[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 96 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 96

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify the employment 
                      status of certain fishermen.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

             January 21 (legislative day, January 5), 1993

Mr. Kennedy (for himself and Mr. Kerry) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to clarify the employment 
                      status of certain fishermen.

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

SECTION 1. CLARIFICATION OF EMPLOYMENT TAX STATUS OF CERTAIN FISHERMEN.

    (a) Amendments of Internal Revenue Code of 1986.--
            (1) Determination of size of crew.--Subsection (b) of 
        section 3121 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (defining 
        employment) is amended by adding at the end thereof the 
        following new sentence:
``For purposes of paragraph (20), the operating crew of a boat shall be 
treated as normally made up of fewer than 10 individuals if the average 
size of the operating crew on trips made during the preceding 4 
calendar quarters consisted of fewer than 10 individuals.''
            (2) Certain cash remuneration permitted.--Subparagraph (A) 
        of section 3121(b)(20) of such Code is amended to read as 
        follows:
                    ``(A) such individual does not receive any cash 
                remuneration other than as provided in subparagraph (B) 
                and other than cash remuneration--
                            ``(i) which does not exceed $100 per trip;
                            ``(ii) which is contingent on a minimum 
                        catch; and
                            ``(iii) which is paid solely for additional 
                        duties (such as mate, engineer, or cook) for 
                        which additional cash remuneration is 
                        traditional in the industry,''.
            (3) Conforming amendment.--Section 6050A(a) of such Code is 
        amended by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (3), by 
        striking the period at the end of paragraph (4) and inserting 
        ``; and'', and by adding at the end thereof the following new 
        paragraph:
            ``(5) any cash remuneration described in section 
        3121(b)(20)(A).''
    (b) Amendment of Social Security Act.--
            (1) Determination of size of crew.--Subsection (a) of 
        section 210 of the Social Security Act is amended by adding at 
        the end thereof the following new sentence:
``For purposes of paragraph (20), the operating crew of a boat shall be 
treated as normally made up of fewer than 10 individuals if the average 
size of the operating crew on trips made during the preceding 4 
calendar quarters consisted of fewer than 10 individuals.''
            (2) Certain cash remuneration permitted.--Subparagraph (A) 
        of section 210(a)(20) of such Act is amended to read as 
        follows:
                    ``(A) such individual does not receive any 
                additional compensation other than as provided in 
                subparagraph (B) and other than cash remuneration--
                            ``(i) which does not exceed $100 per trip;
                            ``(ii) which is contingent on a minimum 
                        catch; and
                            ``(iii) which is paid solely for additional 
                        duties (such as mate, engineer, or cook) for 
                        which additional cash remuneration is 
                        traditional in the industry,''.
    (c) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        apply to remuneration paid after December 31, 1993.
            (2) Special rule.--The amendments made by this section 
        (other than subsection (a)(3)) shall also apply to remuneration 
        paid after December 31, 1984, and before January 1, 1994, 
        unless the payor treated such remuneration (when paid) as being 
        subject to tax under chapter 21 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
        1986.

                                 <all>