119-hr990

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 990 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 990

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow individuals to 
 avoid a penalty for failure to pay income tax by timely paying 125 
 percent of the income tax liability for the prior year.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 5, 2025

 Ms. Chu (for herself and Mr. Carey) 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 individuals to 
 avoid a penalty for failure to pay income tax by timely paying 125 
 percent of the income tax liability for the prior year.

 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 ``Simplify Automatic Filing Extensions 
Act'' or the ``SAFE Act''.

SEC. 2. NO PENALTY FOR FAILURE TO PAY INCOME TAX FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO 
 TIMELY PAY 125 PERCENT OF INCOME TAX LIABILITY FOR PRIOR 
 YEAR.

    (a) In General.--

Section 6651
            (c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
 ``

    (3) No penalty for failure to pay income tax for 
 individuals who timely pay 125 percent of income tax liability 
 for prior year.--
 ``
        (A) In general.--Subsection

    (a)

    (2) shall not 
 apply with respect to an income tax return of an 
 individual if such individual pays, on or before the 
 date prescribed for the payment of the tax with respect 
 to which such return relates (determined with regard to 
 any extension of time for payment), 125 percent of the 
 amount of tax required to be shown on the income tax 
 return of such individual for the immediately preceding 
 taxable year.
 ``
        (B) Failure to file; short taxable years.--
 Subparagraph
        (A) shall not apply--
 ``
            (i) if the individual does not file an 
 income tax return for the taxable year 
 described in subparagraph
        (A) on or before the 
 date prescribed therefor (determined with 
 regard to any extension of time for filing),
 ``
            (ii) if the individual did not file an 
 income tax return for the immediately preceding 
 taxable year referred to in subparagraph
        (A) , 
 or
 ``
            (iii) if the immediately preceding 
 taxable year referred to in subparagraph
        (A) was less than 12 months.
 ``
            (C) Joint returns.--In the case of a joint 
 return, if the taxpayer did not file a joint return for 
 the immediately preceding taxable year referred to in 
 subparagraph
        (A) , the amounts required to be shown on 
 the income tax returns of both spouses for such 
 immediately preceding taxable year shall be taken into 
 account under subparagraph
        (A) . Except as otherwise 
 provided by the Secretary, if the individual does not 
 file a joint return for the taxable year to which 
 subparagraph
        (A) applies and filed a joint return for 
 the immediately preceding taxable year, the entire 
 amount of tax required to be shown on such joint return 
 shall be taken into account under subparagraph
        (A) .
 ``
            (D) Exception not applicable unless additional 
 payments are made with timely filed return.--
 Subparagraph
        (A) shall not apply with respect to any 
 period beginning after the earlier of--
 ``
            (i) the date prescribed for filing the 
 income tax return for the taxable year 
 (including extensions thereof), or
 ``
            (ii) the date on which such return was 
 filed.''.

    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The heading of 

section 6651
            (c) of such 
Code is amended by striking ``Rule'' and inserting ``Rules''.
            (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2024.
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