[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2550 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2550

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to disallow deductions for 
             certain payments relating to defamation suits.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 26, 2023

Mr. Whitehouse introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to disallow deductions for 
             certain payments relating to defamation suits.

    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 ``Denying Expenditures for False 
Accusations with Malicious Effect (DEFAME) Act''.

SEC. 2. DISALLOWANCE OF DEDUCTION FOR CERTAIN PAYMENTS RELATING TO 
              DEFAMATION SUITS.

    (a) In General.--Section 162 is amended by inserting after 
subsection (h) the following new subsection:
    ``(i) Certain Payments Relating to Defamation Lawsuits.--
            ``(1) In general.--In the case of an applicable 
        corporation, no deduction otherwise allowable shall be allowed 
        under this chapter for any nondeductible defamation payment.
            ``(2) Applicable corporation.--For purposes of this 
        subsection, the term `applicable corporation' means any 
        corporation for which the gross income for the preceding 
        taxable year exceeds $10,000,000,000.
            ``(3) Nondeductible defamation payment.--For purposes of 
        this subsection--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `nondeductible 
                defamation payment' means--
                            ``(i) any applicable defamation suit 
                        payment,
                            ``(ii) any payment for attorneys' fees in 
                        connection with a suit for which an applicable 
                        defamation suit payment was made, and
                            ``(iii) so much of any payment of an 
                        insurance premium which is in excess of the 
                        amount of such premium determined without 
                        regard to any suit for which an applicable 
                        defamation suit payment was made.
                    ``(B) Applicable defamation suit payment.--The term 
                `applicable defamation suit payment' means any 
                payment--
                            ``(i) which is made--
                                    ``(I) in connection with a suit for 
                                defamation which requires proof of 
                                actual malice to succeed on the merits, 
                                and
                                    ``(II) pursuant to a settlement or 
                                court order, and
                            ``(ii) which, when aggregated with all 
                        other payments described in clause (i) with 
                        respect to the same suit, exceeds 
                        $500,000,000.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to payments made after December 31, 2022, in taxable years ending after 
such date.
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