Religious Exemptions for Social Security and Healthcare Taxes Act

This bill, titled the Religious Exemptions for Social Security and Healthcare Taxes Act, would create a new credit or refund for the employee portion of the Federal insurance tax (the Social Security tax currently imposed under Internal Revenue Code section 3101) for individuals who are members of religious faiths that oppose participation in such insurance. To receive the credit or refund, an eligible employee would obtain authorizations under a process modeled on the existing religious exemption from Social Security taxes (the 1402(g) framework). The credit/refund would apply to taxable years beginning after enactment and would be limited by existing tax-credit rules (section 31(b)). In short, the bill would let qualifying religious objectors reclaim the amount of Social Security tax withheld from their wages, via a formal authorization process that mirrors current religious exemption procedures. The text as written focuses on the Social Security tax (section 3101) and does not clearly extend to Medicare or other healthcare taxes, even though the bill’s title references healthcare taxes.