Teacher Tax Deduction Enhancement Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4180 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase and expand the above-the-line deduction for certain expenses of school teachers. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 9, 2019 Mr. GRAVES of Missouri (for himself and Mr. CLAY) 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 increase and expand the above-the-line deduction for certain ex- penses of school teachers. 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 ‘‘Teacher Tax Deduc- 4 tion Enhancement Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. ABOVE-THE-LINE DEDUCTION FOR CERTAIN EX- 6 PENSES OF SCHOOL TEACHERS. 7 (a) PRESCHOOL AND CERTAIN PART-TIME TEACH- 8 ERS MADE ELIGIBLE.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4180.IH H4180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4180 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 62(d)(1)(A) of the 1 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read 2 as follows: 3 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE EDUCATOR.—The term ‘eli- 4 gible educator’ means, with respect to any tax- 5 able year, an individual who is— 6 ‘‘(i) a kindergarten through grade 12 7 teacher, instructor, counselor, principal, or 8 aide in a school for at least 450 hours dur- 9 ing a school year which ends during such 10 taxable year, or 11 ‘‘(ii) a teacher, instructor, counselor, 12 or aid in a preschool program for at least 13 450 hours during the taxable year.’’. 14 (2) PRESCHOOL PROGRAM DEFINED.—Section 15 62(d)(1) of such Code is amended by adding at the 16 end the following new subparagraph: 17 ‘‘(C) PRESCHOOL PROGRAM.—The term 18 ‘preschool program’ means any program for 19 providing preschool which— 20 ‘‘(i) receives funds for carrying out 21 preschool programs pursuant to— 22 ‘‘(I) part A of title I of the Ele- 23 mentary and Secondary Education 24 Act of 1965, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4180.IH H4180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4180 IH ‘‘(II) subpart 2 of part B of title 1 I of such Act, or 2 ‘‘(ii) is accredited as a preschool 3 under State law.’’. 4 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 5 (A) Section 62(d)(1) of such Code is 6 amended by striking all that precedes subpara- 7 graph (A) and inserting the following: 8 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of subsection 9 (a)(2)(D) and this subsection—’’. 10 (B) The heading of section 62(a)(2)(D) of 11 such Code is amended by striking ‘‘ELEMEN- 12 TARY AND SECONDARY’’ and inserting ‘‘PRE- 13 SCHOOL, ELEMENTARY, AND SECONDARY’’. 14 (b) INCREASE IN LIMITATION FOR FULL-TIME EDU- 15 CATORS.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 62(a)(2)(D) of such 17 Code is amended by inserting ‘‘(twice such amount 18 in the case of a full-time educator)’’ after ‘‘$250’’. 19 (2) FULL-TIME EDUCATOR DEFINED.—Section 20 62(d)(1) of such Code, as amended by subsection 21 (a)(2), is amended by adding at the end the fol- 22 lowing new subparagraph: 23 ‘‘(D) FULL-TIME EDUCATOR.—The term 24 ‘full-time educator’ means, with respect to any 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4180.IH H4180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4180 IH taxable year, an individual who for such taxable 1 year satisfies the requirements of clause (i) or 2 (ii) of subparagraph (A) applied by substituting 3 ‘900 hours’ for ‘450 hours’ therein.’’. 4 (c) REPEAL OF REDUCTION OF DEDUCTION BY REA- 5 SON OF CERTAIN EXCLUSIONS.—Section 62(d) of such 6 Code is amended by striking paragraph (2) and redesig- 7 nating paragraph (3) as paragraph (2). 8 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 9 this section shall apply to taxable years ending after the 10 date of the enactment of this Act. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Aug 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4180.IH H4180 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS