US Federal House Bill HB4184

US Federal 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 6/26/25
• Refer: 6/26/25

Caption

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude from gross income certain compensation to clinical trial participants, and for other purposes.

Summary

HB4184 would amend the Internal Revenue Code to create a new tax exclusion for certain payments made to people who participate in approved clinical trials. Under the bill, gross income would not include qualified clinical trial payments, which are defined to cover both compensation for participation and reimbursements for reasonable and necessary expenses connected to participation by the individual or a dependent in an approved clinical trial. The bill also adds a conforming clerical amendment to the tax code’s table of sections. In addition to the tax change, the bill would require that qualified clinical trial payments not be counted as income or resources when determining eligibility for benefits or assistance under federal programs, or under state or local programs that are financed in whole or in part with federal funds. The bill applies prospectively to amounts paid after December 31, 2025.

Impact

The bill would add a new section 139J to the Internal Revenue Code and would effectively shield qualifying clinical trial compensation from federal income taxation. It would also override income- and resource-based eligibility calculations for a wide range of federal and federally funded state or local benefit programs, meaning these payments could not be used to reduce or deny assistance. The practical effect would be to make participation in approved clinical trials less financially risky for patients and their dependents, while requiring agencies administering means-tested programs to disregard these payments.

Sentiment

There is no recorded committee transcript or vote history in the provided materials, so no formal debate or roll-call sentiment is available. Based on the bill’s sponsors and its subject matter, the measure appears to be framed as a patient-support and medical-research access bill, with an emphasis on reducing barriers to clinical trial participation. The absence of opposition data means sentiment can only be characterized as generally favorable or at least noncontroversial from the available record.

Contention

The bill’s main policy issue is whether clinical trial payments should be treated as taxable income and whether they should count against eligibility for means-tested benefits. Supporters are likely to argue that taxing these payments or counting them as resources discourages participation in research and can unfairly penalize patients and families who incur costs while helping advance medical science. Potential concerns, though not documented in the record provided, could include the fiscal cost of excluding these amounts from income and benefit calculations, the administrative burden on agencies, and the possibility of defining or verifying which trials and payments qualify.