PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Congressional Research Service
No official summary is available in the imported record yet.
People & committees
Rep. Panetta, Jimmy [D-CA-19] · D–CA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We also preserved the text version used in the PlainBill explanation below.
Source last updated: Jan 9, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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PlainBill explanation
Based on the full Introduced in House · 2025-02-21 text. This explanation has not received human editorial review. This overview describes the proposal’s major provisions; it does not establish what its real-world effects would be.
This bill would make marketplace businesses responsible as importers and sellers for the federal excise tax—a tax on certain goods—on qualifying sales of sporting goods brought into the United States. An exception would apply when someone other than the buyer would already be subject to that tax on the sale.
In the case of any specified marketplace sale of a taxable sporting good article, the marketplace provider with respect to such sale shall be treated for purposes of section 4161 as the importer and seller of such article.
such article is transported to the United States from outside the United States in connection with (including in anticipation of) a sale of such article
Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to any sale if tax under section 4161 would (without regard to paragraph (1)) be imposed on a person other than the purchaser with respect to such sale.
Section 1 would name the bill the Sporting Goods Excise Tax Modernization Act.
This Act may be cited as the Sporting Goods Excise Tax Modernization Act.
A covered marketplace provider would have to perform both functions as a business: host or facilitate product listings or advertisements, and collect buyers' payments while sending some portion to sellers.
the term marketplace provider means any person in the trade or business of— (A) hosting or facilitating listings, or advertisements, of products for sale, and (B) collecting gross receipts from the purchaser and transmitting any portion of such receipts to the seller.
A qualifying sale would require the provider to perform both marketplace functions for that sale, the goods to enter the United States in connection with or anticipation of a sale, and the manufacturer to be someone other than the provider.
the term specified marketplace sale means, with respect to any article, any sale if— (A) a marketplace provider provides the services described in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3) with respect to such sale, (B) such article is transported to the United States from outside the United States in connection with (including in anticipation of) a sale of such article, and (C) the manufacturer of such article is not the marketplace provider referred to in subparagraph (A).
The rule would cover types of goods already subject to tax under Internal Revenue Code section 4161. The bill does not supply a separate list of covered products.
the term taxable sporting good article means any article of a type subject to tax under section 4161.
People or entities treated as related under an existing tax-code definition would count as one person when applying the qualifying-sale and marketplace-provider definitions.
related persons (within the meaning of subsection (b)(3)) shall be treated as one person for purposes of applying paragraphs (2) and (3).
The new importer-and-seller rule would not apply when section 4161 would otherwise impose the tax on someone other than the purchaser. The exception concerns who is subject to tax; it does not say the sale becomes tax-free.
Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to any sale if tax under section 4161 would (without regard to paragraph (1)) be imposed on a person other than the purchaser with respect to such sale.
The Secretary would have to issue regulations or other guidance needed or appropriate to implement the rule. That guidance would include identifying the taxpayer treated as the marketplace provider when related people or entities are combined.
The Secretary shall issue such regulations or other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to carry out the purposes of this subsection, including regulations or other guidance specifying, in the case of the application of paragraph (4), the taxpayer treated as the marketplace provider for purposes of paragraph (1).
The amendment would apply to sales in calendar quarters that begin after the date 60 days following enactment. Its start would therefore depend on enactment and the calendar-quarter schedule.
The amendment made by this section shall apply to sales during calendar quarters beginning after the date that is 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
Being outside the new importer rule would not establish whether a person should still be treated as an importer under the existing sporting-goods tax law.
Section 4162(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall not be applied or interpreted as creating any inference with respect to whether any person not treated as an importer under such section is nonetheless properly treated an importer for purposes of section 4161.
The supplied January 9, 2026 source snapshot records introduction in the House and referral to the House Committee on Ways and Means on February 21, 2025.
Source snapshot updated 2026-01-09T09:07:07Z. 2025-02-21: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. 2025-02-21: Introduced in House
A closer look
Reviewed version: Introduced in House · 2025-02-21. These findings describe provisions and who may benefit; they are not judgments of waste, corruption, or motive.
This review covers the supplied bill text. “None identified” does not rule out provisions in later versions or accompanying reports and disclosures.
Provisions outside the bill’s main subject, or policy changes attached to appropriations.
None identified in the reviewed text
No unrelated provision or policy change attached to appropriations was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not extend to other versions or accompanying materials.
Spending directed to particular recipients or places outside ordinary competitive or formula-based allocation.
None identified in the reviewed text
No congressionally directed spending for particular recipients or places was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. This conclusion does not establish the absence of earmarks in other versions or accompanying materials.
Narrow exceptions, exemptions, or preferential treatment that warrant a closer look.
None identified in the reviewed text
No materially narrow preferential benefit was identified in the complete supplied introduced text. Its generally applicable coverage rules and tax-liability exception do not, by themselves, establish such a benefit. This conclusion is limited to this text version.
Full text preserved for this analysis. Legislative record snapshot: Jan 9, 2026. How PlainBill uses AI