II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 456

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit

against income tax for information technology training expenses paid

or incurred by the employer, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 24, 1999

Mr. CONRAD (for himself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. DASCHLE, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr.

REID, Mr. SARBANES, Mrs. BOXER, Ms. SNOWE, Mr. ROBB, Mrs. MURRAY, and Mr. ROCKEFELLER) introduced the following bill; which was

read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit against income tax for information technology training expenses paid or incurred by the employer, 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. CREDIT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

4 TRAINING PROGRAM EXPENSES.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub6 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of
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1 1986 (relating to business-related credits) is amended by

2 adding at the end the following:

3 ‘‘SEC. 45D. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PRO4 GRAM EXPENSES.

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

6 in the case of an employer, the information technology

7 training program credit determined under this section is

8 an amount equal to 20 percent of information technology

9 training program expenses paid or incurred by the tax10 payer during the taxable year.

11 ‘‘(b) ADDITIONAL CREDIT PERCENTAGE FOR CER12 TAIN PROGRAMS.—The percentage under subsection (a)

13 shall be increased by 5 percentage points for information

14 technology training program expenses paid or incurred—

15 ‘‘(1) by the taxpayer with respect to a program

16 operated in—

17 ‘‘(A) an empowerment zone or enterprise

18 community designated under part I of sub19 chapter U,

20 ‘‘(B) a school district in which at least 50

21 percent of the students attending schools in

22 such district are eligible for free or reduced-cost

23 lunches under the school lunch program estab24 lished under the National School Lunch Act,
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1 ‘‘(C) an area designated as a disaster area

2 by the Secretary of Agriculture or by the Presi3 dent under the Disaster Relief and Emergency

4 Assistance Act in the taxable year or the 4 pre5 ceding taxable years,

6 ‘‘(D) a rural enterprise community des7 ignated under section 766 of the Agriculture,

8 Rural Development, Food and Drug Adminis9 tration, and Related Agencies Appropriations

10 Act, 1999, or

11 ‘‘(E) an area designated by the Secretary

12 of Agriculture as a Rural Economic Area Part13 nership Zone, or

14 ‘‘(2) by a small employer.

15 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION.—The amount of information tech16 nology training program expenses with respect to an indi17 vidual which may be taken into account under subsection

18 (a) for the taxable year shall not exceed $6,000.

19 ‘‘(d) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PRO20 GRAM EXPENSES.—For purposes of this section—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘information

22 technology training program expenses’ means ex23 penses paid or incurred by reason of the participa24 tion of the employer in any information technology

25 training program.
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1 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING

2 PROGRAM.—The term ‘information technology train3 ing program’ means a program—

4 ‘‘(A) for the training of computer program5 mers, systems analysts, and computer scientists

6 or engineers (as such occupations are defined

7 by the Bureau of Labor Statistics),

8 ‘‘(B) involving a partnership of—

9 ‘‘(i) employers, and

10 ‘‘(ii) State training programs, school

11 districts, university systems, or certified

12 commercial information technology train13 ing providers, and

14 ‘‘(C) at least 50 percent of the costs of

15 which is paid or incurred by the employers.

16 ‘‘(3) CERTIFIED COMMERCIAL INFORMATION

17 TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROVIDER.—The term ‘cer18 tified commercial information technology training

19 providers’ means a private sector provider of edu20 cational products and services utilized for training in

21 information technology which is certified with re22 spect to—

23 ‘‘(A) the curriculum that is used for the

24 training, or
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1 ‘‘(B) the technical knowledge of the in2 structors of such provider,

3 by 1 or more software publishers or hardware manu4 facturers the products of which are a subject of the

5 training.

6 ‘‘(e) SMALL EMPLOYER.—For purposes of this sec7 tion, the term ‘small employer’ means, with respect to any

8 calendar year, any employer if such employer employed

9 200 or fewer employees on each business day in each of

10 20 or more calendar weeks in such year or the preceding

11 calendar year.

12 ‘‘(f) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduction

13 or credit under any other provision of this chapter shall

14 be allowed with respect to information technology training

15 program expenses (determined without regard to the limi16 tation under subsection (c)).

17 ‘‘(g) CERTAIN RULES MADE APPLICABLE.—For pur18 poses of this section, rules similar to the rules of section

19 45A(e)(2) and subsections (c), (d), and (e) of section 52

20 shall apply.’’

21 (b) CREDIT TO BE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

22 CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of

23 1986 (relating to current year business credit) is amended

24 by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (11), by strik-
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1 ing the period at the end of paragraph (12) and inserting

2 ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the following:

3 ‘‘(13) the information technology training pro4 gram credit determined under section 45D.’’

5 (c) NO CARRYBACKS.—Subsection (d) of section 39

6 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to

7 carryback and carryforward of unused credits) is amended

8 by adding at the end the following:

9 ‘‘(9) NO CARRYBACK OF SECTION 45D CREDIT

10 BEFORE EFFECTIVE DATE.—No portion of the un11 used business credit for any taxable year which is

12 attributable to the information technology training

13 program credit determined under section 45D may

14 be carried back to a taxable year ending before the

15 date of the enactment of section 45D.’’

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

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

18 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add19 ing at the end the following:

‘‘Sec. 45D. Information technology training program expenses.’’

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

21 this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred after

22 the date of enactment of this Act in taxable years ending

23 after such date.

Æ