I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2953 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow penalty-free 
withdrawals from retirement plans for domestic abuse victims. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 4, 2021 
Mrs. MCBATH (for herself, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, and Mr. SMUCKER) in-
troduced 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 pen-
alty-free withdrawals from retirement plans for domestic 
abuse victims. 
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 ‘‘Savings Access For 
Escaping and Rebuilding Act of 2021’’ or the ‘‘SAFER 
Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. PENALTY-FREE WITHDRAWALS FROM RETIREMENT 
PLANS FOR INDIVIDUALS IN CASE OF DOMES-
TIC ABUSE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 72(t)(2) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subparagraph: 
‘‘(I) DISTRIBUTIONS
FROM
RETIREMENT 
PLAN IN CASE OF DOMESTIC ABUSE.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Any eligible dis-
tribution to a domestic abuse victim. 
‘‘(ii) 
LIMITATION.—The 
aggregate 
amount which may be treated as an eligi-
ble distribution to a domestic abuse victim 
by any individual shall not exceed an 
amount equal to the lesser of— 
‘‘(I) $10,000, or 
‘‘(II) 50 percent of the present 
value of the nonforfeitable accrued 
benefit of the employee under the 
plan. 
‘‘(iii) ELIGIBLE DISTRIBUTION TO A 
DOMESTIC
ABUSE
VICTIM.—For purposes 
of this subparagraph— 
‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—A distribu-
tion shall be treated as an eligible dis-
tribution to a domestic abuse victim if 
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such distribution is from an applicable 
eligible retirement plan to an indi-
vidual and made during the 1-year pe-
riod beginning on the date on which 
the individual is a victim of domestic 
abuse by a spouse or domestic part-
ner. 
‘‘(II) DOMESTIC
ABUSE.—The 
term ‘domestic abuse’ means physical, 
psychological, sexual, emotional, or 
economic abuse, including efforts to 
control, isolate, humiliate, or intimi-
date the victim, or to undermine the 
victim’s ability to reason independ-
ently, including by means of abuse of 
the victim’s child or another family 
member living in the household. 
‘‘(iv) AMOUNT DISTRIBUTED MAY BE 
REPAID.— 
‘‘(I) IN
GENERAL.—Any indi-
vidual who receives a distribution de-
scribed in clause (i) may, at any time 
during the 3-year period beginning on 
the day after the date on which such 
distribution was received, make one or 
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more contributions in an aggregate 
amount not to exceed the amount of 
such distribution to an applicable eli-
gible retirement plan of which such 
individual is a beneficiary and to 
which a rollover contribution of such 
distribution could be made under sec-
tion 402(c), 403(a)(4), 403(b)(8), 
408(d)(3), or 457(e)(16), as the case 
may be. 
‘‘(II) LIMITATION ON CONTRIBU-
TIONS TO APPLICABLE ELIGIBLE RE-
TIREMENT
PLANS
OTHER
THAN 
IRAs.—The aggregate amount of con-
tributions made by an individual 
under subclause (I) to any applicable 
eligible retirement plan which is not 
an individual retirement plan shall not 
exceed the aggregate amount of eligi-
ble distributions to a domestic abuse 
victim which are made from such plan 
to such individual. Subclause (I) shall 
not apply to contributions to any ap-
plicable eligible retirement plan which 
is not an individual retirement plan 
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