement under section 3121(l) 

6 (relating to agreements entered into by Amer7 ican employers with respect to foreign affiliates) 

8 which are equivalent to the taxes referred to in 

9 subparagraph (A)(i) shall be treated as taxes 

10 referred to in such paragraph. 

11 ‘‘(e) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No credit shall 

12 be allowed under subsection (a) for any expense for which 

13 a deduction or credit is allowed under any other provision 

14 of this chapter. 

15 ‘‘(f) ELECTION NOT TO HAVE SECTION APPLY.—An 

16 individual may elect not to have this section apply with 

17 respect to the qualified evacuation expenses of the indi18 vidual for any taxable year.’’. 

19 (b) DEDUCTION FOR EVACUATION EXPENSES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Part VII of subchapter B of 

21 chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (re22 lating to additional itemized deductions for individ23 uals) is amended by redesignating section 224 as 

24 section 225 and by inserting after section 223 the 

25 following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 224. DEDUCTION FOR EVACUATION EXPENSES. 

2 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF DEDUCTION.—In the case of an 

3 individual, there shall be allowed as a deduction an 

4 amount equal to the qualified evacuation expenses paid or 

5 incurred by the individual during the taxable year. 

6 ‘‘(b) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—With respect to an indi7 vidual, the aggregate amount of qualified evacuation ex8 penses which may be taken into account under subsection 

9 (a) for all taxable years during the deduction allowance 

10 period shall not exceed $5,000. 

11 ‘‘(c) QUALIFIED EVACUATION EXPENSES.—For pur12 poses of this section— 

13 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified evacu14 ation expenses’ means, with respect to any taxable 

15 year during the deduction allowance period, the sum 

16 of all expenses paid or incurred by the individual 

17 during such taxable year by reason of a qualified 

18 evacuation. Such expenses shall include travel and 

19 lodging expenses as do not exceed $1,000, lost 

20 wages, and any property damage not compensated 

21 for by insurance or otherwise. 

22 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED EVACUATION.—With respect to 

23 an individual, the term ‘qualified evacuation’ means 

24 a voluntary or mandatory evacuation ordered by rea25 son of a qualified disaster (as defined in section 


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1 139(c)) of an area in which such individual resides 

2 on the date of such disaster. 

3 ‘‘(3) DEDUCTION ALLOWANCE PERIOD.—With 

4 respect to a qualified evacuation, the term ‘deduc5 tion allowance period’ means the taxable year or 

6 years during which the evacuation occurred and each 

7 of the 3 succeeding taxable years. 

8 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction 

9 shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any expense for 

10 which a deduction or credit is allowed under any other 

11 provision of this chapter. 

12 ‘‘(e) ELECTION NOT TO HAVE SECTION APPLY.—An 

13 individual may elect not to have this section apply with 

14 respect to the qualified evacuation expenses of the indi15 vidual for any taxable year.’’. 

16 (2) DEDUCTION ALLOWED WHETHER OR NOT

17 INDIVIDUAL ITEMIZES OTHER DEDUCTIONS.—Sub18 section (a) of section 62 of such Code is amended 

19 by inserting after paragraph (21) the following new 

20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(22) DEDUCTION FOR EVACUATION EX22 PENSES.—The deduction allowed by section 224.’’. 

23 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.— 

24 (1) The table of sections for subpart A of part 

25 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 


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1 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec2 tion 25D the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 25E. Evacuation expenses.’’. 

3 (2) The table of sections for part VII of sub4 chapter B of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 

5 striking the last item and inserting the following 

6 new items: 

‘‘Sec. 224. Deduction for evacuation expenses. 

‘‘Sec. 225. Cross reference.’’. 

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

8 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

9 December 31, 2007. 

Æ 


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