Sponsors (48)
The bill offers meaningful tax relief and legal clarity to unrelated living kidney donors to reduce financial and legal barriers to donation, but provides limited benefit to low‑income donors, raises ethical incentive concerns, and reduces federal revenue.
Living kidney donors who donate to strangers receive up to $50,000 in federal tax credits paid over five years, lowering their out‑of‑pocket costs and helping cover lost wages and recovery expenses.
Hospitals, transplant programs, donors, and patients face reduced legal and regulatory risk because the credit is explicitly clarified as not being 'valuable consideration' under the National Organ Transplant Act, easing liability and program uncertainty.
Low‑ and no‑income donors may receive little or no benefit because the tax credit is nonrefundable and can only offset tax liability.
Providing a sizable tax credit may create ethical concerns by effectively incentivizing donations for financial reasons, potentially pressuring economically vulnerable people despite the NOTA carve‑out.
The tax credit will reduce federal revenue and could increase deficits or crowd out other federal spending priorities unless offsets are found.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a nonrefundable tax credit of $10,000/year (up to $50,000) for qualified non‑directed living kidney donors, effective for kidneys removed after Dec 31, 2026; sunsets after Dec 31, 2036.
Official title: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a refundable tax credit for non-directed living kidney donations.
Introduced April 7, 2025 by Nicole Malliotakis · Last progress April 7, 2025
Creates a new nonrefundable federal tax credit to encourage non‑directed living kidney donations: donors receive $10,000 in the year of donation and each of the next four years (up to $50,000 total). The credit applies to kidneys removed after December 31, 2026, sunsets for kidneys removed after December 31, 2036, and is explicitly not considered “valuable consideration” under the National Organ Transplant Act.