[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 242 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 242

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to eliminate the marriage 
penalty under the one-time exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal 
          residence by an individual who has attained age 55.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 7, 1997

  Mr. Neal of Massachusetts 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 eliminate the marriage 
penalty under the one-time exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal 
          residence by an individual who has attained age 55.

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

SECTION 1. ELIMINATION OF MARRIAGE PENALTY UNDER ELECTION OF ONE-TIME 
              EXCLUSION OF GAIN FROM SALE OF PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE BY AN 
              INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS ATTAINED AGE 55.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (b) of section 121 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to one-time exclusion of gain from sale 
of principal residence by an individual who has attained age 55) is 
amended by redesignating paragraph (3) as paragraph (4) and by 
inserting after paragraph (2) the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Disregard of certain elections.--For purposes of 
        applying paragraph (2) to individuals who are married to each 
        other, an election by one individual with respect to--
                    ``(A) a sale or exchange occurring before the date 
                of the marriage, or
                    ``(B) a sale or exchange occurring on or after such 
                date of property owned by such individual before such 
                date,
        shall be disregarded for purposes of determining whether an 
        election may be made by the other individual with respect to 
        property owned by such other individual before such date. A 
        separate limitation under paragraph (1) shall be allowed with 
        respect to each election which may be made by reason of this 
        paragraph.''
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply for purposes of determining whether an election may be made under 
section 121 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 with respect to a sale 
or exchange occurring on or after January 1, 1997.
                                 <all>