I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7222 

To provide for a credit against employment taxes for certain virus 

transmission prevention expenses, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 15, 2020 

Mr. PANETTA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To provide for a credit against employment taxes for certain 

virus transmission prevention expenses, and for other 

purposes. 

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 ‘‘Safe Reopening Tax 

5 Credit’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TAX CREDIT FOR SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an eligible em8 ployer, there shall be allowed as a credit against applicable 

9 employment taxes for each calendar quarter an amount 

10 equal to 30 percent of the qualified virus transmission preVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jul 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7222.IH H7222

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1 vention expenses paid or incurred by such employer during 

2 such calendar quarter. 

3 (b) LIMITATIONS AND REFUNDABILITY.— 

4 (1) LIMITATION.—The qualified fixed expenses 

5 which may be taken into account under subsection 

6 (a) by any eligible employer for any calendar quarter 

7 shall not exceed the least of— 

8 (A) $15,000, or 

9 (B) the greater of— 

10 (i) 25 percent of the wages paid with 

11 respect to the employment of all employees 

12 of the eligible employer for such calendar 

13 quarter, or 

14 (ii) 6.25 percent of gross receipts of 

15 the eligible employer for calendar year 

16 2019. 

17 (2) CREDIT LIMITED TO CERTAIN EMPLOYMENT

18 TAXES.—The credit allowed by subsection (a) with 

19 respect to any calendar quarter shall not exceed the 

20 applicable employment taxes for such calendar quar21 ter (reduced by any credits allowed under sub22 sections (e) and (f) of section 3111 of such Code, 

23 sections 7001 and 7003 of the Families First 

24 Coronavirus Response Act, and section 2301 of the 

25 CARES Act, for such quarter) on the wages paid 


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1 with respect to the employment of all the employees 

2 of the eligible employer for such calendar quarter. 

3 (3) REFUNDABILITY OF EXCESS CREDIT.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the amount of the 

5 credit under subsection (a) exceeds the limita6 tion of paragraph (2) for any calendar quarter, 

7 such excess shall be treated as an overpayment 

8 that shall be refunded under sections 6402(a) 

9 and 6413(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

10 1986. 

11 (B) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For pur12 poses of section 1324 of title 31, United States 

13 Code, any amounts due to an employer under 

14 this paragraph shall be treated in the same 

15 manner as a refund due from a credit provision 

16 referred to in subsection (b)(2) of such section. 

17 (c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

18 (1) APPLICABLE EMPLOYMENT TAXES.—The 

19 term ‘‘applicable employment taxes’’ means the fol20 lowing: 

21 (A) The taxes imposed under section 

22 3111(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

23 (B) So much of the taxes imposed under 

24 section 3221(a) of such Code as are attribVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jul 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7222.IH H7222

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1 utable to the rate in effect under section 

2 3111(a) of such Code. 

3 (2) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘eligible em5 ployer’’ means any employer— 

6 (i) which was carrying on a trade or 

7 business at any time during calendar year 

8 2020, 

9 (ii) which had either— 

10 (I) not more than 1,500 full time 

11 equivalent employees (as determined 

12 for the purposes of determining 

13 whether an employer is an applicable 

14 large employer for the purposes of 

15 section 4980H(c)(2) of the Internal 

16 Revenue Code of 1986) for calendar 

17 year 2019, or 

18 (II) not more than $41,500,000 

19 in gross receipts in the last taxable 

20 year ending in 2019, and 

21 (iii) is primarily an establishment 

22 classified under one of the following: 

23 (I) The North American Industry 

24 Classification System Sector codes 44, 

25 45, 71, or 72. 


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1 (II) The North American Indus2 try Classification System Subsector 

3 code 624. 

4 (III) The North American Indus5 try Classification System codes 

6 512131 or 519120. 

7 (B) TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS.—In the 

8 case of an organization which is described in 

9 section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

10 1986 and exempt from tax under section 501(a) 

11 of such Code— 

12 (i) clauses (i) and (iii)(I) of subpara13 graph (A) shall apply to all operations of 

14 such organization, and 

15 (ii) any reference in this section to 

16 gross receipts shall be treated as a ref17 erence to gross receipts within the meaning 

18 of section 6033 of the Internal Revenue 

19 Code of 1986. 

20 (3) QUALIFIED VIRUS TRANSMISSION PREVEN21 TION EXPENSES.—The term ‘‘qualified virus trans22 mission prevention expenses’’ means the payment or 

23 accrual of any expense which is intended to reduce 

24 or prevent the transmission of communicable viruses 

25 (including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 


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1 Coronavirus 2 (SARS–CoV–2)), which is used in the 

2 operation of a trade or business in the United States 

3 (including the possessions of the United States), in4 cluding— 

5 (A) barriers erected to prevent virus 

6 spread between customers and employees, in7 cluding plexiglass installed at cashiers and 

8 other counters, and partitions to separate cus9 tomers, 

10 (B) changes to fixtures to facilitate social 

11 distancing, including additional check-out sta12 tions, 

13 (C) contactless point-of-sale systems, 

14 (D) enhanced sanitation, including deep 

15 cleaning and hand sanitizer, 

16 (E) thermometers and other virus moni17 toring devices or methods, including COVID–19 

18 testing, 

19 (F) ventilation or air filtration, 

20 (G) signage related to public health aware21 ness, social distancing, or altered services like 

22 curbside pickups, 

23 (H) employee health education, 

24 (I) training for new business procedures 

25 resulting from COVID–19, 


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1 (J) personal protective equipment, and 

2 (K) such additional expenses as the Sec3 retary, in consultation with the Secretary of 

4 Health and Human Services, determines to be 

5 necessary. 

6 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

7 the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary’s del8 egate. 

9 (d) AGGREGATION RULE.—All persons treated as a 

10 single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of section 52 

11 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or subsection (m) 

12 or (o) of section 414 of such Code, shall be treated as 

13 one employer for purposes of this section. 

14 (e) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—For purposes of 

15 chapter 1 of such Code, the gross income of any eligible 

16 employer, for the taxable year which includes the last day 

17 of any calendar quarter with respect to which a credit is 

18 allowed under this section, shall be increased by the 

19 amount of such credit. 

20 (f) ELECTION NOT TO HAVE SECTION APPLY.—This 

21 section shall not apply with respect to any eligible em22 ployer for any calendar quarter if such employer elects (at 

23 such time and in such manner as the Secretary may pre24 scribe) not to have this section apply. 


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1 (g) TRANSFERS TO CERTAIN TRUST FUNDS.—There 

2 are hereby appropriated to the Federal Old-Age and Sur3 vivors Insurance Trust Fund and the Federal Disability 

4 Insurance Trust Fund established under section 201 of 

5 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 401) and the Social 

6 Security Equivalent Benefit Account established under 

7 section 15A(a) of the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 

8 (45 U.S.C. 231n–1(a)) amounts equal to the reduction in 

9 revenues to the Treasury by reason of this section (without 

10 regard to this subsection). Amounts appropriated by the 

11 preceding sentence shall be transferred from the general 

12 fund at such times and in such manner as to replicate 

13 to the extent possible the transfers which would have oc14 curred to such Trust Fund or Account had this section 

15 not been enacted. 

16 (h) TREATMENT OF DEPOSITS.—The Secretary shall 

17 waive any penalty under section 6656 of such Code for 

18 any failure to make a deposit of applicable employment 

19 taxes if the Secretary determines that such failure was due 

20 to the anticipation of the credit allowed under this section. 

21 (i) REGULATIONS AND GUIDANCE.—The Secretary 

22 shall issue such forms, instructions, regulations, and guid23 ance as are necessary— 

24 (1) to allow the advance payment of the credit 

25 under subsection (a), subject to the limitations proVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:18 Jul 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7222.IH H7222

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1 vided in this section, based on such information as 

2 the Secretary shall require, 

3 (2) to provide for the reconciliation of such ad4 vance payment with the amount of the credit at the 

5 time of filing the return of tax for the applicable 

6 quarter or taxable year, 

7 (3) with respect to the application of the credit 

8 under subsection (a) to third-party payors (including 

9 professional employer organizations, certified profes10 sional employer organizations, or agents under sec11 tion 3504 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986), 

12 including regulations or guidance allowing such 

13 payors to submit documentation necessary to sub14 stantiate the eligible employer status of employers 

15 that use such payors, 

16 (4) for application of subsection (c)(2)(A)(ii) in 

17 the case of any employer which was not carrying on 

18 a trade or business for all or part of the same cal19 endar quarter in the prior year, and 

20 (5) for recapturing the benefit of credits deter21 mined under this section in cases where there is a 

22 subsequent adjustment to the credit determined 

23 under subsection (a). 

24 (j) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall 

25 apply only to qualified fixed expenses paid or accrued in 


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1 calendar quarters beginning on or after the date of the 

2 enactment of this Act and before January 1, 2021. 

Æ 


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