Sponsors (2)
The bill gives meaningful tax relief and reduces paperwork for families of public safety officers who die on duty, at the cost of some federal revenue and creating potential administrative hurdles and unequal tax treatment for survivors of non-public-safety workers.
Families of public safety officers (law enforcement, firefighters, EMS) will not owe federal income tax on the officer's year-of-death benefits (and certain prior-year benefits), increasing survivors' net financial support.
Surviving families will face less paperwork because the IRS is directed to make expeditious determinations and minimize administrative burdens when applying the exclusion.
Public safety survivors' tax eligibility is aligned with existing Bureau of Justice Assistance death-benefit criteria, creating greater consistency between tax treatment and federal death-benefit standards.
Families' access to the tax exclusion depends on administrative/BJA-style determinations, so some eligible survivors could face delays or denials if documentation or interpretations differ.
Survivors of non-public-safety workers who die on the job would not receive the same tax exclusion, creating differential tax treatment between public safety officers' families and other victims' families.
All taxpayers: the exclusion reduces federal income tax revenue and could slightly increase the deficit or shift costs onto other taxpayers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Eliminates federal income tax liability for public safety officers who die from line-of-duty injuries for the year of death and certain prior years.
Official title: Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax relief to the families of public safety officers who died as a result of injuries sustained in the line of duty.
Introduced May 13, 2026 by Margaret Wood Hassan · Last progress May 13, 2026
Treats the taxable income of public safety officers who die as the direct and proximate result of an on-duty injury as zero for the year of death and for certain prior years, effectively eliminating federal income tax liability for those years. It directs the Treasury to determine eligibility using, to the extent practicable, the same criteria used for the Bureau of Justice Assistance Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program, requires expedited and low-burden determinations for families or representatives, and applies to deaths on or after January 1, 2025.