I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5225 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude qualified wildfire 
relief payments from gross income, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 9, 2025 
Mr. LAMALFA (for himself, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, 
Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. BENTZ, Ms. BYNUM, and Mr. MOORE of Utah) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 
and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude 
qualified wildfire relief payments from gross income, and 
for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Protect Innocent Vic-
tims of Taxation After Fire Extension Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME FOR COMPENSA-
TION FOR LOSSES OR DAMAGES RESULTING 
FROM WILDFIRES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part III of subchapter B of chap-
ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 
by inserting after section 139L the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 139M. COMPENSATION FOR LOSSES OR DAMAGES RE-
SULTING FROM WILDFIRES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Gross income shall not include 
any amount received by an individual as a qualified wild-
fire relief payment. 
‘‘(b) QUALIFIED WILDFIRE RELIEF PAYMENT.—For 
purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified wildfire 
relief payment’ means any amount received by or on 
behalf of an individual as compensation for losses, 
expenses, or damages (including compensation for 
additional living expenses, lost wages (other than 
compensation for lost wages paid by the employer 
which would have otherwise paid such wages), per-
sonal injury, death, or emotional distress) incurred 
as a result of a qualified wildfire disaster, but only 
to the extent the losses, expenses, or damages com-
pensated by such payment are not compensated for 
by insurance or otherwise. 
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‘‘(2) QUALIFIED
WILDFIRE
DISASTER.—The 
term ‘qualified wildfire disaster’ means any federally 
declared disaster (as defined in section 165(i)(5)(A)) 
declared, after December 31, 2014, as a result of 
any forest or range fire. 
‘‘(c) DENIAL
OF
DOUBLE
BENEFIT.—Notwith-
standing any other provision of this subtitle— 
‘‘(1) no deduction or credit shall be allowed (to 
the individual for whose benefit a qualified wildfire 
relief payment is made) for, or by reason of, any ex-
penditure to the extent of the amount excluded 
under this section with respect to such expenditure, 
and 
‘‘(2) no increase in the basis or adjusted basis 
of any property shall result from any amount ex-
cluded under this section with respect to such prop-
erty. 
‘‘(d) TERMINATION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply 
to amounts received after December 31, 2032.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code 
is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 
139L the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 139M. Compensation for losses or damages resulting from wildfires.’’. 
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(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to amounts received after Decem-
ber 31, 2025. 
Æ 
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