STARTS Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 306 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to temporarily increase the educator expense deduction to facilitate the purchase of personal protec- tive equipment and cleaning supplies during the COVID–19 pandemic, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 13, 2021 Mr. EMMER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to temporarily increase the educator expense deduction to facilitate the purchase of personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies during the COVID–19 pandemic, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Teachers Assist- 4 ance and Return To School Act of 2021’’ or the 5 ‘‘STARTS Act of 2021’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:41 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 306 IH SEC. 2. DEDUCTION INCREASES FOR CERTAIN EXPENSES 1 OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL 2 TEACHERS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 62(a)(2)(D) of the Inter- 4 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 5 ‘‘(D) CERTAIN EXPENSES OF ELEMENTARY 6 AND SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.— 7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The deductions al- 8 lowed by section 162 which consist of ex- 9 penses, not in excess of— 10 ‘‘(I) $250, paid or incurred by an 11 eligible educator— 12 ‘‘(aa) by reason of the par- 13 ticipation of the educator in pro- 14 fessional development courses re- 15 lated to the curriculum in which 16 the educator provides instruction 17 or to the students for which the 18 educator provides instruction, 19 and 20 ‘‘(bb) in connection with 21 books, supplies (other than non- 22 athletic supplies for courses of in- 23 struction in health or physical 24 education), computer equipment 25 (including related software and 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:41 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 306 IH services) and other equipment, 1 and supplementary materials 2 used by the eligible educator in 3 the classroom. 4 ‘‘(ii) TEMPORARY INCREASE IN DE- 5 DUCTION TO SUPPORT PURCHASES OF 6 PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT AND 7 CLEANING SUPPLIES DUE TO THE COVID– 8 19 NATIONAL EMERGENCY.— 9 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—For the pur- 10 pose of facilitating the purchase of 11 personal protective equipment neces- 12 sitated by the COVID–19 national 13 emergency, in the case of an expense 14 described in clause (i) and paid or in- 15 curred in taxable years 2020 or 16 2021— 17 ‘‘(aa) such clause shall be 18 applied by substituting ‘$1,000’ 19 for ‘$250’, and 20 ‘‘(bb) $750 of such $1,000 21 may only be used for the purpose 22 of purchasing personal protective 23 equipment or cleaning supplies to 24 combat the spread of COVID–19. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:41 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 306 IH ‘‘(II) UNUSED DEDUCTION IN 1 TAXABLE YEAR 2020 MAY BE CARRIED 2 TO TAXABLE YEAR 2021.—Any unused 3 deduction or portion of such deduction 4 remaining after application of sub- 5 clause (I) with respect to taxable year 6 2020 shall be treated as a deduction 7 allowable with respect to taxable year 8 2021.’’. 9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 10 this section shall apply with respect to taxable years begin- 11 ning after December 31, 2019. 12 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:41 Feb 08, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS