I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1629 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide penalty free distribu-
tions and loans from certain retirement plans for the purchase and 
refinancing of principal residences. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 19, 2009 
Mr. MCCOTTER (for himself and Mr. MARCHANT) 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 provide 
penalty free distributions and loans from certain retire-
ment plans for the purchase and refinancing of principal 
residences. 
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 ‘‘Helping Americans 
Keep Their Homes Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. MODIFICATION OF WAIVER OF TAX ON EARLY DIS-
TRIBUTIONS FROM CERTAIN RETIREMENT 
PLANS FOR PURCHASE OF PRINCIPAL RESI-
DENCE. 
(a) INCREASE IN DOLLAR LIMITATION.—Clause (i) 
of section 72(t)(8)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by striking ‘‘$10,000’’ and inserting 
‘‘$15,000’’. 
(b) TEMPORARY WAIVER
OF FIRST-TIME HOME-
BUYER REQUIREMENT.—Subparagraph (D) of section 
72(t)(8) of such Code is amended by adding at the end 
the following new clause: 
‘‘(iv) TEMPORARY WAIVER OF FIRST- 
TIME HOMEBUYER REQUIREMENT.—In the 
case of distributions made before January 
1, 2011, all individuals shall be treated as 
first-time homebuyers.’’. 
(c) EXPANSION OF PENALTY WAIVER TO ALL QUALI-
FIED RETIREMENT PLANS.—Subparagraph (F) of section 
72(t)(2) of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘from an 
individual retirement plan’’ and inserting ‘‘from a quali-
fied retirement plan (as defined in section 4974(c))’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to distributions made after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 3. LOANS FROM INDIVIDUAL RETIREMENT PLANS FOR 
REFINANCING OF A PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (e) of section 408 of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to tax treat-
ment of accounts and annuities) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(7) EXCEPTION FOR LOANS FROM INDIVIDUAL 
RETIREMENT
PLANS
FOR
QUALIFIED
PRINCIPAL 
RESIDENCE REFINANCING.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Paragraphs (2) and 
(3) of this subsection and section 4975 shall 
not apply with respect to any qualified principal 
residence refinancing loan from an individual 
retirement plan to the individual for whose ben-
efit the plan is maintained to the extent that 
such loan (when added to the outstanding bal-
ance of all other such loans) does not exceed 
$5,000 reduced by the excess (if any) of— 
‘‘(i) the highest outstanding balance 
of such loans during the 1-year period end-
ing on the day before the date on which 
such loan was made, over 
‘‘(ii) the outstanding balance of such 
loans on the date on which such loan was 
made. 
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‘‘(B) QUALIFIED
PRINCIPAL
RESIDENCE 
REFINANCING
LOAN.—For purposes of this 
paragraph, the term ‘qualified principal resi-
dence refinancing loan’ means a loan the pro-
ceeds of which are used by the individual for 
whose benefit the individual retirement plan is 
established to pay costs associated with the refi-
nancing of indebtedness which is secured by the 
principal residence (within the meaning of sec-
tion 121) of the taxpayer (including payment of 
such indebtedness if such payment is in connec-
tion with the refinancing of the remaining in-
debtedness). 
‘‘(C) REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO LOAN 
REPAYMENTS.— 
‘‘(i) REQUIREMENT
THAT
LOAN
BE 
REPAID WITHIN 5 YEARS.—Paragraph (1) 
shall not apply to any loan unless such 
loan is required, by its terms, to be repaid 
within 5 years. 
‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT OF LEVEL AMOR-
TIZATION.—Rules similar to the rules of 
section 72(p)(2)(C) shall apply for pur-
poses of this subsection. 
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‘‘(iii) FAILURE TO REPAY TREATED AS 
DISTRIBUTION.—A qualified principal resi-
dence refinancing loan shall not be treated 
as a distribution from the individual retire-
ment plan except that any repayment of a 
qualified principal residence refinancing 
loan which is not made on the date that 
such payment is due shall be treated as a 
distribution from the individual retirement 
plan on such date. 
‘‘(D) TERMINATION.—Subparagraph (A) 
shall not apply to any loan made after Decem-
ber 31, 2010.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to loans made after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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