Military Spouse Job Continuity Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8036 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against income tax for amounts paid by a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces for a new State license or certification required by reason of a permanent change in the duty station of such member to another State. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 14, 2020 Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Mr. KATKO, Mr. RYAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MOORE, and Mr. KENNEDY) 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 against income tax for amounts paid by a spouse of a member of the Armed Forces for a new State license or certification required by reason of a permanent change in the duty station of such member to another State. 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 ‘‘Military Spouse Job 4 Continuity Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8036.IH H8036 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8036 IH SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR STATE LICENSURE AND CERTIFI- 1 CATION COSTS OF MILITARY SPOUSES ARIS- 2 ING BY REASON OF A PERMANENT CHANGE 3 IN THE DUTY STATION OF THE MEMBER OF 4 THE ARMED FORCES TO ANOTHER STATE. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub- 6 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 7 1986 is amended by inserting after section 30D the fol- 8 lowing new section: 9 ‘‘SEC. 30E. STATE LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATION COSTS 10 OF MILITARY SPOUSE ARISING FROM TRANS- 11 FER OF MEMBER OF ARMED FORCES TO AN- 12 OTHER STATE. 13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an eligible indi- 14 vidual, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax 15 imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an amount 16 equal to the qualified relicensing costs of such individual 17 which are paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the tax- 18 able year. 19 ‘‘(b) MAXIMUM CREDIT.—The credit allowed by this 20 section with respect to each change of duty station shall 21 not exceed $500. 22 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 23 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘eligible 24 individual’ means any individual— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8036.IH H8036 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8036 IH ‘‘(A) who is married to a member of the 1 Armed Forces of the United States at the time 2 that the member moves to another State under 3 a permanent change of station order, and 4 ‘‘(B) who moves to such other State with 5 such member. 6 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED RELICENSING COSTS.—The 7 term ‘qualified relicensing costs’ means costs— 8 ‘‘(A) which are for a license or certification 9 required by the State referred to in paragraph 10 (1) to engage in the profession that such indi- 11 vidual engaged in while within the State from 12 which the individual moved, and 13 ‘‘(B) which are paid or incurred during the 14 period beginning on the date that the orders re- 15 ferred to in paragraph (1)(A) are issued and 16 ending on the date which is 1 year after the re- 17 porting date specified in such orders.’’. 18 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 19 for such subpart A is amended by inserting after the item 20 relating to section 30D the following new item: 21 ‘‘Sec. 30E. State licensure and certification costs of military spouse arising from transfer of member of Armed Forces to another State.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H8036.IH H8036 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8036 IH (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 2 December 31, 2019. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:23 Sep 02, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8036.IH H8036 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS