Bipartisan legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives would ensure that U.S. service members stationed in certain high-risk areas receive critical tax exclusion benefits.
The bill would extend the Qualified Hazardous Duty Area (QHDA) designation to Chad, Burkina Faso, Kenya and Mali. A QHDA designation means service members deployed in these areas can exclude their compensation from federal taxes.
Under current law, only service members in countries with the Imminent Danger Pay (IDP) designation receive this exclusion. The bill would automatically end the QHDA designation when a country is no longer designated for IDP.
Burkina Faso, Chad, Kenya and Mali previously were designated as IDP areas.
“It has been my priority on the Ways and Means Committee to represent the interests of our military service members through commonsense tax policies like this,” U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT), who introduced the bill, said. “The Sahel region poses acute threats to the American homeland, and our service members stationed there should be given every possible leg up from Congress. At a time when terrorist activity in the Sahel is ramping up and Russian mercenaries are stalking the region to exert their influence, now is the time to provide this low-cost tax exclusion to uniformed Americans putting their lives on the line.”