---
type: "Bill"
title: "Income tax, state; innocent spouse tax relief."
description: "Income tax; innocent spouse tax relief. Authorizes the Department of Taxation to grant relief to a taxpayer liable for payment of all or part of any unpaid tax, assessment, or other deficiency that is owed due to a mistake made by such taxpayer's spouse on a joint tax return, regardless of whether the taxpayer claimed such relief from the federal government."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2026"
identifier: "HB 716"
citation: "Virginia HB 716 (2026)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Karen R. \"Kacey\" Carnegie"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 25
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2026-01-13"
last_action: "2026-04-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/58fbdde7-ae99-47c2-b05a-fc21729a640e"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/bill-details/20261/HB716"
source_hash: "2a8189f624c129824741729badde22652ee58c33c78c9a0267005b2a284d0fe6"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia HB 716 (2026) — Income tax, state; innocent spouse tax relief.

Income tax; innocent spouse tax relief. Authorizes the Department of Taxation to grant relief to a taxpayer liable for payment of all or part of any unpaid tax, assessment, or other deficiency that is owed due to a mistake made by such taxpayer's spouse on a joint tax return, regardless of whether the taxpayer claimed such relief from the federal government.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1085616.PDF)
2. **Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1216796.PDF)
3. **Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1199407.PDF)

## Votes

- Subcommittee recommends reporting — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- Reported from Finance — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- Passage R — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- H VOTE: — **98–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations — **15–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Karen R. "Kacey" Carnegie — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2026-01-13** Prefiled and ordered printed; Offered 01-14-2026 26105268D `filing, introduction`
- **2026-01-13** Referred to Committee on Finance `referral-committee`
- **2026-01-25** Fiscal Impact statement From TAX (1/25/2026 4:01 pm)
- **2026-01-26** Subcommittee recommends reporting (10-Y 0-N)
- **2026-01-28** Reported from Finance (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-01-30** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2026-02-02** Read second time and engrossed `reading-2`
- **2026-02-03** Read third time and passed House (98-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage, reading-3`
- **2026-02-04** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 1st reading)
- **2026-02-04** Referred to Committee on Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2026-03-03** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2026-03-03** Rules suspended
- **2026-03-03** Constitutional reading dispensed (on 2nd reading) (40-Y 0-N 0-A)
- **2026-03-03** Passed by for the day (Voice Vote)
- **2026-03-04** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2026-03-04** Passed Senate (40-Y 0-N 0-A) `passage`
- **2026-03-11** Enrolled `enrolled`
- **2026-03-11** Bill text as passed House and Senate (HB716ER) `passage`
- **2026-03-11** Fiscal Impact statement From TAX (3/11/2026 2:16 pm)
- **2026-03-11** Signed by President `passage`
- **2026-03-12** Signed by Speaker `passage`
- **2026-03-14** Enrolled Bill communicated to Governor on March 14, 2026 `enrolled, executive-receipt`
- **2026-03-14** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 13, 2026 `executive-receipt`
- **2026-04-06** Approved by Governor-Chapter 210 (effective 7/1/2026) `executive-signature`
- **2026-04-06** Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0210)

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/58fbdde7-ae99-47c2-b05a-fc21729a640e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).