Catching Up Family Caregivers Act of 2026

This Act may be cited as the Catching Up Family Caregivers Act of 2026.
Subparagraph (A) of section 414(v)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended—
by striking who would and inserting “who—
would
by adding or at the end, and
by adding at the end the following new clause:
is a qualified family caregiver for the taxable year,
Paragraph (6) of section 414(v) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraphs:
Except as provided in clause (ii), the term qualified family caregiver means an individual who—
has completed 500 or more hours as a family caregiver during the taxable year or any 1 previous taxable year, and
during the same taxable year, has completed fewer than 500 hours of paid employment (including self-employment).
An individual shall be treated as a qualified family caregiver for not more than a total of, consecutively or nonconsecutively, the lesser of—
1 taxable year for each taxable year during which such individual met the requirements of subclauses (I) and (II) of clause (i), or
5 taxable years.
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—
a child, or
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.
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.
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.
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.
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—
has attained the age of 50 before the close of the taxable year, or
is a qualified family caregiver (as defined in section 414(v)(6)(D)) for the taxable year,
The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2026.