H.R. 1932House116th Congress (2019-2021)In Committee

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to treat as compensation for purposes of retirement contribution limitations any difficulty of care payments excluded from gross income.

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Updated April 14, 2026 at 3:25 AM UTC

The bill changes the tax code so that payments made for the care of a child with special needs—specifically qualified foster‑care payments that are normally excluded from income—are counted as compensation when figuring retirement‑plan contribution limits. This would let individuals treat those excluded payments like earned wages for IRA and employer‑sponsored plan contribution rules, potentially allowing larger contributions. The changes affect anyone who receives such difficulty‑of‑care payments and participates in an IRA or a defined‑contribution retirement plan.

Key Provisions

For IRAs, a person who excludes a qualified foster‑care difficulty‑of‑care payment from income can increase the nondeductible contribution limit by the lesser of the excluded amount or the amount by which the deductible limit exceeds their reported compensation.
For defined‑contribution plans, the excluded difficulty‑of‑care payment is added to the participant’s compensation for contribution‑limit calculations.
Contributions tied to these excluded payments are treated as after‑tax (investment in the contract) and will not cause the plan to fail any qualification requirements.
The IRA provision applies to contributions made after the bill’s enactment; the defined‑contribution rule applies to plan years beginning after Dec. 31, 2015.

Legislative Activity

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1 earlier action

HouseIntro Referral Latest Action

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Ways and Means Committee

March 27, 2019

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HouseIntro Referral

Introduced in House

March 27, 2019

HouseIntro Referral

Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.

Ways and Means Committee

March 27, 2019

Bill Text

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Introduced in HouseIssued March 27, 2019

116th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1932

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

March 27, 2019

Ms. Schrier (for herself, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Panetta, Mr. Thompson of California, Ms. Sánchez, Ms. Judy Chu of California, and Mr. Gomez) 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 treat as compensation for purposes of retirement contribution limitations any difficulty of care payments excluded from gross income.

Treating excluded difficulty of care payments as compensation for determining retirement contribution limitations

(a)

Individual retirement accounts

(1)

In general

Section 408(o) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(5)

Special rule for difficulty of care payments excluded from gross income

In the case of an individual who for a taxable year excludes from gross income under section 131 a qualified foster care payment which is a difficulty of care payment, if—

(A)

the deductible amount in effect for the taxable year under subsection (b), exceeds

(B)

the amount of compensation includible in the individual’s gross income for the taxable year,

the individual may elect to increase the nondeductible limit under paragraph (2) for the taxable year by an amount equal to the lesser of such excess or the amount so excluded.

(2)

Effective date

The amendments made by this section shall apply to contributions after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(b)

Defined contribution plans

Section 415(c) of such Code is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(8)

Special rule for difficulty of care payments excluded from gross income

(A)

In general

For purposes of paragraph (1)(B), in the case of an individual who for a taxable year excludes from gross income under section 131 a qualified foster care payment which is a difficulty of care payment, the participant’s compensation, or earned income, as the case may be, shall be increased by the amount so excluded.

(B)

Contributions allocable to difficulty of care payments treated as after-tax

Any contribution by the participant which is allocable to an amount so excluded—

(i)

shall be treated for purposes of this title as investment in the contract, and

(ii)

shall not cause a plan (and any arrangement which is part of such plan) to be treated as failing to meet any requirements of this chapter solely by reason of allowing any such contributions.

(c)

Effective date

The amendment made by this subsection shall apply to plan years beginning after December 31, 2015.