S 1706 · 113th Congress 2013โ€“2015, ended

Fair Playing Field Act of 2013

Latest action · Nov 14, 2013 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedNov 14, 2013
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Fair Playing Field Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the classification of workers for employment tax purposes, to: (1) repeal the prohibition against issuance of regulations and guidance by the Secretary of the Treasury on workers' employment tax status (i.e., as an employee or as an independent contractor) enacted by the Revenue Act of 1978; (2) direct the Secretary to issue regulations and other guidance to clarify the proper employment status of workers for employment tax purposes; (3) prohibit a retroactive assessment of employment tax, except with respect to certain skilled workers, for tax periods after December 31, 1978, and before a specified reclassification date for worker misclassifications, unless the taxpayer had no reasonable basis for not treating a worker as an employee; (4) require taxpayers who hire independent contractors on a regular and ongoing basis to provide such contractors with notice of their federal tax obligations, the labor and employment law protections that do not apply to them, and their right to seek a status determination from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); and (5) eliminate reduced penalty provisions for failure to withhold income taxes for taxpayers who lack a reasonable basis for treating a worker as other than an employee (i.e., as an independent contractor).

Provides that for purposes of determining whether a registered representative of a securities broker-dealer is an employee for employment tax purposes, no weight shall be given to instructions from a service recipient which are imposed only in compliance with investor protection standards. Makes this rule applicable to services performed by a broker-dealer after December 31, 1997.

Cosponsors 10

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Nov 14, 2013 to Jan 15, 2014; 7 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-MNAl FrankenOriginalNov 14, 2013
D-CABarbara BoxerOriginalNov 14, 2013
D-WAPatty MurrayOriginalNov 14, 2013
D-CTRichard BlumenthalOriginalNov 14, 2013
D-ILRichard J. DurbinOriginalNov 14, 2013
D-PARobert P. Casey Jr.OriginalNov 14, 2013
D-IATom HarkinOriginalNov 14, 2013
I-VTBernard SandersDec 9, 2013
D-MAElizabeth WarrenDec 9, 2013
D-MDBenjamin L. CardinJan 15, 2014

Committees 1

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

ChamberCommitteeWhat it did
SenateFinance Committee
Referred Nov 14, 2013

Actions 2

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Nov 14, 2013Introduced in Senate
  2. Nov 14, 2013Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Related bills 1

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
HR 4503Fair Playing Field Act of 2014Related billApr 28, 2014

Titles 2

Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.

Official Title as Introduced
A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit the Secretary of the Treasury to issue prospective guidance clarifying the employment status of individuals for purposes of employment taxes and to prevent retroactive assessments with respect to such clarifications.
Short Titles as Introduced
Fair Playing Field Act of 2013

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Taxation.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. Nov 14, 2013Introduced in Senate

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.