I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3708 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income 
the earned income of a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces 
of the United States serving in a combat zone. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 1, 2009 
Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey 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 exclude 
from gross income the earned income of a spouse of 
a member of the Armed Forces of the United States 
serving in a combat zone. 
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 ‘‘Strengthening Amer-
ica’s Military Families Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME FOR EARNED IN-
COME OF A SPOUSE OF A MEMBER OF THE 
ARMED FORCES SERVING IN A COMBAT 
ZONE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 112 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to certain combat zone com-
pensation of members of the Armed Forces) is amended 
by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) 
and (e), respectively, and by inserting after subsection (b) 
the following new subsection: 
‘‘(c) SPOUSES
OF
MEMBERS
OF
THE
ARMED 
FORCES.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an individual 
who is the spouse of a member of the Armed Forces 
of the United States during any part of any month 
during the taxable year, gross income does not in-
clude the earned income of such individual for such 
month if the compensation of such member was ex-
cluded from gross income for such month by reason 
of subsection (a), (b), or (e). 
‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—The amount excluded under 
paragraph (1) for any month shall not exceed the 
maximum amount specified in subsection (b) for 
such month. 
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‘‘(3) EARNED INCOME.—For purposes of para-
graph (1), the term ‘earned income’ has the meaning 
given such term by section 911(d)(2). 
‘‘(4) MARITAL STATUS.—For purposes of this 
subsection, marital status shall be determined under 
section 7703, except that subsection (a)(1) thereof 
shall be applied on a monthly basis instead of an 
taxable year basis.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) The heading for section 112 of such Code 
is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 112. CERTAIN COMBAT ZONE-RELATED COMPENSA-
TION OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.’’. 
(2) The item relating to section 112 in the table 
of sections for part III of subchapter B of chapter 
1 of such Code is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘Sec. 112. Certain combat zone-related compensation of members of the Armed 
Forces.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 
December 31, 2008. 
Æ 
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