I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2491 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income 
any enlistment, accession, reenlistment, retention, or incentive bonus 
paid to a member of the Armed Forces. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 19, 2009 
Mr. KING of New York 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 exclude 
from gross income any enlistment, accession, reenlist-
ment, retention, or incentive bonus paid to a member 
of the Armed Forces. 
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 ‘‘Tax Relief and Ful-
filling Our Obligation to Patriotic Soldiers Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME OF ENLISTMENT 
AND REENLISTMENT BONUSES FOR MEM-
BERS OF THE ARMED FORCES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 112 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (relating to certain combat zone com-
pensation of members of the Armed Forces) is amended 
by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) 
and (e), respectively, and by inserting after subsection (b) 
the following new subsection: 
‘‘(c) QUALIFIED BONUS.—Gross income does not in-
clude a qualified bonus.’’. 
(b) QUALIFIED BONUS DEFINED.—Subsection (d) of 
section 112 of such Code (relating to definitions), as re-
designated by subsection (a), is amended by adding at the 
end the following new paragraph: 
‘‘(6) QUALIFIED BONUS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 
bonus’ means an enlistment, accession, reenlist-
ment, retention, incentive, or other bonus paid 
by the Secretary concerned to a member of the 
Armed Forces of the United States in exchange 
for the agreement of the member to accept a 
commission as an officer, extend an active serv-
ice commitment as an officer, enlist, reenlist, or 
extend an enlistment as an enlisted member in 
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an active or reserve component, or enter into a 
reserve affiliation agreement. 
‘‘(B) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes 
of subparagraph (A), the terms ‘active service’, 
‘enlisted member’, ‘officer’, and ‘Secretary con-
cerned’ have the meanings given to such terms 
in section 101 of title 10, United States Code.’’. 
(c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) Section 2201 of such Code is amended by 
striking ‘‘section 112(c)’’ both places it appears and 
inserting ‘‘section 112(d)’’. 
(2) The heading for section 112 of such Code 
is amended by inserting ‘‘AND
OTHER’’ before 
‘‘COMPENSATION’’. 
(3) Section 3401(a)(1) of such Code is amended 
by inserting ‘‘and other’’ before ‘‘compensation’’. 
(4) The table of sections for part III of sub-
chapter B of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 
striking the item relating to section 112 and insert-
ing the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 112. Certain combat zone and other compensation of members of the 
Armed Forces.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 
December 31, 2008. 
Æ 
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