I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5130
To allow a custodial parent a bad debt deduction for unpaid child support
payments, and to require a parent who is chronically delinquent in
child support to include the amount of the unpaid obligation in gross
income.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JULY 16, 2002
Mr. COX (for himself, Mr. FOLEY, Ms. HART, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. FILNER,
Mr. DREIER, Mr. SHADEGG, Mr. SCHAFFER, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. MCKEON,
Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. OWENS, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr.
GRAHAM, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. OSE, Mr. SANDERS,
Mr. BARR of Georgia, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. BURTON of Indiana,
Mr. CALVERT, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. HORN, Mr. ISSA, Mr. GARY G. MIL-
LER
of California, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. PENCE, Mr. PITTS, Mr.
PASCRELL, Mr. POMBO, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Mr. ROYCE, Mr.
TANCREDO, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. WALDEN, Mr. GILLMOR, Mr. DUNCAN, Mr.
TRAFICANT, 
Mr. 
FOSSELLA, 
Ms. 
MILLENDER-MCDONALD, 
Mr.
GILCHREST, and Mrs. MORELLA) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
A BILL
To allow a custodial parent a bad debt deduction for unpaid
child support payments, and to require a parent who
is chronically delinquent in child support to include the
amount of the unpaid obligation in gross income.
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 ‘‘Child Support Enforce-
ment Act’’.
SEC. 2. NO EFFECT ON RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES.
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect—
(1) the right of an individual or State to receive
any child support payment; or
(2) the obligation of an individual to pay child
support.
SEC. 3. ALLOWANCE OF BAD DEBT DEDUCTION FOR UN-
PAID CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 166 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to deduction for bad debts)
is amended by redesignating subsection (f) as subsection
(g) and by inserting after subsection (e) the following new
subsection:
‘‘(f) UNPAID CHILD SUPPORT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a custodial
parent who, as of the close of the taxable year, is
owed child support, the amount of unpaid child sup-
port shall be deemed a canceled debt as of such
date, and shall be allowed as a deduction for such
taxable year.
‘‘(2) PRESUMPTION
OF
WORTHLESSNESS.—
Subsection (a) (relating to worthless debts) shall not
apply to child support.
‘‘(3) SUBSEQUENT PAYMENTS.—If any unpaid
child support with respect to which a deduction was
allowed under paragraph (1) is subsequently paid to
the custodial parent, the amount of such payment
shall not be included in the gross income of the cus-
todial parent, nor shall it be allowed as a deduction
to the delinquent debtor. The delinquent debtor shall
be neither required nor allowed to file an amended
return in any subsequent year to reflect the subse-
quent payment of unpaid child support.
‘‘(4) FULL
DEDUCTION
FROM
ORDINARY
IN-
COME.—Subsection (d) (relating to the treatment of
nonbusiness bad debt as a loss from the sale or ex-
change of a capital asset) shall not apply to the de-
ductibility of unpaid child support.
‘‘(5) TAX RETURNS.—A custodial parent who
wishes to deduct the amount of unpaid child support
shall include on the return claiming the deduction
the name and taxpayer identification number of each
child with respect to whom child support payments
to which this subsection applies are required to be
paid.
‘‘(6) INFORMATION RETURNS.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A custodial parent
who wishes to deduct the amount of unpaid
child support shall complete Form 1099–CS (or
such other form as the Secretary may pre-
scribe) and provide such form to the Secretary,
and (if the address is known) to the delinquent
debtor, within 45 days following the close of the
taxable year for which the deduction is claimed.
Failure to so file such form with the Secretary
(or, if the address is known, with the delinquent
debtor) shall result in disallowance of the de-
duction for the taxable year.
‘‘(B) CONTENTS
OF
FORM.—The Form
1099–CS (or such other form as the Secretary
may prescribe) shall contain—
‘‘(i) the total amount of child support
owed (whether or not paid) for such tax-
able year,
‘‘(ii) the total amount of unpaid child
support as of the last day of such taxable
year,
‘‘(iii) the name, address (if known),
and taxpayer identification number of the
delinquent debtor, and
‘‘(iv) notice that the delinquent debtor
is required to include such total amount of
unpaid child support in gross income for
the delinquent debtor’s taxable year which
includes the last day of the custodial par-
ent’s taxable year.
‘‘(C) DEBTOR’S
ADDRESS
UNKNOWN.—If
the delinquent debtor’s address is not known to
the custodial parent, the Form 1099–CS (or
such other form as the Secretary may pre-
scribe) shall indicate that fact. In such a case,
the Secretary may send such notice if the ad-
dress is available to the Secretary, and the no-
tice from the custodial parent to the delinquent
debtor under subparagraph (A) shall not be re-
quired.
‘‘(7) DETERMINATION
OF
WHETHER
CHILD
SUPPORT IS PAID.—
‘‘(A) CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT OF-
FICE RECORDS AS CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF
PAYMENT.—Child support shall be treated as
paid if such payment is recorded by the State
office of child support enforcement in which the
custodial parent is registered.
‘‘(B) TIMELY
MAILING
AS
TIMELY
PAY-
MENT.—A payment received by the State office
of child support enforcement in which the cus-
todial parent is registered after the last day of
the custodial parent’s taxable year shall be
treated for the purpose of this subsection as
paid on such day if the postmark date falls on
or before such day. The rules of section 7502(f)
and regulations issued thereunder shall apply
for purposes of this subparagraph.
‘‘(8) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this
subsection—
‘‘(A) CHILD
SUPPORT.—The term ‘child
support’ means—
‘‘(i) any periodic payment of a fixed
amount, or
‘‘(ii) any payment of a medical edu-
cation expense, insurance premium, or
other similar item,
which is required to be paid to a custodial par-
ent by an individual under a support instru-
ment for the support of any qualifying child of
such individual. ‘Child support’ does not include
any amount which is described in section
408(a)(3) of the Social Security Act and which
has been assigned to a State.
‘‘(B) CUSTODIAL PARENT.—The term ‘cus-
todial parent’ means an individual who is enti-
tled to receive child support and who has reg-
istered with the appropriate State office of child
support enforcement charged with implementing
section 454 of the Social Security Act.
‘‘(C) DELINQUENT
DEBTOR.—The term
‘delinquent debtor’ means a taxpayer who owes
unpaid child support to a custodial parent.
‘‘(D) 
QUALIFYING
CHILD.—The 
term
‘qualifying child’ means a child of a custodial
parent with respect to whom a dependent de-
duction is allowable under section 151 for the
taxable year (or would be so allowable but for
paragraph (2) or (4) of section 152(e)).
‘‘(E) SUPPORT
INSTRUMENT.—The term
‘support instrument’ means—
‘‘(i) a decree of divorce or separate
maintenance or a written instrument inci-
dent to such a decree,
‘‘(ii) a written separation agreement,
or
‘‘(iii) a decree (not described in clause
(i)) of a court or administrative agency re-
quiring a parent to make payments for the
support or maintenance of 1 or more chil-
dren of such parent.
‘‘(F) UNPAID CHILD SUPPORT.—The term
‘unpaid child support’ means child support that
is payable for months during a custodial par-
ent’s taxable year and unpaid as of the last day
of such taxable year, provided that such unpaid
amount as of such day equals or exceeds one-
half of the total amount of child support due to
the custodial parent for such year.’’.
(b) DEDUCTION FOR NONITEMIZERS.—Section 62(a)
of such Code is amended by inserting after paragraph (18)
the following new paragraph:
‘‘(19) UNPAID
CHILD
SUPPORT
PAYMENTS.—
The deduction allowed by section 166(f).’’
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 166(d)(2)
of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of
subparagraph (A), by striking the period at the end of
the subparagraph (B) and by inserting ‘‘, or’’ and by add-
ing at the end the following new subparagraph:
‘‘(C) a debt which constitutes unpaid child
support payment under subsection (f).’’
SEC. 4. INCLUSION IN INCOME OF AMOUNT OF UNPAID
CHILD SUPPORT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 108 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to discharge of indebtedness