[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3751 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3751

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that withdrawals 
  from section 401(k) and similar plans by victims of Presidentially 
 declared disasters shall not be includible in gross income and shall 
      not be subject to the additional tax on early distributions.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 13, 2005

 Mr. McHenry 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 withdrawals 
  from section 401(k) and similar plans by victims of Presidentially 
 declared disasters shall not be includible in gross income and shall 
      not be subject to the additional tax on early distributions.

    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 ``Retirement Account Emergency Access 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. TAX-FREE WITHDRAWALS FROM CERTAIN RETIREMENT PLANS FOR VICTIMS 
              OF PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS.

    (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 inserting after section 139A the 
following new section:

``SEC. 139B. DISTRIBUTIONS FROM CERTAIN RETIREMENT PLANS TO VICTIMS OF 
              PRESIDENTIALLY DECLARED DISASTERS.

    ``(a) In General.--Gross income shall not include any qualified 
disaster-relief distribution.
    ``(b) Qualified Disaster-Relief Distribution.--For purposes of this 
section, the term `qualified disaster-relief distribution' means any 
hardship distribution if--
            ``(1) the distribution is from a plan pursuant to section 
        401(k)(2)(B)(i)(IV) or paragraph (7)(A)(ii) or (11)(B) of 
        section 403(b),
            ``(2) the distribution is to any individual any residence 
        of whom (whether or not owned by the individual) is located in 
        the area of a Presidentially declared disaster (as defined in 
        section 1033(h)(3)), and
            ``(3) the distribution is received during the 2-year period 
        beginning on the date of the disaster declaration.
    ``(c) Amount Distributed May Be Repaid.--Any individual who 
receives a qualified disaster-relief distribution may, at any time 
during the 5-year period beginning on the day after the date on which 
such distribution was made, make one or more contributions to an 
individual retirement plan of such individual in an aggregate amount 
not to exceed the amount of such distribution. The dollar limitations 
otherwise applicable to contributions to individual retirement plans 
shall not apply to any contribution made pursuant to the preceding 
sentence. No deduction shall be allowed for any contribution pursuant 
to this subsection.''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for such part III is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 139A the 
following new item:

``Sec. 139B. Distributions from certain retirement plans to victims of 
                            Presidentially declared disasters''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to distributions received in taxable years ending after December 
31, 2004.
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