[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3541 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3541

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that the $500,000 
 exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence shall apply to 
                  certain sales by a surviving spouse.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 24, 1998

 Mrs. Roukema 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 that the $500,000 
 exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence shall apply to 
                  certain sales by a surviving spouse.

    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 ``Surviving Spouse Fairness Act of 
1998''.

SEC. 2. $500,000 EXCLUSION OF GAIN ON SALE OF PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE BY 
              SURVIVING SPOUSE.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 121(d) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to property of deceased spouse) is 
amended to read as follows:
            ``(2) Property of deceased spouse.--For purposes of this 
        section, in the case of an unmarried individual whose spouse is 
        deceased on the date of the sale or exchange of property--
                    ``(A) In general.--The period such unmarried 
                individual owned and used such property shall include 
                the period such deceased spouse owned and used such 
                property before death.
                    ``(B) $500,000 exclusion in certain cases.--At the 
                election of such an unmarried individual with respect 
                to any property, subsection (b)(1) shall be applied by 
                substituting `$500,000' for `$250,000' if--
                            ``(i) such individual is an unmarried 
                        individual at all times after the date of death 
                        of such deceased spouse and before the date of 
                        the sale or exchange, and
                            ``(ii) the requirements of subparagraphs 
                        (B), (C), and (D) of subsection (b)(2) would 
                        have been met if such sale or exchange occurred 
                        on such date of death (whether or not such 
                        requirements were in effect as of such date of 
                        death).
                In the case of property with respect to which an 
                election under this subparagraph is in effect, the 
                basis of such property in the hands of such unmarried 
                individual shall be determined without regard to 
                section 1014.
                    ``(C) Election.--The election under subparagraph 
                (B) shall be made not later than the due date 
                (including extensions) for the return of tax imposed by 
                this chapter for the taxable year in which the sale 
                occurred. Such an election, once made, shall take 
                effect as of such date of death and may not be revoked 
                without the consent of the Secretary.''
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall take 
effect as if included in the amendments made by section 312 of the 
Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.
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