April 14, 2026
Ms. Pettersen (for herself and Ms. Salazar) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow additional catch-up contributions for certain family caregivers.
Section 1. Short title
This Act may be cited as the Catching Up Family Caregivers Act of 2026
.
Sec. 2. Additional catch-up contributions for certain family caregivers
(a) In general
Subparagraph (A) of section 414(v)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended—
(1)
by striking who would
and inserting “who—
(i)
would,
(2)
by adding or
at the end, and
(3)
by adding at the end the following new clause:
(ii)
is a qualified family caregiver for the taxable year,
(b) Qualified family caregiver
Paragraph (6) of section 414(v) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
(D) Qualified family caregiver
(i) In general
Except as provided in clause (ii), the term qualified family caregiver means an individual who—
(I)
has completed 500 or more hours as a family caregiver during the taxable year or any 1 previous taxable year, and
(II)
during the same taxable year, has completed fewer than 500 hours of paid employment (including self-employment).
(ii) Limitation
An individual shall be treated as a qualified family caregiver for not more than a total of, consecutively or nonconsecutively, the lesser of—
(I)
1 taxable year for each taxable year during which such individual met the requirements of subclauses (I) and (II) of clause (i), or
(II)
5 taxable years.
(iii) Family caregiver
The term family caregiver means an unpaid family member, a foster parent, or another unpaid adult, who is unemployed or severely underemployed (as determined by the Secretary) and who provides in-home care, monitoring, management, supervision, or treatment of—
(I)
a child, or
(II)
an adult with a special need (as defined in section 2901 of the Public Health Service Act), including an elderly adult who requires care or supervision due to an age-related condition.
(iv) Hours
An individual shall be treated as serving as a family caregiver during the hours in which the individual is engaged in caregiving tasks including assistance with bathing or grooming, dressing, laundry, food shopping or preparation, housekeeping, managing medications, transportation, and mobility assistance.
(v) Plan reliance on self-certification
An applicable employer plan is entitled to rely on the written representation of an individual that the individual was a qualified family caregiver for a taxable year.
(E) Applicable dollar amount for qualified family caregivers
An individual who is an eligible participant for the taxable year by reason of being a qualified family caregiver shall be treated for purposes of paragraph (2) in the same manner as an eligible participant who would attain age 60 but would not attain age 64 before the close of the taxable year.
(c) IRA catch-up contributions
Clause (i) of section 219(b)(5)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking who has attained the age of 50 before the close of the taxable year, the deductible amount
and inserting “who—
(I)
has attained the age of 50 before the close of the taxable year, or
(II)
is a qualified family caregiver (as defined in section 414(v)(6)(D)) for the taxable year,
the deductible amount
(d) Effective date
The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.