I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 990 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow individuals to avoid 
a penalty for failure to pay income tax by timely paying 125 percent 
of the income tax liability for the prior year. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 5, 2025 
Ms. CHU (for herself and Mr. CAREY) 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 indi-
viduals to avoid a penalty for failure to pay income 
tax by timely paying 125 percent of the income tax 
liability for the prior year. 
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 ‘‘Simplify Automatic 
Filing Extensions Act’’ or the ‘‘SAFE Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. NO PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO PAY INCOME TAX 
FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO TIMELY PAY 125 PER-
CENT OF INCOME TAX LIABILITY FOR PRIOR 
YEAR. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6651(c) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(3) NO PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO PAY IN-
COME TAX FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO TIMELY PAY 125 
PERCENT
OF
INCOME
TAX
LIABILITY
FOR
PRIOR 
YEAR.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Subsection (a)(2) 
shall not apply with respect to an income tax 
return of an individual if such individual pays, 
on or before the date prescribed for the pay-
ment of the tax with respect to which such re-
turn relates (determined with regard to any ex-
tension of time for payment), 125 percent of 
the amount of tax required to be shown on the 
income tax return of such individual for the im-
mediately preceding taxable year. 
‘‘(B) FAILURE TO FILE; SHORT TAXABLE 
YEARS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not apply— 
‘‘(i) if the individual does not file an 
income tax return for the taxable year de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) on or before 
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the date prescribed therefor (determined 
with regard to any extension of time for 
filing), 
‘‘(ii) if the individual did not file an 
income tax return for the immediately pre-
ceding taxable year referred to in subpara-
graph (A), or 
‘‘(iii) if the immediately preceding 
taxable year referred to in subparagraph 
(A) was less than 12 months. 
‘‘(C) JOINT RETURNS.—In the case of a 
joint return, if the taxpayer did not file a joint 
return for the immediately preceding taxable 
year referred to in subparagraph (A), the 
amounts required to be shown on the income 
tax returns of both spouses for such imme-
diately preceding taxable year shall be taken 
into account under subparagraph (A). Except 
as otherwise provided by the Secretary, if the 
individual does not file a joint return for the 
taxable year to which subparagraph (A) applies 
and filed a joint return for the immediately pre-
ceding taxable year, the entire amount of tax 
required to be shown on such joint return shall 
be taken into account under subparagraph (A). 
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‘‘(D) EXCEPTION
NOT
APPLICABLE
UN-
LESS ADDITIONAL PAYMENTS ARE MADE WITH 
TIMELY
FILED
RETURN.—Subparagraph (A) 
shall not apply with respect to any period be-
ginning after the earlier of— 
‘‘(i) the date prescribed for filing the 
income tax return for the taxable year (in-
cluding extensions thereof), or 
‘‘(ii) the date on which such return 
was filed.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading of sec-
tion 6651(c) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘RULE’’ 
and inserting ‘‘RULES’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 
December 31, 2024. 
Æ 
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