Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025.
Click any stage to learn more about the legislative process.
This joint resolution disapproves a District of Columbia Council law that had decoupled D.C.'s tax code from several federal tax changes enacted under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including provisions on the standard deduction, tipped wages, and depreciation.
Because Congress used its Home Rule Act authority to block the D.C. law, those D.C. tax provisions are nullified and the prior tax rules — which had automatically matched the new federal provisions — are reinstated.
What this law does
What it does
The resolution disapproves the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025, a law the D.C. Council enacted on December 20, 2025 and transmitted to Congress under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act's review process. Congress's disapproval nullifies that D.C. law entirely. Because D.C. tax law automatically conforms to federal tax law, the D.C. Council's act had decoupled D.C. from certain federal tax changes made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including an increased standard deduction, a tip income exemption, and 100% depreciation for qualified property, while also restoring D.C.'s child tax credit. Disapproving the Council's act reinstates the prior D.C. tax provisions that automatically conformed to those federal changes.
Key provisions
- 1Disapproves the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025 (D.C. Act 26-217), nullifying it under the Home Rule Act review process.
Who is affected
District of Columbia taxpayers, including individuals claiming the standard deduction or tip income exemptions, businesses depreciating qualified property, and families who would have received D.C.'s restored child tax credit under the disapproved Council law. The D.C. government and tax administrators are also affected.
Why it matters
The reversal means D.C. residents and businesses face the tax treatment tied to automatic federal conformity rather than the D.C. Council's separate approach, affecting deductions, tip income taxation, depreciation benefits, and the child tax credit. It also illustrates Congress's continued authority to override D.C. Council legislation under home rule.
What changed
Changes to existing law
Repeals D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025 (D.C. Act 26-217)
Congress nullifies this D.C. Council law, reinstating prior D.C. tax provisions that conformed to federal tax changes.
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- The disapproval of the D.C. Council's tax act
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Became Public Law No: 119-78.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
This joint resolution nullifies legislation enacted by the Council of the District of Columbia (DC) on December 20, 2025, titled DC Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025. The nullification reinstates certain DC tax code provisions that were in place before the enactment of the DC legislation and that address, among other things, the standard tax deduction, taxation of tipped wages, and depreciation of qualified property.
As background, DC automatically adopts, as DC law, changes to federal tax law (known as rolling conformity). Upon enactment of H.R.1 (commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act), its tax provisions became DC law, including provisions that increase the standard tax deduction, exempt tips from taxable income, and provide for an elective 100% depreciation allowance for nonresidential real property. The DC legislation subsequently decoupled the DC tax code from these and other tax provisions that originated in H.R.1, and it amended several other provisions in the DC tax code, including restoring the DC child tax credit.
Legislative subjects
District of Columbia; Government Operations and Politics; Income tax deductions; State and local finance; State and local government operations; Tax administration and collection, taxpayers; Wages and earnings