I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3812 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the determination 
of earned income for purposes of the earned income credit and the 
child tax credit for individuals in the Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane 
Irma disaster areas. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 21, 2017 
Mr. DOGGETT (for himself, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. GENE GREEN of 
Texas, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Mr. VELA, Mr. 
O’ROURKE, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. CASTRO of Texas, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE 
JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. VEASEY, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. FRANKEL of Flor-
ida, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, 
Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Ms. 
PLASKETT, Mr. SOTO, Mr. CRIST, Mr. LAWSON of Florida, Ms. CASTOR 
of Florida, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. DEUTCH, Mrs. MURPHY of 
Florida, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. 
DELAURO, Mr. NEAL, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. 
SA´NCHEZ, Ms. JUDY CHU of California, Ms. LEE, and Ms. DELBENE) 
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 modify 
the determination of earned income for purposes of the 
earned income credit and the child tax credit for individ-
uals in the Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma dis-
aster areas. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:38 Sep 25, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6652
E:\BILLS\H3812.IH
H3812
dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
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 ‘‘Hurricane Harvey and 
Hurricane Irma Working Family Tax Relief Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DETERMINATION OF EARNED INCOME FOR PUR-
POSES OF THE EARNED INCOME CREDIT AND 
THE CHILD TAX CREDIT FOR INDIVIDUALS IN 
THE HURRICANE HARVEY AND HURRICANE 
IRMA DISASTER AREAS. 
(a) EARNED INCOME CREDIT.—Section 32 of the In-
ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 
end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(n) SPECIAL RULE RELATING TO HURRICANE HAR-
VEY AND HURRICANE IRMA.—For purposes of this section 
and section 24(d)— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a qualified 
individual, if the earned income of the taxpayer for 
the taxable year which includes the applicable date 
is less than the earned income of the taxpayer for 
the preceding taxable year, the credit allowed under 
subsection (a) for the taxable year which includes 
the applicable date may, at the election of the tax-
payer, be determined by substituting— 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:38 Sep 25, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3812.IH
H3812
dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
‘‘(A) such earned income for the preceding 
taxable year, for 
‘‘(B) such earned income for the taxable 
year which includes the applicable date. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of 
this subsection, the term ‘qualified individual’ means 
any individual— 
‘‘(A) whose principal place of abode on the 
applicable date was located in the Hurricane 
Harvey disaster area or the Hurricane Irma 
disaster area and such individual was displaced 
from such principal place of abode by reason of 
the Hurricane Harvey federally declared dis-
aster or the Hurricane Irma federally declared 
disaster, respectively, or 
‘‘(B) who performed substantially all em-
ployment services in the disaster area and was 
so employed on the applicable date. 
‘‘(3) OTHER
DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of 
this subsection— 
‘‘(A) APPLICABLE DATE.—The term ‘appli-
cable date’ means— 
‘‘(i) August 25, 2017, with respect to 
Hurricane Harvey, and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:38 Sep 25, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3812.IH
H3812
dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
‘‘(ii) September 5, 2017, with respect 
to Hurricane Irma. 
‘‘(B) HURRICANE HARVEY FEDERALLY DE-
CLARED DISASTER.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘Hurri-
cane Harvey federally declared disaster’ 
means the disaster occurring by reason of 
Hurricane Harvey and determined by the 
President to warrant individual or indi-
vidual and public assistance from the Fed-
eral Government under the Robert T. Staf-
ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-
ance Act. 
‘‘(ii) HURRICANE
HARVEY
DISASTER 
AREA.—The term ‘Hurricane Harvey dis-
aster area’ means the area so determined 
to warrant such assistance. 
‘‘(C) HURRICANE
IRMA
FEDERALLY
DE-
CLARED DISASTER.— 
‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘Hurri-
cane Irma federally declared disaster’ 
means the disaster occurring by reason of 
Hurricane Irma and determined by the 
President to warrant individual or indi-
vidual and public assistance from the Fed-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:38 Sep 25, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3812.IH
H3812
dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
eral Government under the Robert T. Staf-
ford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assist-
ance Act. 
‘‘(ii) 
HURRICANE
IRMA
DISASTER 
AREA.—The term ‘Hurricane Irma disaster 
area’ means the area so determined to 
warrant such assistance. 
‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULES.— 
‘‘(A) APPLICATION TO JOINT RETURNS.— 
For purposes of paragraph (1), in the case of 
a joint return for a taxable year which includes 
the applicable date— 
‘‘(i) such paragraph shall apply if ei-
ther spouse is a qualified individual, and 
‘‘(ii) the earned income of the tax-
payer for the preceding taxable year shall 
be the sum of the earned income of each 
spouse for such preceding taxable year. 
‘‘(B) UNIFORM
APPLICATION
OF
ELEC-
TION.—Any election made under paragraph (1) 
shall apply with respect to both this section and 
section 24(d). 
‘‘(C) ERRORS TREATED AS MATHEMATICAL 
ERROR.—For purposes of section 6213, an in-
correct use on a return of earned income pursu-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:38 Sep 25, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3812.IH
H3812
dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS
ant to paragraph (1) shall be treated as a 
mathematical or clerical error. 
‘‘(D) NO EFFECT ON DETERMINATION OF 
GROSS INCOME, ETC.—Except as otherwise pro-
vided in this subsection, this title shall be ap-
plied without regard to any substitution under 
paragraph (1).’’. 
(b) CHILD TAX CREDIT.—Subsection (d) of section 
24 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULE RELATING TO HURRICANE 
HARVEY AND HURRICANE IRMA.—See section 32(n) 
for determination of earned income with respect to 
the Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Irma federally 
declared disasters.’’. 
(c) TREATMENT OF POSSESSIONS.— 
(1) PAYMENTS TO POSSESSIONS.— 
(A) MIRROR CODE POSSESSION.—The Sec-
retary of the Treasury shall pay to each posses-
sion of the United States with a mirror code 
tax system amounts equal to the loss to that 
possession by reason of the amendments made 
by this section. Such amounts shall be deter-
mined by the Secretary of the Treasury based 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
23:38 Sep 25, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3812.IH
H3812
dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with BILLS