Title: COVID–19 Commuter Benefits Distribution Act
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
COVID-19 Commuter Benefits Distribution Act
This bill permits a one-time payment of unused transportation fringe benefits to a succeeding month. Under current law, such unused benefits are forfeited.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4207 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4207

To allow for one-time distributions from certain transportation fringe 
                           benefit accounts.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 12, 2022

Mrs. Gillibrand (for herself and Mr. Schumer) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To allow for one-time distributions from certain transportation fringe 
                           benefit accounts.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Commuter Benefits 
Distribution Act''.

SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN DISTRIBUTIONS FROM TRANSPORTATION FRINGE 
              BENEFIT ACCOUNTS.

    (a) In General.--In the case of any qualified payment from a 
specified transportation fringe benefit account--
            (1) such qualified payment shall be includible in the gross 
        income of the employee for the taxable year in which such 
        qualified payment is made, and
            (2) the determination of whether any other payment from 
        such account is a qualified transportation fringe for purposes 
        of section 132 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be 
        determined without regard to such qualified payment.
    (b) Qualified Payment.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``qualified payment'' means a one-time payment made during the 6-month 
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act from a 
specified transportation fringe benefit account to the employee for 
whose benefit such account is maintained but only to the extent that 
such payment does not exceed the lesser of--
            (1) the highest balance of such account during the period 
        beginning on March 13, 2020, and ending on the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, or
            (2) the balance of such account on the date of such one-
        time payment.
    (c) Specified Transportation Fringe Benefit Account.--For purposes 
of this section, the term ``specified transportation fringe benefit 
account'' means, with respect to any employee, amounts set aside by 
such employee's employer under a compensation reduction agreement 
which--
            (1) provides for payments to such employee of amounts which 
        are excludible under section 132 of the Internal Revenue Code 
        of 1986 as a qualified transportation fringe (determined after 
        the application of subsection (a)), and
            (2) provides that unused amounts at the end of a month may 
        be carried forward to the succeeding month (subject to such 
        requirements or limitations as such agreement, the Secretary of 
        the Treasury, or the Secretary's delegate, may provide).
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