VOW to Hire Heroes Extension Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3550 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 JUNE 27, 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 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 2019’’. 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 striking paragraph (4) 9 and redesignating paragraph (5) as paragraph (4). 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3550 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 2 the employer after December 31, 2018. 3 SEC. 3. SIMPLIFIED CERTIFICATION OF VETERAN STATUS. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (D) of section 5 51(d)(13) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amend- 6 ed to read as follows: 7 ‘‘(D) PRE-SCREENING OF QUALIFIED VET- 8 ERANS.— 9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) 10 shall be applied without regard to sub- 11 clause (II) of clause (ii) thereof in the case 12 of an individual seeking treatment as a 13 qualified veteran with respect to whom the 14 pre-screening notice contains— 15 ‘‘(I) qualified veteran status doc- 16 umentation, 17 ‘‘(II) qualified proof of unemploy- 18 ment compensation, and 19 ‘‘(III) an affidavit furnished by 20 the individual stating, under penalty 21 of perjury, that the information pro- 22 vided under subclauses (I) and (II) is 23 true. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3550 IH ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED VETERAN STATUS 1 DOCUMENTATION.—For purposes of clause 2 (i), the term ‘qualified veteran status docu- 3 mentation’ means any documentation pro- 4 vided to an individual by the Department 5 of Defense or the National Guard upon re- 6 lease or discharge from the Armed Forces 7 which includes information sufficient to es- 8 tablish that such individual is a veteran. 9 ‘‘(iii) QUALIFIED PROOF OF UNEM- 10 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—For purposes 11 of clause (i), the term ‘qualified proof of 12 unemployment compensation’ means, with 13 respect to an individual, checks or other 14 proof of receipt of payment of unemploy- 15 ment compensation to such individual for 16 periods aggregating not less than 4 weeks 17 (in the case of an individual seeking treat- 18 ment under paragraph (3)(A)(iii)), or not 19 less than 6 months (in the case of an indi- 20 vidual seeking treatment under clause 21 (ii)(II) or (iv) of paragraph (3)(A)), during 22 the 1-year period ending on the hiring 23 date.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3550 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 1 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 2 the employer after the date of the enactment of this Act. 3 SEC. 4. CREDIT MADE AVAILABLE AGAINST PAYROLL 4 TAXES IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 52(c) of the Internal Rev- 6 enue Code of 1986 is amended— 7 (1) in the heading by striking ‘‘TAX-EXEMPT 8 ORGANIZATIONS’’ and inserting ‘‘CERTAIN EMPLOY- 9 ERS’’, 10 (2) in paragraph (2)— 11 (A) by striking ‘‘QUALIFIED TAX-EXEMPT 12 ORGANIZATIONS’’ in the heading and inserting 13 ‘‘CERTAIN EMPLOYERS’’, and 14 (B) by striking ‘‘by qualified tax-exempt 15 organizations’’ in the text and inserting ‘‘by 16 certain employers’’. 17 (b) CREDIT ALLOWED TO CERTAIN FOR-PROFIT EM- 18 PLOYERS.— 19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 20 3111(e) of such Code is amended by inserting ‘‘or 21 a qualified for-profit employer’’ after ‘‘If a qualified 22 tax-exempt organization’’. 23 (2) QUALIFIED FOR-PROFIT EMPLOYER DE- 24 FINED.—Paragraph (5) of section 3111(e) of such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3550 IH Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of 1 subparagraph (A), by redesignating subparagraph 2 (B) as subparagraph (C), and by inserting after sub- 3 paragraph (A) the following new subparagraph: 4 ‘‘(B) the term ‘qualified for-profit em- 5 ployer’ means, with respect to a taxable year, 6 an employer not described in subparagraph (A), 7 but only if— 8 ‘‘(i) such employer does not have prof- 9 its for any of the 3 taxable years preceding 10 such taxable year, and 11 ‘‘(ii) such employer elects under sec- 12 tion 51(j) not to have section 51 apply to 13 such taxable year, and’’. 14 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 15 (A) Section 3111(e)(1) of such Code is 16 amended by striking ‘‘with respect to whom a 17 credit would be allowable under section 38 by 18 reason of section 51 if the organization were 19 not a qualified tax-exempt organization’’. 20 (B) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 21 3111(e) of such Code are both amended by in- 22 serting ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ after ‘‘employ- 23 ees of the organization’’ each place it appears. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3550 IH (C) Section 3111(e)(3)(C) of such Code is 1 amended by inserting ‘‘in the case of a qualified 2 tax-exempt organization,’’ before ‘‘by only tak- 3 ing into account’’. 4 (D) Section 3111(e)(4) of such Code is 5 amended by inserting ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ 6 after ‘‘the organization’’. 7 (E) Section 3111(e)(5)(C) of such Code, as 8 redesignated by paragraph (2), is amended to 9 read as follows: 10 ‘‘(C) the term ‘qualified veteran’ means a 11 qualified veteran (within the meaning of section 12 51(d)(3)) with respect to whom a credit would 13 be allowable under section 38 by reason of sec- 14 tion 51 if the employer of such veteran were not 15 a qualified tax-exempt organization or a quali- 16 fied for-profit employer.’’. 17 (c) TRANSFERS TO FEDERAL OLD-AGE AND SUR- 18 VIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There are hereby ap- 19 propriated to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Trust 20 Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund 21 established under section 201 of the Social Security Act 22 (42 U.S.C. 401) amounts equal to the reduction in reve- 23 nues to the Treasury by reason of the amendments made 24 by subsections (a) and (b). Amounts appropriated by the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 3550 IH preceding sentence shall be transferred from the general 1 fund at such times and in such manner as to replicate 2 to the extent possible the transfers which would have oc- 3 curred to such Trust Fund had such amendments not 4 been enacted. 5 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 6 subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to individuals who 7 begin work for the employer after the date of the enact- 8 ment of this Act. 9 SEC. 5. REPORT. 10 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact- 11 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commis- 12 sioner of Internal Revenue, in consultation with the Sec- 13 retary of Labor, shall report to the Congress on the effec- 14 tiveness and cost-effectiveness of the amendments made 15 by sections 2, 3, and 4 in increasing the employment of 16 veterans. Such report shall include the results of a survey, 17 conducted, if needed, in consultation with the Veterans’ 18 Employment and Training Service of the Department of 19 Labor, to determine how many veterans are hired by each 20 employer that claims the credit under section 51, by rea- 21 son of subsection (d)(1)(B) thereof, or 3111(e) of the In- 22 ternal Revenue Code of 1986. 23 SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF POSSESSIONS. 24 (a) PAYMENTS TO POSSESSIONS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •HR 3550 IH (1) MIRROR CODE POSSESSIONS.—The Sec- 1 retary of the Treasury shall pay to each possession 2 of the United States with a mirror code tax system 3 amounts equal to the loss to that possession by rea- 4 son of the amendments made by this Act. Such 5 amounts shall be determined by the Secretary of the 6 Treasury based on information provided by the gov- 7 ernment of the respective possession of the United 8 States. 9 (2) OTHER POSSESSIONS.—The Secretary of 10 the Treasury shall pay to each possession of the 11 United States which does not have a mirror code tax 12 system the amount estimated by the Secretary of the 13 Treasury as being equal to the loss to that posses- 14 sion that would have occurred by reason of the 15 amendments made by this Act if a mirror code tax 16 system had been in effect in such possession. The 17 preceding sentence shall not apply with respect to 18 any possession of the United States unless such pos- 19 session establishes to the satisfaction of the Sec- 20 retary that the possession has implemented (or, at 21 the discretion of the Secretary, will implement) an 22 income tax benefit which is substantially equivalent 23 to the income tax credit in effect after the amend- 24 ments made by this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •HR 3550 IH (b) COORDINATION WITH CREDIT ALLOWED 1 AGAINST UNITED STATES INCOME TAXES.—The credit 2 allowed against United States income taxes for any tax- 3 able year under the amendments made by this Act to sec- 4 tion 51 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to any per- 5 son with respect to any qualified veteran shall be reduced 6 by the amount of any credit (or other tax benefit described 7 in subsection (a)(2)) allowed to such person against in- 8 come taxes imposed by the possession of the United States 9 by reason of this section with respect to such qualified 10 veteran for such taxable year. 11 (c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 12 (1) POSSESSION OF THE UNITED STATES.—For 13 purposes of this section, the term ‘‘possession of the 14 United States’’ includes American Samoa, Guam, 15 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 16 lands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the 17 United States Virgin Islands. 18 (2) MIRROR CODE TAX SYSTEM.—For purposes 19 of this section, the term ‘‘mirror code tax system’’ 20 means, with respect to any possession of the United 21 States, the income tax system of such possession if 22 the income tax liability of the residents of such pos- 23 session under such system is determined by ref- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •HR 3550 IH erence to the income tax laws of the United States 1 as if such possession were the United States. 2 (3) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For purposes 3 of section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United States 4 Code, the payments under this section shall be treat- 5 ed in the same manner as a refund due from credit 6 provisions described in such section. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:50 Jul 09, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3550.IH H3550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS