SAFE Tax Filing Act of 2025

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2129 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2129

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow certain abused or
     abandoned spouses to file as unmarried or heads of households.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 18, 2025

   Mr. Fetterman (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, Ms. Cortez Masto, and Ms.
Ernst) 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 allow certain abused or
     abandoned spouses to file as unmarried or heads of households.

    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 ``Survivors Assistance for Fear-free
and Easy Tax Filing Act of 2025'' or the ``SAFE Tax Filing Act of
2025''.

SEC. 2. CERTAIN MARRIED INDIVIDUALS TREATED AS UNMARRIED.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (b) of section 7703 of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (1), (2), and (3) as
        subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C), and by moving such
        subparagraphs and the flush text following such subparagraphs 2
        ems to the right,
            (2) by striking ``, if--'' and inserting ``--
            ``(1) In general.--If--'', and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
            ``(2) Domestic abuse or spousal abandonment.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of an individual
                who--
                            ``(i) is living apart from the individual's
                        spouse as of the last day of the taxable year,
                            ``(ii) is a survivor of domestic abuse
                        committed by the individual's spouse or of
                        spousal abandonment by the individual's current
                        spouse, and
                            ``(iii) indicates on the return of tax, in
                        accordance with relevant instructions, that the
                        individual is described in clauses (i) and
                        (ii),
                at the election of the individual, such individual
                shall not be considered as married.
                    ``(B) Election.--An election for purposes of
                subparagraph (A) shall be effective only for the
                taxable year for which made.
                    ``(C) Definitions.--For purposes of this
                paragraph--
                            ``(i) Domestic abuse.--The term `domestic
                        abuse' includes physical, psychological,
                        sexual, emotional, or economic abuse, including
                        efforts to control, isolate, humiliate, or
                        intimidate the survivor, or to undermine the
                        survivor's ability to reason independently. All
                        the facts and circumstances shall be considered
                        in determining whether an individual is a
                        survivor of domestic abuse. Depending on the
                        facts and circumstances, abuse of the
                        survivor's child or another family member
                        living in the household may constitute abuse of
                        the survivor.
                            ``(ii) Spousal abandonment.--An individual
                        is a survivor of spousal abandonment at a given
                        time if, taking into account all facts and
                        circumstances, the individual is unable to
                        locate the individual's spouse after reasonable
                        diligence.
            ``(3) No effect on spouse.--The treatment of the individual
        described in paragraph (1)(A) or (2)(A), whichever the case may
        be, shall not affect the treatment of the individual's spouse
        as married.''.
    (b) Due Diligence Requirements for Tax Return Preparers.--
Subsection (g) of section 6695 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is
amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraph (2) as paragraph (3),
            (2) by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (1), and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (1) the following new
        paragraph:
            ``(2) eligibility to elect under section 7703(b)(2) to be
        treated as not married, or''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to taxable years ending after the date of the enactment of this
Act.
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