[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3162 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3162

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow merchant mariners 
  to be treated as citizens or residents of the United States living 
                                abroad.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 28, 1999

Mr. Kuykendall 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 allow merchant mariners 
  to be treated as citizens or residents of the United States living 
                                abroad.

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

SECTION 1. EXCLUSION OF CERTAIN AMOUNTS OF EARNED INCOME OF MERCHANT 
              MARINERS ENGAGED IN COMMERCE BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES 
              AND A FOREIGN COUNTRY.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (d) of section 911 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to definition of qualified individual) 
is amended by redesignating paragraph (9) as paragraph (10) and by 
inserting after paragraph (8) the following new paragraph:
            ``(9) Special rule for merchant mariners engaged in foreign 
        commerce.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `qualified individual' 
                includes an individual who--
                            ``(i) is a citizen or resident of the 
                        United States, and
                            ``(ii) is licensed or certified by the 
                        United States Coast Guard as a merchant 
                        mariner.
                    ``(B) Foreign earned income.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph, in lieu of subsection (b)(1)(A), the term 
                `foreign earned income' means the earned income 
                attributable to services performed by an individual 
                described in subparagraph (A) from qualified merchant 
                marine employment.
                    ``(C) Qualified merchant marine employment.--The 
                term `qualified merchant marine employment' means 
                employment as a regular member of the crew of a vessel 
                owned, operated, or chartered by an individual or 
                entity described in a paragraph of section 12102(a) of 
                title 46, United States Code, while such vessel is 
                engaged in United States-foreign commerce or in 
                international commerce.
                    ``(D) United states.--For purposes of subparagraph 
                (C), the term `United States' shall include a territory 
                or possession of the United States.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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