Veteran Headstone Honor Act

Overview

HR 9356, the Veteran Headstone Honor Act, would create a new tax credit to support private cemeteries in attaching veteran headstone medallions to headstones or markers. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish the credit, designate eligible expenditures, and set administration and effective-date details.

Purpose and intent

• Establish a targeted tax credit to subsidize the expenses private cemeteries incur to attach veteran headstone medallions to eligible veteran headstones.
• Encourage private cemeteries to provide headstone medallions by offsetting a portion of the related costs.

Key provisions

• New credit: Sec. 45BB, the Veteran Headstone Medallion Credit.
  • General rule: The credit equals the qualified veteran headstone medallion expenditures paid or incurred by the taxpayer in the taxable year.
  • Qualified expenditures: Costs paid or incurred by a private cemetery (owned and operated by the taxpayer) for attaching a veteran headstone medallion to a headstone or marker for the deceased veteran to whom the medallion is issued.
  • Definition: A “veteran headstone medallion” is any medalion or device described in 38 U.S.C. 2306(d)(4)(A).
  • Certification requirement: To claim the credit, the cemetery must certify to the Secretary that the medalion has been attached and provide an itemized statement of expenditures.
  • Regulations: The Secretary, with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, must issue regulations or guidance necessary to implement the credit.
• Interaction with existing credits:
  • The new credit would be allowed as part of the General Business Credit (Sec. 38). The bill adds the new credit as a line item (42) under Sec. 38(b).
• Elective (refundable) treatment:
  • The credit is treated as a component of the general business credit for purposes of elective or non-elective credit payment mechanisms; the bill modifies Sec. 6417 to insert the new credit as a collectible item within the elective payment framework.
• Effective date:
  • The amendments apply to expenses paid or incurred after the date of enactment.
• Administrative:
  • The Secretary is authorized to issue regulations and guidance, in consultation with the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to carry out the purposes of the credit.

Scope and who is affected

• Affects private cemeteries that are owned and operated by taxpayers and that attach veteran headstone medallions to veteran headstones or markers.
• Eligible costs are those associated with attaching the medallion to the headstone or marker within the cemetery.
• Veterans and their families indirectly benefit through improved availability and recognition via medallions for eligible veterans.

Procedures and timeline

• Enactment followed by regulatory guidance: The Secretary and Secretary of Veterans Affairs would issue implementing regulations.
• Effective for expenses incurred after enactment date: The timing of credits begins with expenditures made after the act’s enactment.

Notes

• Sponsor: Mike Lawler (co-sponsor listed).
• The bill is introduced in the 119th Congress and referred to the House Ways and Means Committee.