# 119-hr-9496: End Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act

119-hr-9496, End Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-24] (R-NY); status passed_senate; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-11-01).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9496
- As of: 2026-11-01
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-9496
- Congress: 119
- Title: End Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act
- Status: passed_senate
- Introduced: 2026-06-29
- Sponsor: Rep. Tenney, Claudia [R-NY-24] (R-NY)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-11-01

## Summary

**Suspending tax deadlines and refunding penalties for U.S. nationals wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad**. This bill would pause tax filing and payment timelines while an eligible person is unlawfully detained or held hostage and set up a process to refund or abate penalties and interest tied to those periods. - U.S. nationals taken hostage or wrongfully detained and their spouses would have the detention period disregarded for tax filing deadlines, interest, penalties, additions to tax, and for determining credits or refunds. - Treasury must update its systems and stop interest, penalties, and collection actions during the applicable detention period while coordinating identity lists with the Department of State and the Attorney General's Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell. - A refund and abatement program would let eligible individuals apply to recover penalties and interest paid for periods from January 1, 2021 through the date of enactment. The Secretary would notify released individuals and administer refunds with rules that begin January 1, 2027 for providing identification lists.

## Cosponsors (2)

- Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1] (D-NV), 2026-06-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Beyer, Donald S. [D-VA-8] (D-VA), 2026-06-29T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- Past tax penalty refunds for Americans held: benefit, medium. Treasury would create a refund and charge-cancellation program by January 1, 2027, covering January 1, 2021, through enactment. Eligible people would be U.S. nationals officially found to be wrongfully or unlawfully detained, or held hostage, abroad. They would need charges from a covered tax task…
- Tax deadline relief for Americans held abroad: benefit, medium. The bill would give tax deadline relief to U.S. nationals officially found to be wrongfully or unlawfully detained, or held hostage, abroad. Their spouses would also qualify, and relief would apply to tax years ending after enactment. Treasury would exclude the covered detention time after its chos…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-9237: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
- 119-hr-3816: Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025
- 119-hr-6900: American Affordability Act of 2025
- 119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1868: Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act of 2025
- 119-hr-1065: Protect Our Letter Carriers Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-9496 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/9496)

## Related
- [119-hr-9237: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9237)
- [119-hr-3816: Weather Act Reauthorization Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3816)
- [119-hr-6900: American Affordability Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-6900)
- [119-hr-4206: CONNECT for Health Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4206)
- [119-hr-1868: Stop Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1868)
- [119-hr-1065: Protect Our Letter Carriers Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1065)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-9496 (as of 2026-11-01).