[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3953 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3953

  To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an inflation 
  adjustment of the dollar limitation on the exclusion of gain on the 
                     sale of a principal residence.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 1998

 Mr. Andrews 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 an inflation 
  adjustment of the dollar limitation on the exclusion of gain on the 
                     sale of a principal residence.

    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 ``Homeowners' Benefit Protection Act 
of 1998''.

SEC. 2. INFLATION ADJUSTMENT OF LIMITATION ON EXCLUSION OF GAIN ON SALE 
              OF PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (b) of section 121 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to exclusion of gain from sale of 
principal residence) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph:
            ``(4) Exclusion limitation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--For purposes of this subsection, 
                the exclusion limitation is $250,000.
                    ``(B) Inflation adjustment.--In the case of any 
                sale or exchange during any calendar year after 1998, 
                the dollar amount contained in subparagraph (A) shall 
                be increased by an amount equal to--
                            ``(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by
                            ``(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment 
                        determined under section 1(f)(3) for such 
                        calendar year by substituting `calendar year 
                        1997' for `calendar year 1992' in subparagraph 
                        (B) thereof.
                If any increase under the preceding sentence is not a 
                multiple of $1,000, such increase shall be rounded to 
                the nearest multiple of $1,000.''
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Paragraph (1) of section 121(b) of such Code is amended 
        by striking ``$250,000'' and inserting ``the exclusion 
        limitation''.
            (2) Paragraph (2) of section 121(b) of such Code is amended 
        by striking so much of such paragraph as precedes subparagraph 
        (A) and inserting the following:
            ``(2) Limitation for joint returns.--Paragraph (1) shall be 
        applied by substituting `twice the exclusion limitation' for 
        `the exclusion limitation' if--''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to sales and exchanges after December 31, 1998.
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