Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

With bipartisan support, House passes tax conformity bill

Rep. Aisha Gomez speaks on the House Floor Jan. 9 about HF31, a bill she sponsors that would conform certain Minnesota tax provisions with federal tax standards. The bill passed the House on a 132-0 vote. (Photo by Catherine Davis)
Rep. Aisha Gomez speaks on the House Floor Jan. 9 about HF31, a bill she sponsors that would conform certain Minnesota tax provisions with federal tax standards. The bill passed the House on a 132-0 vote. (Photo by Catherine Davis)

On the seventh day, the House didn’t rest, but instead passed its first bill of 2023.

By a 132-0 vote, the House passed HF31, which would bring the state’s tax code into conformity with federal tax law on 46 provisions that have been signed into law by U.S. presidents since 2019.

Sponsored by Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-Mpls), the bill’s changes would — according to the Revenue Department — need to be signed into law by Friday for the department to make the appropriate changes on state tax forms in time for filing.

The Senate is slated to consider an almost identical bill (SF25) Wednesday.

Minnesota House passes tax conformity bill, HF31 1/9/23

The bills have been amended in both bodies to extend the deadline for amended filings pertaining to previous tax years, as the bills’ provisions will inspire many individuals and corporations to amend their filings for tax years 2019 through 2021.

In touting the House bill, Gomez spoke of how it addresses tax treatment for student loans and the hospitality industry, such as for restaurants and performance venues affected by the pandemic.

“The shuttered venues provision really, really needs to be taken care of,” Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston) said. “That and all of the other conformity pieces are really going to help the people of Minnesota.”

The simplest summary of the bill is this: Any state taxes that reference either federal adjusted gross income or federal taxable income will be altered, as definitions for calculating those two figures have been changed by seven federal acts since late 2019. Those acts have borne such nicknames as the CARES Act, the American Rescue Plan Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Updates at the state level mostly pertain to additions, subtractions, deductions and credits that would be changed because of a new definition of federal adjusted gross income or federal taxable income. Included among them are charitable contribution deductions, the dependent care credit and working family credit, and property tax refunds.

Rep. Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) was encouraged by the bipartisanship that went into crafting the bill.

“I hope that this is a sign of things to come that, for those items that we do agree on, we can work on both sides of the aisle to enact those things individually, as single bills,” he said.


Related Articles


Priority Dailies

House passes tax package that includes rebate checks, $1 billion in new revenues
Rep. Aisha Gomez and House Majority Leader Jamie Long talk during a break in the May 20 debate on HF1938, the tax finance and policy bill. (Photo by Catherine Davis) Is it the largest tax cut in Minnesota history? Or the biggest tax hike the state has ever experienced? Could it be both? That’s the crux of the debate about the conference ...
House passes finalized cannabis legalization bill, sends it to Senate
A supporter of cannabis legalization demonstrates in front of the Capitol in 2021. The House repassed a bill to legalize recreational cannabis, as amended in conference committee, May 18 and sent HF100 to the Senate. (House Photography file photo) The House gave the green light to adult-use recreational cannabis Thursday. “The day has finally arrived. Today is the day that we are going to vote here in the House for th...

Minnesota House on Twitter