Asbestos Claims Tax Fairness Act of 2003

Asbestos Claims Tax Fairness Act of 2003 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the preservation of tax attributes in asbestos company bankruptcy cases and provide an exemption for asbestos related settlement funds to ensure the availability of a company's assets to pay asbestos claims.

[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2503 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2503

    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that tax 
   attributes shall not be reduced in connection with a discharge of 
 indebtedness in a title 11 case of a company having asbestos-related 
                           claims against it.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 18, 2003

  Mr. Collins (for himself, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Ms. Jackson-Lee of 
 Texas, Mr. Rogers of Kentucky, Ms. Lee, Mr. Conyers, Mr. English, and 
  Mr. Foley) 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 tax 
   attributes shall not be reduced in connection with a discharge of 
 indebtedness in a title 11 case of a company having asbestos-related 
                           claims against it.

    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 ``Asbestos Claims Tax Fairness Act of 
2003''.

SEC. 2. PRESERVATION OF TAX ATTRIBUTES IN ASBESTOS TITLE 11 CASES.

    (a) No Attribute Reduction in Asbestos Title 11 Cases.--Subsection 
(b) of section 108 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(6) No attribute reduction in asbestos title 11 cases.--
                    ``(A) In general.--Paragraph (1) shall not apply to 
                any amount excluded from gross income under 
                subparagraph (A) of subsection (a)(1) in an asbestos 
                title 11 case.
                    ``(B) Asbestos title 11 case.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph, the term `asbestos title 11 case' means any 
                case under title 11, United States Code, in which more 
                than 50 percent of the value of the claims made against 
                the company relate to liability arising from the 
                manufacture, production, distribution, or use of 
                asbestos.''
    (b) Exception to 2nd Ownership Change Rule for Asbestos Title 11 
Cases.--Section 382(l)(5)(D) is amended by adding at the end the 
following sentence: ``The preceding sentence shall not apply to a 2nd 
ownership change if the 1st ownership change was in an asbestos title 
11 case (within the meaning of section 108(b)(6)(B)).''
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to discharges of indebtedness and 2nd ownership changes occurring 
after December 31, 2002.

SEC. 2. EXEMPTION FOR ASBESTOS-RELATED SETTLEMENT FUNDS.

    (a) Exemption for Asbestos-Related Settlement Funds.--Subsection 
(b) of section 468B of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(6) Exemption from tax for asbestos-related settlement 
        funds.--Notwithstanding paragraph (1), no tax shall be imposed 
        under this section or any other provision of this subtitle on 
        any settlement fund to which this section or the regulations 
        thereunder applies that is established for the principal 
        purpose of resolving and satisfying present and future claims 
        relating to asbestos. The preceding sentence shall not apply to 
        gains from the sale of stock in any corporation against which 
        such claims originally applied other than gains from a sale of 
        substantially all of the fund's holdings in such corporation 
        occurring within five years after the later of December 31, 
        2002, or the date the settlement fund first received stock in 
        the corporation.''
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Paragraph (1) of section 468B(b) of such Code is 
        amended by striking ``There'' and inserting ``Except as 
        provided in paragraph (6), there''.
            (2) Subsection (g) of section 468B of such Code is amended 
        by inserting ``(other than subsection (b)(6))'' after ``Nothing 
        in any provision of law''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years ending after December 31, 2002.
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