HR3698-119

What This Bill Does

The Living Organ Donor Tax Credit Act adds new Internal Revenue Code section 36C for administration by the Internal Revenue Service and Department of the Treasury. A living donor who donates a qualified life-saving organ for transplantation into another individual during the taxable year may claim a tax credit equal to unreimbursed costs paid in connection with the transplantation, travel, lodging, logistical expenses, medical expenses related to donation and follow-up care, paperwork or legal costs, and lost wages. The credit is capped at $5,000 per individual per taxable year. Qualified organs include kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, intestine, bone marrow, or any part of those organs. The donor must be alive when the organ is removed, the donation and transplantation must occur in the United States and comply with U.S. law, and reimbursed amounts from transplant centers, insurers, employers, charities, or public programs do not count. The bill also coordinates the credit with Public Health Service Act section 377 and the National Organ Transplant Act so the tax credit does not count as a prohibited valuable consideration or conflicting payment. The credit applies to taxable years beginning after enactment, while coordination amendments take effect on enactment.

Who Benefits and How

Living organ donors benefit from a credit for unreimbursed costs, travel, lodging, medical follow-up, legal paperwork, and lost wages. Kidney and liver transplant candidates benefit if the credit makes living donation financially easier. Bone marrow donors benefit because bone marrow is included as a qualified life-saving organ. Transplant centers benefit if more potential donors can manage out-of-pocket costs.

Who Bears the Burden and How

Internal Revenue Service tax administrators must implement and verify the new section 36C credit. Department of the Treasury tax staff must write any regulations defining when an organ is treated as donated. Federal revenue declines when donors claim the credit. Transplant centers and insurers must identify reimbursements so donors do not claim expenses already paid by public or private payers.

Key Provisions

• Creates a tax credit for living donors of qualified life-saving organs.
• Limits the credit to $5,000 per individual per taxable year.
• Covers unreimbursed transplant, travel, lodging, medical, legal, paperwork, and lost-wage costs.
• Requires the donor to be alive when the organ is removed and the transplant to comply with U.S. law.
• Coordinates the tax credit with federal organ-donation payment restrictions.