YourVoice.Now Summary
Corporate BenefitsWorkers & JobsTransparency & AccountabilityEnds the tax break for what employers spend to influence union organizing, and adds new IRS reports.
Corporate Benefits
Right now a company can write off this spending as a normal cost of doing business. The bill would end that write-off. It reaches union votes, labor disputes, and other group action by workers.
Money a company spends when the labor board issues a complaint against it, or when it settles a charge, would stop being deductible. Staff wages and overhead tied to those cases count. If a court throws the complaint out in full, the costs stay deductible.
The bill lets the Treasury Department name other union-related activities that fall under the rule. The list can then grow through regulation, without a new vote in Congress. Treasury would have 240 days to write the rules.
Workers & Jobs
Any meeting or training where unions come up would count, if workers who could join a bargaining unit are there. The employer's cost includes the wages paid to everyone in the room. Talks with a union that already represents the workers do not count.
Transparency & Accountability
Employers would list the dates, the amounts, and the type of activity on their tax return. A missing or wrong report costs at least $10,000, or $1,000 per full-time worker if that is more. A failure that drags on adds more, capped at $100,000.
Firms hired to run these efforts would file their own report to the IRS. It would name the client, the dates, and the amounts paid. This is on top of reports some already file with the Labor Department. Late or wrong filings carry the usual IRS fines.
More about this bill
Most households would see no change in their own taxes or pay. The change lands on employers. Today a company can deduct what it spends to influence whether its workers join or form a union. That covers outside consultants, meetings against organizing, and staff time spent on those efforts. Under this proposal, that write-off would end. A company could still spend the money. It just could not subtract it from its taxable income. The bill's own findings cite $340 million a year spent on outside consultants alone. The rule would reach past consultants. It would cover any meeting or training where unions come up. That applies when workers who could join a bargaining unit (the group a union would represent) are in the room. The wages paid to everyone there would count too. It would also cover money spent on cases where the federal labor board issues a complaint or settles a charge. Some spending would stay deductible. That includes talks with a union that already represents the workers, grievance handling, required workplace postings, and spending by unions themselves. Companies that spend this way would have to report it on their tax return. A missing or wrong report would cost at least $10,000, or $1,000 per full-time worker if that is more. Firms hired to run these efforts would file their own reports naming who paid them. Those reports go to the IRS, not to the public. The rules would apply to money spent in tax years starting 240 days after the bill became law. That is roughly eight months out.
Congressional Summary
This bill excludes from the tax deduction for ordinary and necessary business expenses amounts paid or incurred to influence employees with respect to labor organizations or labor organization activities. The bill also imposes information reporting requirements related to such expenses and imposes penalties for failure to comply. Under the bill, amounts paid to influence employees with respect to labor organizations include amounts paid (including wages and other costs) in connection with an action that results in a complaint or settlement related to an unfair labor practice or a finding of interference, influence, or coercion related to railway employees’ rights to organize and bargain collectively;for any meeting or training attended by employees and at which labor organizations are discussed; andthat require certain employer disclosures and financial reporting.(Some exceptions apply.) The bill requires employers to file a return reporting certain information related to expenses paid to influence employees with respect to labor organizations and imposes a penalty for noncompliance. The amount of the penalty is the greater of (1) $10,000, or (2) $1,000 multiplied by the number full-time equivalent employees. Additional penalties apply for violations that continue for more than 90 days. The bill also imposes information reporting requirements on persons conducting activities on behalf of another person to influence employees with respect to labor organizations.The bill allows certain penalties for noncompliance with the reporting requirements to be waived if noncompliance is due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-04-04
- Date Added
- 2026-04-09
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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