I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3068
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide relief with respect 
to rent and mortgage payments for members of the reserve components 
who are called to active duty and to amend the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 to allow a refundable credit to lessors for payments foregone 
by reason of such relief. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2005
Mr. ROHRABACHER (for himself, Mr. MURTHA, and Mrs. MCCARTHY) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways 
and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, for 
a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to provide 
relief with respect to rent and mortgage payments for 
members of the reserve components who are called to 
active duty and to amend the Internal Revenue Code 
of 1986 to allow a refundable credit to lessors for pay-
ments foregone by reason of such relief.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. RELIEF WITH RESPECT TO RENT AND MORT-
GAGE 
PAYMENTS 
FOR 
RESERVE 
COMPO-
NENTS 
MEMBERS 
ORDERED 
TO 
ACTIVE 
DUTY. 
(a) RENT AND MORTGAGE RELIEF.—Title III of the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 531 et 
seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section: 
‘‘SEC. 309. RENT AND MORTGAGE RELIEF. 
‘‘(a) RENT.—A member of a reserve component who 
is ordered to report for military service for a period of 
more than 90 days and who on the date of such order 
is a lessee of real property that is occupied by the member 
or dependents of the member as the primary residence of 
the member or dependents shall not be required to pay 
rent under that lease for any period of such military serv-
ice during which the member is assigned to duty at a loca-
tion sufficiently distant from such property that the mem-
ber is unable to reside at such property. 
‘‘(b) MORTGAGES.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A member of a reserve 
component who is ordered to report for military 
service for a period of more than 90 days and who 
on the date of such order resides at real property 
that is occupied by the member or dependents of the 
member as the primary residence of the member or
dependents, is owned by the member, and is secured 
by a mortgage shall be not be required during the 
period of such military service to make any payment 
of principal or interest on the mortgage. Any pay-
ment not paid by reason of the preceding sentence 
shall be deferred and shall be appended, on a month-
for-month basis, to the end of the term of the mort-
gage, in the same amount as originally due. 
‘‘(2) MORTGAGE.—In this subsection, the term 
‘mortgage’ includes a trust deed or other security in 
the nature of a mortgage.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
in section 1(b) of such Act is amended by inserting after 
the item relating to section 308 the following new item:
‘‘Sec. 309. Rent and mortgage relief.’’.
(c) 
EFFECTIVE
DATE.—Section 
309 
of 
the 
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, as added by subsection 
(a), shall apply with respect to obligations to make lease 
payments or mortgage payments that become due on or 
after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 2. REFUNDABLE TAX CREDIT FOR LESSORS WITH RE-
SPECT TO RENT RELIEF FOR RESERVE COM-
PONENTS MEMBERS ORDERED TO ACTIVE 
DUTY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by redes-
ignating section 36 as section 37 and by inserting after 
section 35 the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 36. CREDIT FOR LESSORS WITH RESPECT TO RENT 
RELIEF FOR RESERVE COMPONENTS MEM-
BERS ORDERED TO ACTIVE DUTY. 
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—In the case of a lessor, there 
shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by 
this chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to the 
reserve component rent relief credit. 
‘‘(b) LIMITATION BASED ON PREVIOUS RENT.—For 
purposes of this section—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a property 
which was rented for the entire preceding taxable 
year, the amount taken into account under this sec-
tion as rent not received with respect to such prop-
erty shall not exceed the amount for which such 
property was rented for the preceding taxable year. 
‘‘(2) PROPERTY RENTED FOR LESS THAN FULL 
YEAR.—In the case of a property which was rented 
for less than the entire preceding taxable year, the 
amount taken into account under this section as 
rent not received with respect to such property shall 
not exceed the amount for which such property was 
rented for the preceding taxable year, annualized
under such methods as the Secretary may prescribe 
by regulation. 
‘‘(3) PROPERTY
NOT
RENTED
DURING
PRE-
CEDING YEAR.—This subsection shall not apply in 
the case of a property which was not rented during 
the preceding taxable year. 
‘‘(c) RESERVE COMPONENT RENT RELIEF CRED-
IT.—For purposes of subsection (a), the reserve compo-
nent rent relief credit for a taxable year is the aggregate 
amount of rent not received on leases held by the taxpayer 
by reason of section 309(a) of the Servicemembers Civil 
Relief Act. 
‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction 
shall be allowed under this chapter with respect to 
amounts taken into account in determining the credit al-
lowed under this section. 
‘‘(e) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall issue such 
regulations as may be necessary or appropriate to carry 
out this section.’’. 
(b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Paragraph (2) of 
section 1324(b) of title 31, United States Code, is amend-
ed by inserting ‘‘or from section 36 of such Code’’ before 
the period at the end. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by re-
designating the item relating to section 36 as an item re-
lating to section 37 and by inserting after the item relat-
ing to section 35 the following new item:
‘‘Sec. 36. Credit for lessors with respect to rent relief for reserve components 
members ordered to active duty.’’.
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 
the date of the enactment of this Act.
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