Give A HAND Act

Bill: 115-hr-4172
Sponsor: Rep. Neal, Richard E. [D-MA-1]
Introduced: 2017-10-31 in the House
Policy area: Taxation
Subjects: Alcoholic beverages
Building construction
Business investment and capital
Caribbean area
Charitable contributions
Community life and organization
Credit and credit markets
Disaster relief and insurance
Employee benefits and pensions
Financial services and investments
Hazardous wastes and toxic substances
Health care costs and insurance
Historic sites and heritage areas
Homelessness and emergency shelter
Housing finance and home ownership
Income tax credits
Income tax deductions
Income tax exclusion
Life, casualty, property insurance
Low- and moderate-income housing
Medicare
Natural disasters
Poverty and welfare assistance
Puerto Rico
Residential rehabilitation and home repair
Sales and excise taxes
Securities
State and local government operations
Tax administration and collection, taxpayers
Tax treatment of families
Tax-exempt organizations
Transportation costs
U.S. territories and protectorates
Virgin Islands
Wages and earnings
Water use and supply

Summary:
action_date: 2017-10-31
text: 

Give Assistance and Help to Americans impacted by Natural Disasters Act or the Give A HAND Act 

 
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow various tax credits, deductions, and modifications to existing rules in areas impacted by disasters.
 
With respect to areas in which a federally declared disaster occurred, the bill allows: 
 
 
 expensing of disaster expenses, 
 
 increased charitable contribution limits and mileage rates, 
 
 modifications to rules regarding deductions for losses, 
 
 waivers of certain mortgage revenue bond requirements, 
 
increased expensing and bonus depreciation, 
 
 an increased new markets tax credit allocation, 
 
 penalty-free distributions from retirement plans, 
 
an additional exemption for providing housing to displaced individuals, 
 
 an exclusion for cancellations of indebtedness, 
 
the use of the previous year's income for calculating the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit, 
 
 an increased rehabilitation credit for buildings, 
 
 additional advance refundings of certain tax-exempt bonds, 
 
 disaster area recovery bonds, 
 
 additional low-income housing credit allocations, 
 
 an exclusion for disaster mitigation payments received from state and local governments, 
 
 a deduction for payments to a tax-exempt natural disaster fund, 
 
 a credit for a portion of the wages paid to employees, 
 
an exclusion for employer-provided housing, 
 
 an enhanced deduction for medical expenses, and
 
extensions for tax and Medicare filing deadlines. 
 
 
The bill also modifies several deductions, credits, and other tax provisions that affect Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2017-11-03
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
action_date: 2017-10-31
text: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2017-10-31
text: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2017-10-31
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2017-10-31
text: Introduced in House