# 119-s-2974: SECURE Benefits Act of 2025

119-s-2974, SECURE Benefits Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2974
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-s-2974
- Congress: 119
- Title: SECURE Benefits Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-10-03
- Sponsor: Sen. Hyde-Smith, Cindy [R-MS] (R-MS)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Link tax-credit eligibility to verified work authorization and a temporary SSN.** This bill would condition claims for the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, and Saver's Credit on documented employment authorization and create a new temporary work-authorized Social Security number and card. It would set up DHS, SSA, and IRS data sharing to confirm authorization, expand the IRS's math-error checks to use SSNs, and add penalties tied to invalid work authorizations. - Families and households: People claiming CTC, EITC, or Saver's benefits would need SSNs that reflect valid work authorization and proper documentation to receive or compute those credits. Most eligibility rules would apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2026. - Noncitizen workers with temporary authorization: Individuals with temporary work authorization could receive a temporary work-authorized SSN and card if DHS confirms current authorization. The temporary-SSN program would be phased in with an effective date starting January 1, 2027. - Tax administration and compliance: The IRS would rely on SSNs instead of TINs for math-error authority on these credits and could assess a new penalty equal to the greater of the credit claimed or $5,000 for invalid work authorization, with aggregation across credits and reasonable-cause protections.

## Provisions PRIA read

- Child Tax Credit: SSN and penalties: cost, high. You would need both spouses' Social Security numbers on a joint return to claim the Child Tax Credit. If a child or spouse uses a temporary work SSN, Treasury and DHS would have to confirm valid work authorization when the return is filed. The Treasury would set what documents you must show. A pena…
- Earned Income Credit: work-SSN checks: cost, high. If enacted, an individual using a temporary work Social Security number would not be an eligible worker or qualifying child for the Earned Income Tax Credit unless Treasury, with DHS, confirms they had valid work authorization when the return was filed. Treasury would set the required form and docu…
- Expanded penalties for bad work SSNs: cost, high. If enacted, the same large penalty (the credit claimed or $5,000, whichever is larger) would apply to fraud tied to invalid temporary work authorizations for EITC, Saver's Credit, Saver's Match, and certain education credits. Where penalties apply for more than one credit, they would be added toget…
- Saver's Credit and Match: SSN rule: cost, high. If enacted, you could not claim the Saver's Credit unless you include your Social Security number on that year's tax return. You would also need to include your Social Security number to be treated as eligible for the Saver's Match contribution. The Social Security number meaning is tied to the tax…
- Temporary work SSNs and checks: mixed, low. If enacted, SSA would issue temporary work Social Security numbers and cards that say the number is only valid for the job and time DHS allows. DHS would have to share temporary work authorization details with SSA, and SSA would share them with Treasury/IRS. The IRS could treat missing or wrong Soc…

## Related bills

- 119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act
- 119-s-2465: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026
- 119-s-688: Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests Act of 2025
- 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act
- 119-s-4842: American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act
- 119-s-1874: Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2026

## Sources
- [119-s-2974 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/2974)

## Related
- [119-s-4744: Take Care of America’s Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4744)
- [119-s-2465: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriati…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2465)
- [119-s-688: Fighting Foreign Illegal Seafood Harvests Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-688)
- [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748)
- [119-s-4842: American Food Supply Chain Resiliency Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4842)
- [119-s-1874: Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1874)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-2974 (as of 2026-04-21).