I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 990 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify the exclusion for 

transportation benefits. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 13, 2015 

Mr. KING of New York (for himself, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, Mr. HULTGREN, Mr. DOLD, Mr. 

LANCE, and Mr. LIPINSKI) 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 modify 

the exclusion for transportation benefits. 

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 ‘‘Commuter Parity Act 

5 of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. QUALIFIED TRANSPORTATION FRINGE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (f) of section 132 of 

8 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended to read 

9 as follows: 


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1 ‘‘(f) QUALIFIED TRANSPORTATION FRINGE.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec3 tion, the term ‘qualified transportation fringe’ means 

4 any of the following provided by an employer to an 

5 employee: 

6 ‘‘(A) Transportation in a commuter high7 way vehicle if such transportation is in connec8 tion with travel between the employee’s resi9 dence and place of employment. 

10 ‘‘(B) Any transit pass. 

11 ‘‘(C) Qualified parking. 

12 ‘‘(D) Any qualified bicycle commuting re13 imbursement. 

14 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON EXCLUSION.—The amount 

15 of the fringe benefits which are provided by an em16 ployer to any employee and which may be excluded 

17 from gross income under subsection (a)(5) shall not 

18 exceed— 

19 ‘‘(A) $235 per month in the case of the ag20 gregate of the benefits described in subpara21 graphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (1), 

22 ‘‘(B) $235 per month in the case of quali23 fied parking, and 

24 ‘‘(C) $35 per month for qualified bicycle 

25 commuting reimbursement. 


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1 ‘‘(3) CASH REIMBURSEMENTS.—For purposes 

2 of this subsection, the term ‘qualified transportation 

3 fringe’ includes a cash reimbursement by an em4 ployer to an employee for a benefit described in 

5 paragraph (1). The preceding sentence shall apply to 

6 a cash reimbursement for any transit pass only if a 

7 voucher or similar item which may be exchanged 

8 only for a transit pass is not readily available for di9 rect distribution by the employer to the employee. 

10 ‘‘(4) NO CONSTRUCTIVE RECEIPT.—No amount 

11 shall be included in the gross income of an employee 

12 solely because the employee may choose between any 

13 qualified transportation fringe and compensation 

14 which would otherwise be includible in gross income 

15 of such employee. 

16 ‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub17 section— 

18 ‘‘(A) TRANSIT PASS.—The term ‘transit 

19 pass’ means any pass, token, farecard, voucher, 

20 or similar item entitling a person to transpor21 tation (or transportation at a reduced price) if 

22 such transportation is— 

23 ‘‘(i) on mass transit facilities (whether 

24 or not publicly owned), or 


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1 ‘‘(ii) provided by any person in the 

2 business of transporting persons for com3 pensation or hire if such transportation is 

4 provided in a vehicle meeting the require5 ments of subparagraph (B)(i). 

6 ‘‘(B) COMMUTER HIGHWAY VEHICLE.— 

7 The term ‘commuter highway vehicle’ means 

8 any highway vehicle— 

9 ‘‘(i) the seating capacity of which is at 

10 least 6 adults (not including the driver), 

11 and 

12 ‘‘(ii) at least 80 percent of the mileage 

13 use of which can reasonably be expected to 

14 be— 

15 ‘‘(I) for purposes of transporting 

16 employees in connection with travel 

17 between their residences and their 

18 place of employment, and 

19 ‘‘(II) on trips during which the 

20 number of employees transported for 

such purposes is at least 1 21 ⁄2 of the 

22 adult seating capacity of such vehicle 

23 (not including the driver). 

24 ‘‘(C) QUALIFIED PARKING.—The term 

25 ‘qualified parking’ means parking provided to 


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1 an employee on or near the business premises 

2 of the employer or on or near a location from 

3 which the employee commutes to work by trans4 portation described in subparagraph (A), in a 

5 commuter highway vehicle, or by carpool. Such 

6 term shall not include any parking on or near 

7 property used by the employee for residential 

8 purposes. 

9 ‘‘(D) TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED BY EM10 PLOYER.—Transportation referred to in para11 graph (1)(A) shall be considered to be provided 

12 by an employer if such transportation is fur13 nished in a commuter highway vehicle operated 

14 by or for the employer. 

15 ‘‘(E) EMPLOYEE.—For purposes of this 

16 subsection, the term ‘employee’ includes an in17 dividual who is an employee within the meaning 

18 of section 401(c)(1). 

19 ‘‘(F) QUALIFIED BICYCLE COMMUTING RE20 IMBURSEMENT.—For the purposes of this sub21 section, the term ‘qualified bicycle commuting 

22 reimbursement’ means any employer reimburse23 ment for reasonable expenses incurred by the 

24 employee for the purchase of a bicycle and bicy25 cle improvements, repair, and storage, or 


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1 bikesharing program, if such bicycle is regularly 

2 used for travel between the employee’s residence 

3 and place of employment. 

4 ‘‘(6) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any 

6 taxable year beginning in a calendar year after 

7 2016, the dollar amounts contained in para8 graph (2) shall be increased by an amount 

9 equal to— 

10 ‘‘(i) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

11 ‘‘(ii) the cost-of-living adjustment de12 termined under section 1(f)(3) for the cal13 endar year in which the taxable year be14 gins, by substituting ‘calendar year 2015’ 

15 for ‘calendar year 1992’. 

16 ‘‘(B) ROUNDING.—If any increase deter17 mined under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple 

18 of $5, such increase shall be rounded to the 

19 next lowest multiple of $5. 

20 ‘‘(7) COORDINATION WITH OTHER PROVI21 SIONS.—For purposes of this section, the terms 

22 ‘working condition fringe’ and ‘de minimis fringe’ 

23 shall not include any qualified transportation fringe 

24 (determined without regard to paragraph (2)).’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Sections 

2 403(b)(3)(B), 414(s)(2), 415(c)(3)(D)(ii) of such Code 

3 are each amended by striking ‘‘132(f)(4),’’. 

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall apply to months beginning after the date 

6 of the enactment of this Act, in taxable years ending after 

7 such date. 

Æ 


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