Report Title:

Reciprocal Beneficiaries; Taxation

 

Description:

Excludes from gross income, adjusted gross income, and taxable income the value of health insurance and other direct or indirect benefits provided by an employer to an employee in excess of what the employer provides or would provide to single employees when such benefits are provided to the employee due to the employee's status as a reciprocal beneficiary or a domestic partner. (HB2456 HD1)

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2456

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO TAXATION.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 235-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a) There shall be excluded from gross income, adjusted gross income, and taxable income:

     (1)  Income not subject to taxation by the State under the Constitution and laws of the United States;

     (2)  Rights, benefits, and other income exempted from taxation by section 88-91, having to do with the state retirement system, and the rights, benefits, and other income, comparable to the rights, benefits, and other income exempted by section 88-91, under any other public retirement system;

     (3)  Any compensation received in the form of a pension for past services;

     (4)  Compensation paid to a patient affected with Hansen's disease employed by the State or the United States in any hospital, settlement, or place for the treatment of Hansen's disease;

     (5)  Except as otherwise expressly provided, payments made by the United States or this State, under an act of Congress or a law of this State, which by express provision or administrative regulation or interpretation are exempt from both the normal and surtaxes of the United States, even though not so exempted by the Internal Revenue Code itself;

     (6)  Any income expressly exempted or excluded from the measure of the tax imposed by this chapter by any other law of the State, it being the intent of this chapter not to repeal or supersede any express exemption or exclusion;

     (7)  Income received by each member of the reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States of America, and the Hawaii national guard as compensation for performance of duty, equivalent to pay received for forty-eight drills (equivalent of twelve weekends) and fifteen days of annual duty, at an:

         (A)  E-1 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2004;

         (B)  E-2 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2005;

         (C)  E-3 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2006;

         (D)  E-4 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2007; and

         (E)  E-5 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008;

     (8)  Income derived from the operation of ships or aircraft if the income is exempt under the Internal Revenue Code pursuant to the provisions of an income tax treaty or agreement entered into by and between the United States and a foreign country; provided that the tax laws of the local governments of that country reciprocally exempt from the application of all of their net income taxes, the income derived from the operation of ships or aircraft that are documented or registered under the laws of the United States;

     (9)  The value of legal services provided by a prepaid legal service plan to a taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and the taxpayer's dependents;

    (10)  Amounts paid, directly or indirectly, by a prepaid legal service plan to a taxpayer as payment or reimbursement for the provision of legal services to the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and the taxpayer's dependents;

    (11)  Contributions by an employer to a prepaid legal service plan for compensation (through insurance or otherwise) to the employer's employees for the costs of legal services incurred by the employer's employees, their spouses, and their dependents;

    (12)  Amounts received in the form of a monthly surcharge by a utility acting on behalf of an affected utility under section 269-16.3 shall not be gross income, adjusted gross income, or taxable income for the acting utility under this chapter.  Any amounts retained by the acting utility for collection or other costs shall not be included in this exemption; [and]

    (13)  One hundred per cent of the gain realized by a fee simple owner from the sale of a leased fee interest in units within a condominium project, cooperative project, or planned unit development to the association of apartment owners or the residential cooperative corporation of the leasehold units.

          For purposes of this paragraph:

              "Fee simple owner" shall have the same meaning as provided under section 516-1; provided that it shall include legal and equitable owners;

              "Legal and equitable owner", and "leased fee interest" shall have the same meanings as provided under section 516-1; and

              "Condominium project" and "cooperative project" shall have the same meanings as provided under section 514C-1[.]; and

    (14)  The value of health insurance and other direct or indirect benefits provided by an employer to an employee in excess of what the employer provides to single employees, or would provide to single employees, when such benefits are provided to the employee due to the employee's status as a reciprocal beneficiary as defined in chapter 572C or a domestic partner as defined in the administrative rules of the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund.  For the purposes of this paragraph "single employee" means an employee who:

         (A)  Is compensated by the employer directly or indirectly;

         (B)  Is not married;

         (C)  Has no reciprocal beneficiary as defined in chapter 572C; and

         (D)  Has no domestic partner as defined in the administrative rules of the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund."

     SECTION 2.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 3.  This Act, upon its approval, shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008.