To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for small business concerns, and for other purposes.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 159 To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to estab- lish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for small business concerns, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 3, 2019 Mr. EVANS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Small Busi- ness, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To require the Administrator of the Small Business Adminis- tration to establish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for small business concerns, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H159.IH H159 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 159 IH SECTION 1. GRANTS TO SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT 1 CENTERS AND WOMEN’S BUSINESS CENTERS 2 TO ADDRESS RISING COSTS OF TAX COMPLI- 3 ANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS. 4 (a) GRANT AUTHORITY.—The Administrator of the 5 Small Business Administration may award a grant under 6 this section to a small business development center or a 7 women’s business center for the purposes of assisting own- 8 ers of small business concerns in complying with the Inter- 9 nal Revenue Code of 1986 and communicating with the 10 Internal Revenue Service. 11 (b) APPLICATION.—Each applicant for a grant under 12 this section shall submit to the Administrator an applica- 13 tion in such form as the Administrator may require. The 14 application shall include information regarding the appli- 15 cant’s goals and objectives for helping address the con- 16 cerns of owners of small business concerns related to com- 17 pliance with the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 18 (c) APPLICABILITY OF GRANT REQUIREMENTS.—An 19 applicant for a grant under this section shall comply with 20 all of the requirements applicable to a grantee under sec- 21 tion 21 or section 29 of the Small Business Act, except 22 that the matching funds requirements of such sections 23 shall not apply. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H159.IH H159 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 159 IH (d) USE OF FUNDS.—A recipient of a grant under 1 this section shall use the grant only for the purposes de- 2 scribed in subsection (a), including working with— 3 (1) the Internal Revenue Service, including 4 local offices of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate, 5 to help reduce tax compliance costs for such owners; 6 and 7 (2) owners of small business concerns who are 8 subject to an audit by the Internal Revenue Service. 9 (e) MINIMUM GRANT AMOUNT.—A grant awarded 10 under this section may not be in an amount less than 11 $200,000. 12 (f) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS AND CONTRACTS.— 13 The Administrator may enter into a cooperative agree- 14 ment or contract with the recipient of a grant under this 15 section to provide additional assistance for the purposes 16 described in subsection (a). 17 (g) REPORT TO ADMINISTRATOR.—Not later than 18 18 months after the date of receipt of a grant under this sec- 19 tion, the recipient of the grant shall submit to the Admin- 20 istrator a report describing how the grant funds were 21 used. 22 (h) EVALUATION OF PROGRAM.—Not later than 3 23 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Ad- 24 ministrator shall submit to Congress a report that con- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H159.IH H159 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 159 IH tains an evaluation of the grant program established 1 under this section. 2 (i) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 3 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 4 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Small Busi- 5 ness Administration. 6 (2) SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN.—The term 7 ‘‘small business concern’’ has the meaning given 8 such term under section 3 of the Small Business Act 9 (15 U.S.C. 632). 10 (3) SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CEN- 11 TER.—The term ‘‘small business development cen- 12 ter’’ has the meaning given such term in section 3 13 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632). 14 (4) WOMEN’S BUSINESS CENTER.—The term 15 ‘‘women’s business center’’ means a women’s busi- 16 ness center described under section 29 of the Small 17 Business Act (15 U.S.C. 656). 18 (j) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—The Adminis- 19 trator may carry out this section only with amounts appro- 20 priated specifically to carry out this section under sub- 21 section (k). 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H159.IH H159 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 159 IH (k) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 1 authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 2 $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2020 and 2021. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:03 Jan 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H159.IH H159 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS