HEROES Act of 2020

Helping Emergency Responders Overcome Emergency Situations Act of 2020 or the HEROES Act of 2020

This bill excludes from gross income, for income tax purposes, wages and other income up to $50,000 of qualified first responders for the period beginning on February 15, 2020, and ending on June 15, 2020. A qualified first responder is any individual (1) who is a physician, nurse, pharmacist, law enforcement officer, corrections officer, firefighter, emergency medical technician, or paramedic who provides services in a county with at least one confirmed case of COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019); or (2) who provides services in a licensed medical or care facility located in such county.

The Department of the Treasury may extend the exclusion for an additional three-month period beyond June 15, 2020, if Treasury determines that the COVID-19 emergency is likely to be ongoing during the extended period.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6433 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6433

 To provide an exclusion from gross income for certain qualified first 
                              responders.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 3, 2020

 Mr. Huizenga introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide an exclusion from gross income for certain qualified first 
                              responders.

    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 ``Helping Emergency Responders 
Overcome Emergency Situations Act of 2020'' or as the ``HEROES Act of 
2020''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME FOR CERTAIN QUALIFIED FIRST 
              RESPONDERS.

    (a) In General.--For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 
gross income shall not include specified income of any qualified first 
responder.
    (b) Limitation.--The aggregate amount not included in the gross 
income of any individual by reason of subsection (a) shall not exceed 
$50,000.
    (c) Qualified First Responder.--For purposes of this section, the 
term ``qualified first responder'' means any individual who--
            (1) is a physician (as defined in section 1861(r)(1) of the 
        Social Security Act), nurse, pharmacist, law enforcement 
        officer, corrections officer, firefighter, emergency medical 
        technician, or paramedic, that provides services in a county 
        that has at least one confirmed case of COVID-19, or
            (2) provides services in a licensed medical or care 
        facility which is located in such a county.
    (d) Specified Income.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``specified income'' means--
            (1) if the services described in subsection (c) are 
        provided as an employee, the wages (as defined in section 
        3121(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 determined without 
        regard to paragraph (1) thereof) received by the qualified 
        first responder for the applicable period, and
            (2) in any other case, the income of the qualified first 
        responder which is properly allocable to the services described 
        in subsection (c) which are provided by such qualified first 
        responder during the applicable period.
    (e) Applicable Period.--For purposes of this section, the term 
``applicable period'' means the period beginning on February 15, 2020, 
and ending on June 15, 2020.
    (f) Extension.--The Secretary of the Treasury (or the Secretary's 
delegate) may extend the applicable period for a period not to exceed 3 
additional calendar months if the Secretary (or the Secretary's 
delegate) determines that the emergency related to COVID-19 is likely 
to be ongoing during such period. If such period is so extended, the 
dollar amount in subsection (b) shall be increased by $12,500 for each 
month of such extension (and a like rate of increase with respect to 
any extension which is not a whole number of months).
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