Student Loan Repayment Assistance Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 655 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit for employers providing student loan payment assistance for employees. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 17, 2019 Ms. BROWNLEY of California 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 allow a credit for employers providing student loan payment as- sistance for employees. 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 ‘‘Student Loan Repay- 4 ment Assistance Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub- 7 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 8 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 9 section: 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H655.IH H655 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 655 IH ‘‘SEC. 45T. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT. 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 2 employer-provided student loan repayment credit deter- 3 mined under this section for the taxable year is an amount 4 equal to 10 percent of all qualified student loan repay- 5 ments of the taxpayer for such taxable year. 6 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT.—For 7 purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified student loan 8 repayment’ means, with respect to any employee of an em- 9 ployer, so much of the amounts paid under a student loan 10 repayment program by the employer on behalf of such em- 11 ployee as does not exceed $500 per month. 12 ‘‘(c) STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.—For 13 purposes of this section— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A student loan repayment 15 program is a separate written plan of an employer 16 for the exclusive benefit of his employees to provide 17 such employees with student loan payment assist- 18 ance which meets the requirements of paragraphs 19 (2) through (5). 20 ‘‘(2) DIRECT PAYMENT FOR EMPLOYEE EDU- 21 CATION LOANS.—A plan meets the requirements of 22 this paragraph if payments under the plan are made 23 on behalf of the employee directly to the lender or 24 loan servicer of a qualified education loan (as de- 25 fined in section 221(d)) which was incurred by the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H655.IH H655 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 655 IH employee and is attributable to education furnished 1 to such employee. 2 ‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION AND NON-DISCRIMINA- 3 TION.—A plan meets the requirements of this para- 4 graph if the employer makes the program (and as- 5 sistance provided thereunder) widely available to em- 6 ployees (determined under such regulations as the 7 Secretary shall prescribe to prevent plans from dis- 8 criminating in favor of employees who are highly 9 compensated employees (within the meaning of sec- 10 tion 414(q))). 11 ‘‘(4) REPORTS.—A plan meets the requirements 12 of this paragraph if, for any taxable year for which 13 a credit is allowed under this section, the employer 14 reports to the Secretary (at such time and in such 15 form and manner as the Secretary may prescribe) 16 the number of employees utilizing the plan, the num- 17 ber of employees eligible to participate in the plan, 18 and the terms of such plan. 19 ‘‘(5) NOTICE.—A plan meets the requirements 20 of this paragraph if reasonable notification of the 21 availability and terms of the program are provided 22 to all eligible employees.’’. 23 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS 24 CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by strik- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H655.IH H655 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 655 IH ing ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (31), by striking the 1 period at the end of paragraph (32) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, 2 and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 3 ‘‘(33) the employer-provided student loan re- 4 payment credit determined under section 45T(a).’’. 5 (c) CREDIT REFUNDABLE FOR CERTAIN SMALL EM- 6 PLOYERS.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 38(c) of such Code 8 is amended by redesignating paragraph (6) as para- 9 graph (7) and by inserting after paragraph (5) the 10 following new paragraph: 11 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULES FOR EMPLOYER-PROVIDED 12 STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT CREDIT.— 13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of the em- 14 ployer-provided student loan repayment credit 15 determined under section 45T(a) with respect 16 to a specified small business or any organiza- 17 tion exempt from tax under section 501(a)— 18 ‘‘(i) this section and section 39 shall 19 be applied separately with respect to such 20 credits, 21 ‘‘(ii) in applying paragraph (1) to 22 such credits— 23 ‘‘(I) the tentative minimum tax 24 shall be treated as being zero, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H655.IH H655 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 655 IH ‘‘(II) the limitation under para- 1 graph (1) (as modified by subclause 2 (I)) shall be reduced by the credit al- 3 lowed under subsection (a) for the 4 taxable year (other than the employer- 5 provided student loan repayment cred- 6 it), and 7 ‘‘(iii) the amount of such credits in 8 excess of the limitation under paragraph 9 (1) (as modified by subparagraph (B)(ii)) 10 shall be treated as a credit under subpart 11 C. 12 ‘‘(B) SPECIFIED SMALL BUSINESS.—For 13 purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘specified 14 small business’ means— 15 ‘‘(i) an eligible small business (deter- 16 mined by substituting ‘$5,000,000’ for 17 ‘$50,000,000’ in paragraph (5)(C)), or 18 ‘‘(ii) a corporation, partnership, or 19 sole proprietorship which during the pre- 20 ceding taxable year employed not more 21 than 100 full-time employees. 22 For purposes of clause (ii), an employee shall 23 be considered full-time if such employee is em- 24 ployed at least 30 hours per week for 20 or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H655.IH H655 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 655 IH more calendar weeks in the taxable year and all 1 members of the same controlled group of cor- 2 porations (within the meaning of section 52(a)) 3 and all persons under common control (within 4 the meaning of section 52(b)) shall be treated 5 as 1 person.’’. 6 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 7 (A) Section 38(c)(2)(A)(ii)(II) of such 8 Code is amended by striking ‘‘and the specified 9 credits’’ and inserting ‘‘the specified credits, 10 and the employer-provided student loan repay- 11 ment credit determined under section 45T(a)’’. 12 (B) Section 38(c)(4)(A)(ii)(II) of such 13 Code is amended by inserting ‘‘and the em- 14 ployer-provided student loan repayment credit 15 determined under section 45T(a)’’ after ‘‘speci- 16 fied credits’’. 17 (C) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 18 States Code, is amended by inserting 19 ‘‘38(c)(6),’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 20 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 21 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 22 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol- 23 lowing new item: 24 ‘‘Sec 45T. Student loan repayment program credit.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H655.IH H655 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 655 IH (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 2 the date of the enactment of this Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:56 Jan 31, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H655.IH H655 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS