[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 147 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 147

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude certain severance 
                      payment amounts from income.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2001

 Mr. Pascrell 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 exclude certain severance 
                      payment amounts from income.

    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 ``Layoff Tax Relief Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM INCOME OF SEVERANCE PAYMENT AMOUNTS.

    (a) In General.--Part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to items specifically excluded 
from gross income) is amended by redesignating section 139 as section 
140 and by inserting after section 138 the following new section:

``SEC. 139. SEVERANCE PAYMENTS.

    ``(a) In General.--In the case of an individual, gross income shall 
not include any qualified severance payment.
    ``(b) Limitation.--The amount to which the exclusion under 
subsection (a) applies shall not exceed $2,500 with respect to each 
separation from employment described in subsection (c)(2).
    ``(c) Qualified Severance Payment.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) In general.--The term `qualified severance payment' 
        means any payment received by an individual if--
                    ``(A) such payment was paid by such individual's 
                employer on account of such individual's separation 
                from employment, and
                    ``(B) such separation was in connection with a 
                reduction in the work force of the employer.
            ``(2) Limitation.--Such term shall not include any payment 
        received by an individual if the aggregate payments received 
        with respect to the separation from employment exceed 
        $150,000.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for part III of 
subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by striking the item 
relating to section 139 and inserting the following new items:

                              ``Sec. 139. Severance payments.
                              ``Sec. 140. Cross references to other 
                                        Acts.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2000.
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