I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1825 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve commuting and 

transportation options. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 11, 2011 

Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Mr. 

FILNER, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. GEORGE

MILLER of California, Mr. MORAN, Mr. SIRES, Mr. POLIS, and Mr. RANGEL) 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 improve 

commuting and transportation options. 

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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Commuter Relief Act’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Increased uniform dollar limitation for all types of transportation fringe 

benefits. 

Sec. 3. Eligibility of self-employed individuals to receive transit fringe benefits. 


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Sec. 4. Parking cash-out programs. 

Sec. 5. Vanpool investment credit. 

Sec. 6. Employees may receive transit passes and reimbursement of bicycle 

commuting expenses as excludable fringe benefits for the same 

month. 

1 SEC. 2. INCREASED UNIFORM DOLLAR LIMITATION FOR 

2 ALL TYPES OF TRANSPORTATION FRINGE 

3 BENEFITS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 132(f) 

5 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to limita6 tion on exclusion) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking ‘‘$100’’ in subparagraph (A) 

8 and inserting ‘‘$200’’, and 

9 (2) by striking ‘‘$175’’ in subparagraph (B) 

10 and inserting ‘‘$200’’. 

11 (b) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT CONFORMING AMEND12 MENTS.—Subparagraph (A) of section 132(f)(6) of the In13 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to inflation adjust14 ment) is amended— 

15 (1) by striking the last sentence, 

16 (2) by striking ‘‘1999’’ and inserting ‘‘2012’’, 

17 and 

18 (3) by striking ‘‘1998’’ and inserting ‘‘2011’’. 

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

20 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

21 December 31, 2011. 


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1 SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY OF SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS TO 

2 RECEIVE TRANSIT FRINGE BENEFITS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (E) of section 

4 132(f)(5) is amended— 

5 (1) by striking ‘‘For purposes of this sub6 section, the term’’ and inserting the following: 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro8 vided in clause (ii), the term’’, and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

10 clause: 

11 ‘‘(ii) SELF-EMPLOYED INDIVIDUALS ELIGIBLE FOR

12 TRANSIT PASS FRINGE BENEFIT.—For purposes of para13 graph (1)(B), such term includes an individual who is an 

14 employee within the meaning of section 401(c)(1).’’. 

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

17 December 31, 2011. 

18 SEC. 4. PARKING CASH-OUT PROGRAMS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (C) of section 

20 132(f)(5) is amended— 

21 (1) by striking ‘‘The term’’ and inserting the 

22 following: 

23 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term’’. 

24 (2) by adding at the end of clause (i), as 

25 amended by paragraph (1), the following: ‘‘Such 

26 term shall not include any parking with respect to 


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1 any specified employer unless such employer estab2 lishes a parking cash-out program.’’, and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

4 clauses: 

5 ‘‘(ii) SPECIFIED EMPLOYER.—For 

6 purposes of this subparagraph, the term 

7 ‘specified employer’ means any employer 

8 who— 

9 ‘‘(I) employs on average 50 or 

10 more employees during the calendar 

11 year, 

12 ‘‘(II) leases the parking facilities 

13 referred to in clause (i), 

14 ‘‘(III) can separately determine 

15 the amount paid per parking space 

16 leased, and 

17 ‘‘(IV) can reduce the number of 

18 parking space leased (on a basis not 

19 less frequently than monthly) without 

20 penalty. 

21 ‘‘(iii) PARKING CASH-OUT PRO22 GRAM.—For purposes of this subpara23 graph, the term ‘parking cash-out pro24 gram’ means a program established by the 

25 employer under which— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the employer offers employ2 ees a cash allowance equal to the reg3 ular amount paid by the employer for 

4 parking for a single employee under 

5 clause (i) in lieu of the parking re6 ferred to in clause (i), and 

7 ‘‘(II) any employee electing the 

8 cash allowance shall certify to the em9 ployer that the employee will comply 

10 with guidelines established by the em11 ployer to avoid neighborhood parking 

12 problems and violation of such guide13 lines are enforced by the employer by 

14 termination of eligibility of such em15 ployee for such cash allowance and 

16 employer sponsored parking.’’. 

17 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply to parking provided during cal19 endar years beginning after December 31, 2011. 

20 SEC. 5. VANPOOL INVESTMENT CREDIT. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub22 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

23 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

24 section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 45S. QUALIFYING VANPOOL INVESTMENT CREDIT. 

2 ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—For purposes of section 38, 

3 the qualifying vanpool investment credit for any taxable 

4 year is an amount equal to 10 percent of the basis of a 

5 qualified commuter van placed in service by the taxpayer 

6 during the taxable year. 

7 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED COMMUTER VAN.—For purposes of 

8 this section, the term ‘qualified commuter van’ means a 

9 vehicle— 

10 ‘‘(1) the seating capacity of which is at least 7, 

11 but not more than 15, adults (not including the driv12 er), 

13 ‘‘(2) which has a 3-year class life, 

14 ‘‘(3) at least 80 percent of the mileage use of 

15 which can reasonably be expected to be for transpor16 tation described in section 132(f)(1)(A), 

17 ‘‘(4) with respect to which depreciation (or am18 ortization in lieu of depreciation) is allowable, and 

19 ‘‘(5) is originally placed in service by the tax20 payer before January 1, 2019. 

21 ‘‘(c) LEASING EXCEPTION.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an employer 

23 who enters into a lease with an unrelated person for 

24 the provision of transportation described in section 

25 132(f)(1)(A) and who makes an election under this 

26 subsection for a taxable year (in such form and 


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1 manner as the Secretary may by regulation pre2 scribe), in lieu of the amount determined under sub3 section (a), the qualifying vanpool investment credit 

4 with respect to the taxpayer for the taxable year 

5 shall be an amount equal to 10 percent of the 

6 amounts paid or incurred by the employer for the 

7 taxable year pursuant to such lease for the provision 

8 of such transportation. 

9 ‘‘(2) RELATED PERSONS.—All persons treated 

10 as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of 

11 section 52 shall be treated as related persons for 

12 purposes of this subsection. 

13 ‘‘(3) TERMINATION.—This subsection shall not 

14 apply to any amounts paid or incurred after Decem15 ber 31, 2014. 

16 ‘‘(d) BASIS REDUCTION.—For purposes of this sub17 title, the basis of any property for which a credit is allow18 able under subsection (a) shall be reduced by the amount 

19 of such credit.’’. 

20 (b) CREDIT TREATED AS PART OF GENERAL BUSI21 NESS CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended 

22 by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (35), by strik23 ing the period at the end of paragraph (36) and inserting 

24 ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end of following new para25 graph: 


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1 ‘‘(37) the qualifying vanpool investment credit 

2 determined under section 45S(a).’’. 

3 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of 

4 section 1016 of such Code is amended by striking ‘‘and’’ 

5 at the end of paragraph (36), by striking the period at 

6 the end of paragraph (37) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by 

7 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(38) to the extent provided in section 45S(e), 

9 in the case of amounts with respect to which a credit 

10 has been allowed under section 45S.’’ 

11 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

12 for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

13 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol14 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45S. Qualifying vanpool investment credit.’’. 

15 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall apply to property placed in service, and 

17 amounts paid or incurred, after December 31, 2011. 

18 SEC. 6. EMPLOYEES MAY RECEIVE TRANSIT PASSES AND 

19 REIMBURSEMENT OF BICYCLE COMMUTING 

20 EXPENSES AS EXCLUDABLE FRINGE BENE21 FITS FOR THE SAME MONTH. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subclause (II) of section 

23 132(f)(5)(F)(iii) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

24 (defining qualified bicycling month) is amended by strik25 ing ‘‘, (B),’’. 


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1 (b) LIMITATION.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

2 132(f)(2) of such Code (relating to limitation on exclu3 sions) is amended by striking ‘‘and (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘, 

4 (B), and (D)’’. 

5 (c) REPEAL OF CONSTRUCTIVE RECEIPT TREAT6 MENT OF BICYCLE COMMUTING REIMBURSEMENTS.— 

7 Paragraph (4) of section 132(f) of such Code is amended 

8 by striking ‘‘(other than a qualified bicycle commuting re9 imbursement)’’. 

10 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

11 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

12 December 31, 2011. 

Æ 


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