I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4178 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the work opportunity 

tax credit and to allow small employers a credit against income tax 

for hiring individuals receiving unemployment compensation. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 3, 2015 

Mr. LOWENTHAL (for himself, Ms. KUSTER, and Mr. CA ́RDENAS) 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 tax credit and to allow small employers a credit against income tax for hiring individuals 

receiving unemployment compensation. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Unemployed 

5 Worker Investment Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF WORK OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 51(c)(4) of the Internal 

3 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘December 

4 31, 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 2017’’. 

5 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

6 subsection (a) shall apply to individuals who begin work 

7 for the employer after December 31, 2014. 

8 SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR EMPLOYERS WHO HIRE INDIVIDUALS 

9 RECEIVING UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSA10 TION. 

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 51(d)(1) of the Internal 

12 Revenue Code of 1986 (defining members of targeted 

13 group) is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the end of subpara14 graph (H), by striking the period at the end of subpara15 graph (I) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding at the end 

16 the following new subparagraph: 

17 ‘‘(J) in the case of a small business em18 ployer, a qualified unemployment compensation 

19 recipient.’’. 

20 (b) QUALIFIED UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION

21 RECIPIENT.—Section 51(d) of such Code is amended by 

22 redesignating paragraphs (11) through (14) as para23 graphs (12) through (15), respectively, and by inserting 

24 after paragraph (10) the following new paragraph: 

25 ‘‘(11) QUALIFIED UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSA26 TION RECIPIENT; SMALL BUSINESS EMPLOYER.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

2 unemployment compensation recipient’ means 

3 any individual who is certified by the designated 

4 local agency as— 

5 ‘‘(i) not being a student for at least 6 

6 months during the 1-year period ending on 

7 the hiring date, 

8 ‘‘(ii) being in receipt of unemployment 

9 compensation under State or Federal law 

10 on the hiring date, and 

11 ‘‘(iii) having a hiring date during the 

12 2-year period which begins on the date of 

13 the enactment of this paragraph. 

14 ‘‘(B) SMALL BUSINESS EMPLOYER.—For 

15 purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘small 

16 business employer’ means, with respect to any 

17 hiring date, any employer which employs more 

18 than 10 but fewer than 25 full-time equivalent 

19 employees throughout the taxable year. 

20 ‘‘(C) STUDENT.—For purposes of this 

21 paragraph, a student is an individual enrolled 

22 at least half-time in a program that leads to a 

23 degree, certificate, or other recognized edu24 cational credential for at least 6 months 


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1 (whether or not consecutive) during the 1-year 

2 period ending on the hiring date.’’. 

3 (c) MAXIMUM $4,000 CREDIT PER EMPLOYEE.— 

4 Section 51(b)(3) of such Code is amended by inserting 

5 ‘‘$10,000 per year in the case of any individual who is 

6 a qualified unemployment compensation recipient by rea7 son of subsection (d)(11),’’ after ‘‘$6,000 per year (’’. 

8 (d) DENIAL OF CREDIT UNLESS EMPLOYMENT

9 FULL-TIME FOR 1 YEAR.—Section 51(i)(3) of such Code 

10 (relating to individuals not meeting minimum employment 

11 periods) is amended by adding at the end the following 

12 new subparagraph: 

13 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULES FOR QUALIFIED UN14 EMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION RECIPIENTS.— 

15 No wages shall be taken into account under 

16 subsection (a) with respect to a qualified unem17 ployment compensation recipient unless— 

18 ‘‘(i) such individual is employed by 

19 the employer for not less than 35 hours 

20 per week for not less than 1 year, and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the number of full-time equiva22 lent employees of the employer is increased 

23 by 1 for at least 1 year by reason of such 

24 individual’s employment by the employer.’’. 


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1 (e) CREDIT MADE AVAILABLE TO TAX-EXEMPT EM2 PLOYERS IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 3111(e) of such 

4 Code is amended— 

5 (A) by striking ‘‘QUALIFIED VETERANS’’ 

6 in the subsection heading and inserting 

7 ‘‘QUALIFIED INDIVIDUALS’’, 

8 (B) by striking ‘‘qualified veteran’’ each 

9 place it appears in the text and inserting 

10 ‘‘qualified individual’’, and 

11 (C) by striking ‘‘qualified veterans’’ in 

12 paragraph (2) and inserting ‘‘qualified individ13 uals’’. 

14 (2) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL DEFINED.—Section 

15 3111(e)(5)(B) of such Code is amended to read as 

16 follows: 

17 ‘‘(B) the term ‘qualified individual’ 

18 means— 

19 ‘‘(i) any qualified veteran (as defined 

20 in section 51(d)(3)), and 

21 ‘‘(ii) any qualified unemployment com22 pensation recipient (as defined in section 

23 51(d)(11)).’’. 

24 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

25 52(c)(2) of such Code is amended— 


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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘AND QUALIFIED UNEM2 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION RECIPIENTS’’ after 

3 ‘‘QUALIFIED VETERANS’’ in the heading, and 

4 (B) by inserting ‘‘and qualified unemploy5 ment compensation recipients’’ after ‘‘qualified 

6 veterans’’ in the text. 

7 (f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

8 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 

9 the employer after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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