Bill makes AmeriCorps school awards tax-free
S. 5533 — Segal AmeriCorps Education Award Tax Relief Act of 2026 · Filed by Michael Bennet (D-CO) · 7 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 24, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill changes tax law. AmeriCorps workers no longer pay income tax on school awards they earn. Right now, these awards count as income and people must pay taxes on them. The bill removes that tax. It applies to all past years after the bill passes. People may get refunds for taxes they already paid.
Who it affects
AmeriCorps workers gain the most. These are young adults from lower-income groups who do national service work. They will owe less in federal taxes on their school awards.
One thing to notice
The bill lets people file new tax forms for past years. They can claim refunds for taxes they paid on AmeriCorps awards before this law passed.
From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.
Where it stands
7 cosponsors: 4 Republicans, 3 Democrats.
- Sep 24, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 24, 2026 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Words to know
- AmeriCorps — A federal program where people do national service work and earn school awards.
- school awards — Money AmeriCorps workers earn to pay for school or repay student loans.
- income tax — Money the federal government takes from what people earn.
- refunds — Money the government gives back when someone paid too much in taxes.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,139 characters) on Oct 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
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