I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 262
To allow a custodial parent a bad debt deduction for unpaid child support 
payments, and to require a parent who is chronically delinquent in 
child support to include the amount of the unpaid obligation in gross 
income. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 8, 2003
Mr. COX (for himself, Mr. FOLEY, Ms. HART, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. FILNER, 
Mr. DREIER, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. SENSEN-
BRENNER, 
Mr. 
OWENS, Mr. WILSON
of South Carolina, Mr. 
CUNNINGHAM, Mr. OSE, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 
Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. ISSA, Mr. 
GARY G. MILLER of California, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. PENCE, Mr. PITTS, 
Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. POMBO, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. ROYCE, Mr. 
TANCREDO, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. WALDEN of Oregon, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. 
DUNCAN, Mr. FOSSELLA, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. GILCHREST, 
Mr. WEXLER, Mr. VISCLOSKY, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. PLATTS, Mr. 
DOYLE, Mr. EVANS, Mr. KENNEDY of Minnesota, Mr. JONES of North 
Carolina, Mr. KNOLLENBERG, Mr. KING of New York, and Mr. QUINN) 
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To allow a custodial parent a bad debt deduction for unpaid 
child support payments, and to require a parent who 
is chronically delinquent in child support to include the 
amount of the unpaid obligation in gross income.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Child Support Enforce-
ment Act’’. 
SEC. 2. NO EFFECT ON RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect—
(1) the right of an individual or State to receive 
any child support payment; or 
(2) the obligation of an individual to pay child 
support. 
SEC. 3. ALLOWANCE OF BAD DEBT DEDUCTION FOR UN-
PAID CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 166 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to deduction for bad debts) 
is amended by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection 
(g) and by inserting after subsection (e) the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(f) UNPAID CHILD SUPPORT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a custodial 
parent who, as of the close of the taxable year, is 
owed child support, the amount of unpaid child sup-
port shall be deemed a canceled debt as of such 
date, and shall be allowed as a deduction for such 
taxable year. 
‘‘(2) PRESUMPTION
OF
WORTHLESSNESS.—
Subsection (a) (relating to worthless debts) shall not 
apply to child support.
‘‘(3) SUBSEQUENT PAYMENTS.—If any unpaid 
child support with respect to which a deduction was 
allowed under paragraph (1) is subsequently paid to 
the custodial parent, the amount of such payment 
shall not be included in the gross income of the cus-
todial parent, nor shall it be allowed as a deduction 
to the delinquent debtor. The delinquent debtor shall 
be neither required nor allowed to file an amended 
return in any subsequent year to reflect the subse-
quent payment of unpaid child support. 
‘‘(4) FULL
DEDUCTION
FROM
ORDINARY
IN-
COME.—Subsection (d) (relating to the treatment of 
nonbusiness bad debt as a loss from the sale or ex-
change of a capital asset) shall not apply to the de-
ductibility of unpaid child support. 
‘‘(5) TAX RETURNS.—A custodial parent who 
wishes to deduct the amount of unpaid child support 
shall include on the return claiming the deduction 
the name and taxpayer identification number of each 
child with respect to whom child support payments 
to which this subsection applies are required to be 
paid. 
‘‘(6) INFORMATION RETURNS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A custodial parent 
who wishes to deduct the amount of unpaid
child support shall complete Form 1099–CS (or 
such other form as the Secretary may pre-
scribe) and provide such form to the Secretary, 
and (if the address is known) to the delinquent 
debtor, within 45 days following the close of the 
taxable year for which the deduction is claimed. 
Failure to so file such form with the Secretary 
(or, if the address is known, with the delinquent 
debtor) shall result in disallowance of the de-
duction for the taxable year. 
‘‘(B) CONTENTS
OF
FORM.—The Form 
1099–CS (or such other form as the Secretary 
may prescribe) shall contain—
‘‘(i) the total amount of child support 
owed (whether or not paid) for such tax-
able year, 
‘‘(ii) the total amount of unpaid child 
support as of the last day of such taxable 
year, 
‘‘(iii) the name, address (if known), 
and taxpayer identification number of the 
delinquent debtor, and
‘‘(iv) notice that the delinquent debtor 
is required to include such total amount of 
unpaid child support in gross income for
the delinquent debtor’s taxable year which 
includes the last day of the custodial par-
ent’s taxable year. 
‘‘(C) DEBTOR’S
ADDRESS
UNKNOWN.—If 
the delinquent debtor’s address is not known to 
the custodial parent, the Form 1099–CS (or 
such other form as the Secretary may pre-
scribe) shall indicate that fact. In such a case, 
the Secretary may send such notice if the ad-
dress is available to the Secretary, and the no-
tice from the custodial parent to the delinquent 
debtor under subparagraph (A) shall not be re-
quired. 
‘‘(7) DETERMINATION
OF
WHETHER
CHILD 
SUPPORT IS PAID.—
‘‘(A) CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT OF-
FICE RECORDS AS CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF 
PAYMENT.—Child support shall be treated as 
paid if such payment is recorded by the State 
office of child support enforcement in which the 
custodial parent is registered. 
‘‘(B) TIMELY
MAILING
AS
TIMELY
PAY-
MENT.—A payment received by the State office 
of child support enforcement in which the cus-
todial parent is registered after the last day of
the custodial parent’s taxable year shall be 
treated for the purpose of this subsection as 
paid on such day if the postmark date falls on 
or before such day. The rules of section 7502(f) 
and regulations issued thereunder shall apply 
for purposes of this subparagraph. 
‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this 
subsection—
‘‘(A) CHILD
SUPPORT.—The term ‘child 
support’ means—
‘‘(i) any periodic payment of a fixed 
amount, or 
‘‘(ii) any payment of a medical edu-
cation expense, insurance premium, or 
other similar item, 
which is required to be paid to a custodial par-
ent by an individual under a support instru-
ment for the support of any qualifying child of 
such individual. ‘Child support’ does not include 
any amount which is described in section 
408(a)(3) of the Social Security Act and which 
has been assigned to a State. 
‘‘(B) CUSTODIAL PARENT.—The term ‘cus-
todial parent’ means an individual who is enti-
tled to receive child support and who has reg-
istered with the appropriate State office of child 
support enforcement charged with implementing 
section 454 of the Social Security Act. 
‘‘(C) DELINQUENT
DEBTOR.—The term 
‘delinquent debtor’ means a taxpayer who owes 
unpaid child support to a custodial parent. 
‘‘(D) 
QUALIFYING
CHILD.—The 
term 
‘qualifying child’ means a child of a custodial 
parent with respect to whom a dependent de-
duction is allowable under section 151 for the 
taxable year (or would be so allowable but for 
paragraph (2) or (4) of section 152(e)). 
‘‘(E) SUPPORT
INSTRUMENT.—The term 
‘support instrument’ means—
‘‘(i) a decree of divorce or separate 
maintenance or a written instrument inci-
dent to such a decree, 
‘‘(ii) a written separation agreement, 
or 
‘‘(iii) a decree (not described in clause 
(i)) of a court or administrative agency re-
quiring a parent to make payments for the 
support or maintenance of 1 or more chil-
dren of such parent.
‘‘(F) UNPAID CHILD SUPPORT.—The term 
‘unpaid child support’ means child support that 
is payable for months during a custodial par-
ent’s taxable year and unpaid as of the last day 
of such taxable year, provided that such unpaid 
amount as of such day equals or exceeds one-
half of the total amount of child support due to 
the custodial parent for such year.’’
(b) DEDUCTION FOR NONITEMIZERS.—Section 62(a) 
of such Code is amended by inserting after paragraph (18) 
the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(19) UNPAID
CHILD
SUPPORT
PAYMENTS.—
The deduction allowed by section 166(f).’’
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 166(d)(2) 
of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of 
subparagraph (A), by striking the period at the end of 
the subparagraph (B) and by inserting ‘‘, or’’ and by add-
ing at the end the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(C) a debt which constitutes unpaid child 
support payment under subsection (f).’’
SEC. 4. INCLUSION IN INCOME OF AMOUNT OF UNPAID 
CHILD SUPPORT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 108 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to discharge of indebtedness
income) is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(h) UNPAID CHILD SUPPORT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this chap-
ter, any unpaid child support of a delinquent debtor 
for any taxable year shall be treated as amounts in-
cludible in gross income of the delinquent debtor for 
the taxable year. 
‘‘(2) DETERMINATION
OF
WHETHER
CHILD 
SUPPORT IS UNPAID.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Child support shall be 
treated as paid if such payment is recorded by 
the State office of child support enforcement in 
which the custodial parent is registered. 
‘‘(B) TIMELY
MAILING
AS
TIMELY
PAY-
MENT.—A payment received by the State office 
of child support enforcement in which the cus-
todial parent is registered after the last day of 
the custodial parent’s taxable year shall be 
treated for the purpose of this subsection as 
paid on such day if the postmark date falls on 
or before such day. The rules of section 7502(f) 
and regulations issued thereunder shall apply 
for purposes of this subparagraph.
‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this 
subsection—
‘‘(A) CHILD
SUPPORT.—The term ‘child 
support’ means—
‘‘(i) any periodic payment of a fixed 
amount, or 
‘‘(ii) any payment of a medical edu-
cation expense, insurance premium, or 
other similar item, 
which is required to be paid to a custodial par-
ent by an individual under a support instru-
ment for the support of any qualifying child of 
such individual. ‘Child support’ does not include 
any amount which is described in section 
408(a)(3) of the Social Security Act and which 
has been assigned to a State. 
‘‘(B) CUSTODIAL PARENT.—The term ‘cus-
todial parent’ means an individual who is enti-
tled to receive child support and who has reg-
istered with the appropriate State office of child 
support enforcement charged with implementing 
section 454 of the Social Security Act. 
‘‘(C) DELINQUENT
DEBTOR.—The term 
‘delinquent debtor’ means a taxpayer who owes 
unpaid child support to a custodial parent.
‘‘(D) 
QUALIFYING
CHILD.—The 
term 
‘qualifying child’ means a child of a custodial 
parent with respect to whom a dependent de-
duction is allowable under section 151 for the 
taxable year (or would be so allowable but for 
paragraph (2) or (4) of section 152(e)). 
‘‘(E) SUPPORT
INSTRUMENT.—The term 
‘support instrument’ means—
‘‘(i) a decree of divorce or separate 
maintenance or a written instrument inci-
dent to such a decree, 
‘‘(ii) a written separation agreement, 
or 
‘‘(iii) a decree (not described in clause 
(i)) of a court or administrative agency re-
quiring a parent to make payments for the 
support or maintenance of 1 or more chil-
dren of such parent. 
‘‘(F) UNPAID CHILD SUPPORT.—The term 
‘unpaid child support’ means child support that 
is payable for months during a custodial par-
ent’s taxable year and unpaid as of the last day 
of such taxable year, provided that such unpaid 
amount as of such day equals or exceeds one-
half of the total amount of child support due to 
the custodial parent for such year. 
‘‘(4) COORDINATION
WITH
OTHER
LAWS.—
Amounts treated as income by paragraph (1) shall 
not be treated as income by reason of paragraph (1) 
for the purposes of any provision of law which is not 
an internal revenue law.’’
SEC. 5. TAXPAYER INFORMATION REGARDING CHILD SUP-
PORT NOT BASIS FOR AUDIT. 
A discrepancy between the tax returns of a custodial 
parent and a delinquent debtor concerning whether a pay-
ment of child support has been made may not be used 
or relied upon by the Internal Revenue Service in any way 
in selecting an individual’s tax return for a general audit. 
SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE; IMPLEMENTATION. 
(a) The amendments made by the Act shall apply to 
taxable years beginning after December 31, 2002. The 
Secretary of the Treasury shall publish Form 1099–CS 
(or such other form that may be prescribed to comply with 
section 3(a)(6) of this Act) regulations, if any, that may 
be deemed necessary to carry out the purposes of this Act, 
not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act.
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