Requiring Excise for Migrant Income Transfers Act” or the “REMIT Act.

What the REMIT Act does, in plain terms, is dramatically raise and restructure a federal excise tax on money people in the United States send abroad through money transmitters and similar services. It raises the stated tax rate on remittance transfers from 1 percent to 15 percent, then carves out a path to avoid or later recover the tax for U.S. citizens and U.S. nationals—provided the transfer is done through a provider that agrees to verify citizenship/national status under Treasury rules, or the sender follows specific steps to certify and report their intent to claim a refund later. Everyone else—lawful permanent residents, other legal non‑citizens, and undocumented immigrants—would face the full 15 percent unless Congress later creates more exceptions.

The bill’s core change is the 15 percent rate in section 4475(a). That is a very large increase relative to typical remittance fees in the marketplace and would instantly make formal, regulated remittance channels far more expensive for many senders. To blunt effects on U.S. citizens and nationals, the bill creates two relief mechanisms. First, it exempts transfers made by “verified United States senders” when they use a “qualified remittance transfer provider.” A provider becomes “qualified” by entering a written agreement with the Treasury to verify citizenship/national status using procedures the Secretary sets. If a citizen or national is verified at the point of sale with a qualified provider, the 15 percent excise simply does not apply to that transfer.

Second, the bill adds a new refundable income tax credit (new section 36C) equal to the remittance excise taxes paid by a citizen or national during the tax year. But there are important strings attached. To claim the refund, the taxpayer must include Social Security numbers (and a spouse’s if married), prove they actually paid the excise, and show that at the time of the transfer they gave the provider a specific certification and information (name, address, SSN) signaling intent to claim the credit. That means a citizen who pays the excise through a non‑qualified provider cannot simply discover the credit later at tax time and get their money back unless they had provided the required certification and information at the point of transfer. The credit is refundable, so it can be paid even if the individual owes no income tax.