VOW to Hire Heroes Extension Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2963 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the work opportunity credit for hiring veterans, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 4, 2021 Ms. BROWNLEY 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 extend the work opportunity credit for hiring veterans, 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 ‘‘VOW to Hire Heroes 4 Extension Act of 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT FOR 6 VETERANS. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 51(c) of the Internal Rev- 8 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2963 IH following: ‘‘The preceding sentence shall not apply in the 1 case of amounts paid or incurred to a qualified veteran.’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 3 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 4 the employer after the date of the enactment of this Act. 5 SEC. 3. SIMPLIFIED CERTIFICATION OF VETERAN STATUS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (D) of section 7 51(d)(13) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amend- 8 ed to read as follows: 9 ‘‘(D) PRE-SCREENING OF QUALIFIED VET- 10 ERANS.— 11 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) 12 shall be applied without regard to sub- 13 clause (II) of clause (ii) thereof in the case 14 of an individual seeking treatment as a 15 qualified veteran with respect to whom the 16 pre-screening notice contains— 17 ‘‘(I) qualified veteran status doc- 18 umentation, 19 ‘‘(II) qualified proof of unemploy- 20 ment compensation, and 21 ‘‘(III) an affidavit furnished by 22 the individual stating, under penalty 23 of perjury, that the information pro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2963 IH vided under subclauses (I) and (II) is 1 true. 2 ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED VETERAN STATUS 3 DOCUMENTATION.—For purposes of clause 4 (i), the term ‘qualified veteran status docu- 5 mentation’ means any documentation pro- 6 vided to an individual by the Department 7 of Defense or the National Guard upon re- 8 lease or discharge from the Armed Forces 9 which includes information sufficient to es- 10 tablish that such individual is a veteran. 11 ‘‘(iii) QUALIFIED PROOF OF UNEM- 12 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—For purposes 13 of clause (i), the term ‘qualified proof of 14 unemployment compensation’ means, with 15 respect to an individual, checks or other 16 proof of receipt of payment of unemploy- 17 ment compensation to such individual for 18 periods aggregating not less than 4 weeks 19 (in the case of an individual seeking treat- 20 ment under paragraph (3)(A)(iii)), or not 21 less than 6 months (in the case of an indi- 22 vidual seeking treatment under clause 23 (ii)(II) or (iv) of paragraph (3)(A)), during 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2963 IH the 1-year period ending on the hiring 1 date.’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 3 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 4 the employer after the date of the enactment of this Act. 5 SEC. 4. CREDIT MADE AVAILABLE AGAINST PAYROLL 6 TAXES IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. 7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 52(c) of the Internal Rev- 8 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 9 (1) in the heading by striking ‘‘TAX-EXEMPT 10 ORGANIZATIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘CERTAIN EMPLOY- 11 ERS’’, 12 (2) in paragraph (2)— 13 (A) by striking ‘‘QUALIFIED TAX-EXEMPT 14 ORGANIZATIONS’’ in the heading and inserting 15 ‘‘CERTAIN EMPLOYERS’’, and 16 (B) by striking ‘‘by qualified tax-exempt 17 organizations’’ in the text and inserting ‘‘by 18 certain employers’’. 19 (b) CREDIT ALLOWED TO CERTAIN FOR-PROFIT EM- 20 PLOYERS.— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 22 3111(e) of such Code is amended by inserting ‘‘or 23 a qualified for-profit employer’’ after ‘‘If a qualified 24 tax-exempt organization’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2963 IH (2) QUALIFIED FOR-PROFIT EMPLOYER DE- 1 FINED.—Paragraph (5) of section 3111(e) of such 2 Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of 3 subparagraph (A), by redesignating subparagraph 4 (B) as subparagraph (C), and by inserting after sub- 5 paragraph (A) the following new subparagraph: 6 ‘‘(B) the term ‘qualified for-profit em- 7 ployer’ means, with respect to a taxable year, 8 an employer not described in subparagraph (A), 9 but only if— 10 ‘‘(i) such employer does not have prof- 11 its for any of the 3 taxable years preceding 12 such taxable year, and 13 ‘‘(ii) such employer elects under sec- 14 tion 51(j) not to have section 51 apply to 15 such taxable year, and’’. 16 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 17 (A) Section 3111(e)(1) of such Code is 18 amended by striking ‘‘with respect to whom a 19 credit would be allowable under section 38 by 20 reason of section 51 if the organization were 21 not a qualified tax-exempt organization’’. 22 (B) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 23 3111(e) of such Code are both amended by in- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2963 IH serting ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ after ‘‘employ- 1 ees of the organization’’ each place it appears. 2 (C) Section 3111(e)(3)(C) of such Code is 3 amended by inserting ‘‘in the case of a qualified 4 tax-exempt organization,’’ before ‘‘by only tak- 5 ing into account’’. 6 (D) Section 3111(e)(4) of such Code is 7 amended by inserting ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ 8 after ‘‘the organization’’. 9 (E) Section 3111(e)(5)(C) of such Code, as 10 redesignated by paragraph (2), is amended to 11 read as follows: 12 ‘‘(C) the term ‘qualified veteran’ means a 13 qualified veteran (within the meaning of section 14 51(d)(3)) with respect to whom a credit would 15 be allowable under section 38 by reason of sec- 16 tion 51 if the employer of such veteran were not 17 a qualified tax-exempt organization or a quali- 18 fied for-profit employer.’’. 19 (c) TRANSFERS TO FEDERAL OLD-AGE AND SUR- 20 VIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There are hereby ap- 21 propriated to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Trust 22 Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund 23 established under section 201 of the Social Security Act 24 (42 U.S.C. 401) amounts equal to the reduction in reve- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2963 IH nues to the Treasury by reason of the amendments made 1 by subsections (a) and (b). Amounts appropriated by the 2 preceding sentence shall be transferred from the general 3 fund at such times and in such manner as to replicate 4 to the extent possible the transfers which would have oc- 5 curred to such Trust Fund had such amendments not 6 been enacted. 7 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 8 subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to individuals who 9 begin work for the employer after the date of the enact- 10 ment of this Act. 11 SEC. 5. REPORT. 12 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact- 13 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commis- 14 sioner of Internal Revenue, in consultation with the Sec- 15 retary of Labor, shall report to the Congress on the effec- 16 tiveness and cost-effectiveness of the amendments made 17 by sections 2, 3, and 4 in increasing the employment of 18 veterans. Such report shall include the results of a survey, 19 conducted, if needed, in consultation with the Veterans’ 20 Employment and Training Service of the Department of 21 Labor, to determine how many veterans are hired by each 22 employer that claims the credit under section 51, by rea- 23 son of subsection (d)(1)(B) thereof, or 3111(e) of the In- 24 ternal Revenue Code of 1986. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2963 IH SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF POSSESSIONS. 1 (a) PAYMENTS TO POSSESSIONS.— 2 (1) MIRROR CODE POSSESSIONS.—The Sec- 3 retary of the Treasury shall pay to each possession 4 of the United States with a mirror code tax system 5 amounts equal to the loss to that possession by rea- 6 son of the amendments made by this Act. Such 7 amounts shall be determined by the Secretary of the 8 Treasury based on information provided by the gov- 9 ernment of the respective possession of the United 10 States. 11 (2) OTHER POSSESSIONS.—The Secretary of 12 the Treasury shall pay to each possession of the 13 United States which does not have a mirror code tax 14 system the amount estimated by the Secretary of the 15 Treasury as being equal to the loss to that posses- 16 sion that would have occurred by reason of the 17 amendments made by this Act if a mirror code tax 18 system had been in effect in such possession. The 19 preceding sentence shall not apply with respect to 20 any possession of the United States unless such pos- 21 session establishes to the satisfaction of the Sec- 22 retary that the possession has implemented (or, at 23 the discretion of the Secretary, will implement) an 24 income tax benefit which is substantially equivalent 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2963 IH to the income tax credit in effect after the amend- 1 ments made by this Act. 2 (b) COORDINATION WITH CREDIT ALLOWED 3 AGAINST UNITED STATES INCOME TAXES.—The credit 4 allowed against United States income taxes for any tax- 5 able year under the amendments made by this Act to sec- 6 tion 51 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to any per- 7 son with respect to any qualified veteran shall be reduced 8 by the amount of any credit (or other tax benefit described 9 in subsection (a)(2)) allowed to such person against in- 10 come taxes imposed by the possession of the United States 11 by reason of this section with respect to such qualified 12 veteran for such taxable year. 13 (c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 14 (1) POSSESSION OF THE UNITED STATES.—For 15 purposes of this section, the term ‘‘possession of the 16 United States’’ includes American Samoa, Guam, 17 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 18 lands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the 19 United States Virgin Islands. 20 (2) MIRROR CODE TAX SYSTEM.—For purposes 21 of this section, the term ‘‘mirror code tax system’’ 22 means, with respect to any possession of the United 23 States, the income tax system of such possession if 24 the income tax liability of the residents of such pos- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2963 IH session under such system is determined by ref- 1 erence to the income tax laws of the United States 2 as if such possession were the United States. 3 (3) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For purposes 4 of section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United States 5 Code, the payments under this section shall be treat- 6 ed in the same manner as a refund due from credit 7 provisions described in such section. 8 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:50 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2963.IH H2963 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS