# 119-hr-8972: OPT Fair Tax Act

119-hr-8972, OPT Fair Tax Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6] (R-WI); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-06-25).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8972
- As of: 2026-06-25
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-8972
- Congress: 119
- Title: OPT Fair Tax Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2026-05-21
- Sponsor: Rep. Grothman, Glenn [R-WI-6] (R-WI)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-06-25

## Summary

**Eliminates the payroll-tax exemption for F‑1 students doing Optional Practical Training (OPT).** This bill would make OPT earnings count as wages subject to the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) and Social Security taxes so F‑1 students on OPT would pay payroll taxes on that income.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Higher payroll taxes for F-1 OPT students: cost, medium. This bill would treat pay by F-1 students on Optional Practical Training (OPT) as wages for Social Security and Medicare (FICA). That would remove the current OPT exemption and make those wages subject to employee FICA withholding. Employers would also owe employer-side payroll taxes on the same wa…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025
- 119-hr-137: TCJA Permanency Act
- 119-hr-4312: SCORE Act
- 119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1897: ESA Amendments Act of 2025
- 119-hr-9298: Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-8972 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8972)

## Related
- [119-hr-4669: FEMA Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4669)
- [119-hr-137: TCJA Permanency Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-137)
- [119-hr-4312: SCORE Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4312)
- [119-hr-1229: United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1229)
- [119-hr-1897: ESA Amendments Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1897)
- [119-hr-9298: Stopping Harmful and Outrageous Torts Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9298)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-8972 (as of 2026-06-25).