I 
108TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4132 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a uniform definition 
of child for purposes of the personal exemption, the dependent care 
credit, the child tax credit, the earned income credit, and the health 
insurance refundable credit, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2004 
Mr. HOUGHTON 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 
a uniform definition of child for purposes of the personal 
exemption, the dependent care credit, the child tax credit, 
the earned income credit, and the health insurance re-
fundable credit, and for other purposes. 
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 Definition Sim-
plification Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. UNIFORM DEFINITION OF CHILD. 
(a) PERSONAL EXEMPTION.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 151 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 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) ADDITIONAL
EXEMPTION
FOR
QUALIFYING 
CHILDREN.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An exemption of the ex-
emption amount for each qualifying child. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFYING CHILD.—For purposes of this 
section, the term ‘qualifying child’ means, with re-
spect to any taxpayer for any taxable year, an indi-
vidual— 
‘‘(A) who bears a relationship to the tax-
payer described in paragraph (3), 
‘‘(B) who has the same principal place of 
abode as the taxpayer for more than 1⁄2 of such 
taxable year, and 
‘‘(C) who meets the age requirements of 
paragraph (4). 
An individual shall not be treated as failing to meet 
the requirements of subparagraph (B) by reason of 
time of birth or death or by reason of temporary ab-
sences or other circumstances specified in the regu-
lations prescribed by the Secretary.
‘‘(3) RELATIONSHIP TEST.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para-
graph (2)(A), an individual bears a relationship 
to the taxpayer described in this paragraph if 
such individual is— 
‘‘(i) a son, daughter, stepson, or step-
daughter of the taxpayer or a descendant 
of any such relative, 
‘‘(ii) a brother, sister, stepbrother, or 
stepsister of the taxpayer or a descendant 
of any such relative, whom the taxpayer 
cares for as the taxpayer’s own child, or 
‘‘(iii) an eligible foster child of the 
taxpayer. 
‘‘(B) ADOPTED CHILD.—For purposes of 
subparagraph (A), a child who is legally adopt-
ed, or who is placed with the taxpayer by an 
authorized placement agency for adoption by 
the taxpayer, shall be treated as a child by 
blood. 
‘‘(C) ELIGIBLE FOSTER CHILD.—For pur-
poses of subparagraph (A), the term ‘eligible 
foster child’ means an individual— 
‘‘(i) who is placed with the taxpayer 
by an authorized placement agency or by
judgment, decree, or other order of any 
court of competent jurisdiction, and 
‘‘(ii) whom the taxpayer cares for as 
the taxpayer’s own child. 
‘‘(4) AGE
REQUIREMENTS.—For purposes of 
paragraph (2)(C), an individual meets the require-
ments of this paragraph if such individual— 
‘‘(A) has not attained the age of 19 as of 
the close of the calendar year in which the tax-
able year of the taxpayer begins, 
‘‘(B) is a student who has not attained the 
age of 24 as of the close of such calendar year, 
or 
‘‘(C) is permanently and totally disabled 
(as defined in section 22(e)(3)) at any time 
during the taxable year. 
‘‘(5) SPECIAL RULES.— 
‘‘(A) MARRIED
DEPENDENTS.—An indi-
vidual shall not be a qualifying child of a tax-
payer if such individual makes a joint return 
with the individual’s spouse under section 6013 
for the taxable year beginning in the calendar 
year in which the taxable year of the taxpayer 
begins.