A bill to provide for a credit against employment taxes for certain workplace safety expenses, and for other purposes.

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4178 To provide for a credit against employment taxes for certain workplace safety expenses, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 2, 2020 Ms. SINEMA (for herself and Mr. CRAMER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To provide for a credit against employment taxes for certain workplace safety expenses, 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. TAX CREDIT FOR SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an eligible em- 4 ployer, there shall be allowed as a credit against applicable 5 employment taxes for each calendar quarter an amount 6 equal to 50 percent of the qualified expenses paid or in- 7 curred by such employer during such calendar quarter. 8 (b) LIMITATIONS AND REFUNDABILITY.— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4178 IS (1) LIMITATION.—The qualified fixed expenses 1 which may be taken into account under subsection 2 (a) by any eligible employer for any calendar quarter 3 shall not exceed— 4 (A) in the case of any calendar quarter be- 5 ginning in 2020, $500,000, and 6 (B) in the case of any calendar quarter be- 7 ginning after 2020, $250,000. 8 (2) CREDIT LIMITED TO CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT 9 TAXES.—The credit allowed by subsection (a) with 10 respect to any calendar quarter shall not exceed the 11 applicable employment taxes for such calendar quar- 12 ter (reduced by any credits allowed under sub- 13 sections (e) and (f) of section 3111 of such Code, 14 sections 7001 and 7003 of the Families First 15 Coronavirus Response Act, and section 2301 of the 16 CARES Act, for such quarter) on the wages paid 17 with respect to the employment of all the employees 18 of the eligible employer for such calendar quarter. 19 (3) REFUNDABILITY OF EXCESS CREDIT.— 20 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the amount of the 21 credit under subsection (a) exceeds the limita- 22 tion of paragraph (2) for any calendar quarter, 23 such excess shall be treated as an overpayment 24 that shall be refunded under sections 6402(a) 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4178 IS and 6413(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1 1986. 2 (B) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For pur- 3 poses of section 1324 of title 31, United States 4 Code, any amounts due to an employer under 5 this paragraph shall be treated in the same 6 manner as a refund due from a credit provision 7 referred to in subsection (b)(2) of such section. 8 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 9 (1) APPLICABLE EMPLOYMENT TAXES.—The 10 term ‘‘applicable employment taxes’’ means the fol- 11 lowing: 12 (A) The taxes imposed under section 13 3111(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 14 (B) So much of the taxes imposed under 15 section 3221(a) of such Code as are attrib- 16 utable to the rate in effect under section 17 3111(a) of such Code. 18 (2) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER.— 19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible em- 20 ployer’’ means any employer— 21 (i) which was carrying on a trade or 22 business at any time during calendar quar- 23 ter, and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4178 IS (ii) which has not more than 2,000 1 full-time equivalent employees (within the 2 meaning of section 45R(d)(2) of the Inter- 3 nal Revenue Code of 1986) for the taxable 4 year. 5 (B) TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS.—In the 6 case of an organization which is described in 7 section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 8 1986 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) 9 of such Code, subparagraph (A)(i) shall apply 10 to all operations of such organization. 11 (3) QUALIFIED EXPENSES.—For purposes of 12 this section— 13 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘qualified ex- 14 penses’’ means any amount paid or incurred 15 after February 1, 2020, for— 16 (i) qualified equipment and services 17 for the purposes of preventing infection re- 18 lated to SARS–CoV–2, or 19 (ii) the reconfiguration of facilities for 20 such purposes, or 21 (iii) qualified education and training 22 of employees for new business procedures 23 related to preventing COVID–19 trans- 24 mission. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4178 IS (B) QUALIFIED EQUIPMENT AND SERV- 1 ICES.—The term ‘‘qualified equipment and 2 services’’ means— 3 (i) any product or material which— 4 (I) serves as personal protective 5 equipment or as a barrier erected to 6 prevent virus spread between cus- 7 tomers and employees, including 8 plexiglass installed at cashiers and 9 other counters, and partitions to sepa- 10 rate customers, 11 (II) is a disinfectant product reg- 12 istered by the Administrator of the 13 Environmental Protection Agency for 14 which the Administrator of the Envi- 15 ronmental Protection Agency has ap- 16 proved an emerging viral pathogen 17 claim that applies with respect to use 18 against SARS–CoV–2, 19 (III) is a thermometer, or 20 (IV) is approved by the Food and 21 Drug Administration for testing for 22 COVID–19 (including diagnosic test- 23 ing and serology testing to detect 24 antibodies) by the eligible employer, in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4178 IS conjunction with a certified 1 diagnostics laboratory or health care 2 provider, 3 (ii) any— 4 (I) contactless point-of-sale sys- 5 tem, 6 (II) new software and technology 7 to assist in maintaining social 8 distancing, 9 (III) application for reporting 10 employee symptom or providing 11 wellness checks, and 12 (IV) property used to enable 13 curbside pickup or delivery services, 14 (iii) hand sanitizer, 15 (iv) any sign related to public health 16 awareness, social distancing, or altered 17 services such as curbside pickups, and 18 (v) services for— 19 (I) cleaning and disinfecting, or 20 (II) testing for COVID–19 by a 21 certified diagnostics laboratory, and 22 (vi) such other equipment or tech- 23 nology as determined by the Secretary, in 24 consultation with the Secretary of Labor, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4178 IS the Secretary of Health and Human Serv- 1 ices, the Director of the Centers for Dis- 2 ease Control and Prevention, the Commis- 3 sioner of the Food and Drug Administra- 4 tion, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the 5 Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of 6 Agriculture, determines is necessary and 7 appropriate for preventing COVID–19 and 8 is recommended as part of the Federal 9 government’s recommendations for safe 10 workplaces. 11 Such term shall not include any equipment 12 which is not for use in the United States or any 13 service which is not conducted in the United 14 States. 15 (C) QUALIFIED EDUCATION AND TRAIN- 16 ING.—The term ‘‘qualified education and train- 17 ing’’ means education or training provided by 18 an accredited training institution, an industry- 19 recognized trade association, or another non- 20 profit entity. 21 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22 the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s del- 23 egate. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4178 IS (d) AGGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated as a 1 single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of section 52 2 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or subsection (m) 3 or (o) of section 414 of such Code, shall be treated as 4 one employer for purposes of this section. 5 (e) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—For purposes of 6 chapter 1 of such Code, the gross income of any eligible 7 employer, for the taxable year which includes the last day 8 of any calendar quarter with respect to which a credit is 9 allowed under this section, shall be increased by the 10 amount of such credit. 11 (f) ELECTION NOT TO HAVE SECTION APPLY.—This 12 section shall not apply with respect to any eligible em- 13 ployer for any calendar quarter if such employer elects (at 14 such time and in such manner as the Secretary may pre- 15 scribe) not to have this section apply. 16 (g) TRANSFERS TO CERTAIN TRUST FUNDS.—There 17 are hereby appropriated to the Federal Old-Age and Sur- 18 vivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability 19 Insurance Trust Fund established under section 201 of 20 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401) and the Social 21 Security Equivalent Benefit Account established under 22 section 15A(a) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 23 (45 U.S.C. 231n–1(a)) amounts equal to the reduction in 24 revenues to the Treasury by reason of this section (without 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4178 IS regard to this subsection). Amounts appropriated by the 1 preceding sentence shall be transferred from the general 2 fund at such times and in such manner as to replicate 3 to the extent possible the transfers which would have oc- 4 curred to such Trust Fund or Account had this section 5 not been enacted. 6 (h) TREATMENT OF DEPOSITS.—The Secretary shall 7 waive any penalty under section 6656 of such Code for 8 any failure to make a deposit of applicable employment 9 taxes if the Secretary determines that such failure was due 10 to the anticipation of the credit allowed under this section. 11 (i) REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE.—The Secretary 12 shall issue such forms, instructions, regulations, and guid- 13 ance as are necessary— 14 (1) to allow the advance payment of the credit 15 under subsection (a), subject to the limitations pro- 16 vided in this section, based on such information as 17 the Secretary shall require, 18 (2) to provide for the reconciliation of such ad- 19 vance payment with the amount of the credit at the 20 time of filing the return of tax for the applicable 21 quarter or taxable year, 22 (3) with respect to the application of the credit 23 under subsection (a) to third-party payors (including 24 professional employer organizations, certified profes- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4178 IS sional employer organizations, or agents under sec- 1 tion 3504 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), 2 including regulations or guidance allowing such 3 payors to submit documentation necessary to sub- 4 stantiate the eligible employer status of employers 5 that use such payors, 6 (4) for recapturing the benefit of credits deter- 7 mined under this section in cases where there is a 8 subsequent adjustment to the credit determined 9 under subsection (a), and 10 (5) for providing the benefit of the credit under 11 subsection (a) to taxpayers who have already filed 12 returns for calendar quarters ending before the date 13 of the enactment of this Act. 14 (j) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall 15 apply only to qualified fixed expenses paid or accrued in 16 calendar quarters ending on or after February 1, 2020, 17 and beginning before January 1, 2022. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:06 Jul 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4178.IS S4178 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS