I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 108 

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

providing student loan payment assistance for employees. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2017 

Ms. BROWNLEY of California 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 allow a 

credit for employers providing student loan payment assistance for employees. 

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 ‘‘Student Loan Repay5 ment Assistance Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub8 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

9 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

10 section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 45S. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT. 

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

3 employer-provided student loan repayment credit deter4 mined under this section for the taxable year is an amount 

5 equal to 10 percent of all qualified student loan repay6 ments of the taxpayer for such taxable year. 

7 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT.—For 

8 purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified student loan 

9 repayment’ means, with respect to any employee of an em10 ployer, so much of the amounts paid under a student loan 

11 repayment program by the employer on behalf of such em12 ployee as does not exceed $500 per month. 

13 ‘‘(c) STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.—For 

14 purposes of this section— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A student loan repayment 

16 program is a separate written plan of an employer 

17 for the exclusive benefit of his employees to provide 

18 such employees with student loan payment assist19 ance which meets the requirements of paragraphs 

20 (2) through (5). 

21 ‘‘(2) DIRECT PAYMENT FOR EMPLOYEE EDU22 CATION LOANS.—A plan meets the requirements of 

23 this paragraph if payments under the plan are made 

24 on behalf of the employee directly to the lender or 

25 loan servicer of a qualified education loan (as de26 fined in section 221(d)) which was incurred by the 


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1 employee and is attributable to education furnished 

2 to such employee. 

3 ‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION AND NON-DISCRIMINA4 TION.—A plan meets the requirements of this para5 graph if the employer makes the program (and as6 sistance provided thereunder) widely available to em7 ployees (determined under such regulations as the 

8 Secretary shall prescribe to prevent plans from dis9 criminating in favor of employees who are highly 

10 compensated employees (within the meaning of sec11 tion 414(q))). 

12 ‘‘(4) REPORTS.—A plan meets the requirements 

13 of this paragraph if, for any taxable year for which 

14 a credit is allowed under this section, the employer 

15 reports to the Secretary (at such time and in such 

16 form and manner as the Secretary may prescribe) 

17 the number of employees utilizing the plan, the num18 ber of employees eligible to participate in the plan, 

19 and the terms of such plan. 

20 ‘‘(5) NOTICE.—A plan meets the requirements 

21 of this paragraph if reasonable notification of the 

22 availability and terms of the program are provided 

23 to all eligible employees.’’. 

24 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

25 CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by strikVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Jan 07, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H108.IH H108

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1 ing ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (35), by striking the 

2 period at the end of paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, 

3 and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(37) the employer-provided student loan re5 payment credit determined under section 45S(a).’’. 

6 (c) CREDIT REFUNDABLE FOR CERTAIN SMALL EM7 PLOYERS.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 38(c) of such Code 

9 is amended by redesignating paragraph (6) as para10 graph (7) and by inserting after paragraph (5) the 

11 following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(6) SPECIAL RULES FOR EMPLOYER-PROVIDED

13 STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT CREDIT.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of the em15 ployer-provided student loan repayment credit 

16 determined under section 45S(a) with respect to 

17 a specified small business or any organization 

18 exempt from tax under section 501(a)— 

19 ‘‘(i) this section and section 39 shall 

20 be applied separately with respect to such 

21 credits, 

22 ‘‘(ii) in applying paragraph (1) to 

23 such credits— 

24 ‘‘(I) the tentative minimum tax 

25 shall be treated as being zero, and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the limitation under para2 graph (1) (as modified by subclause 

3 (I)) shall be reduced by the credit al4 lowed under subsection (a) for the 

5 taxable year (other than the employer6 provided student loan repayment cred7 it), and 

8 ‘‘(iii) the amount of such credits in 

9 excess of the limitation under paragraph 

10 (1) (as modified by subparagraph (B)(ii)) 

11 shall be treated as a credit under subpart 

12 C. 

13 ‘‘(B) SPECIFIED SMALL BUSINESS.—For 

14 purposes of this paragraph, the term ‘specified 

15 small business’ means— 

16 ‘‘(i) an eligible small business (deter17 mined by substituting ‘$5,000,000’ for 

18 ‘$50,000,000’ in paragraph (5)(C)), or 

19 ‘‘(ii) a corporation, partnership, or 

20 sole proprietorship which during the pre21 ceding taxable year employed not more 

22 than 100 full-time employees. 

23 For purposes of clause (ii), an employee shall 

24 be considered full-time if such employee is em25 ployed at least 30 hours per week for 20 or 


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1 more calendar weeks in the taxable year and all 

2 members of the same controlled group of cor3 porations (within the meaning of section 52(a)) 

4 and all persons under common control (within 

5 the meaning of section 52(b)) shall be treated 

6 as 1 person.’’. 

7 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

8 (A) Section 38(c)(2)(A)(ii)(II) of such 

9 Code is amended by striking ‘‘and the specified 

10 credits’’ and inserting ‘‘the specified credits, 

11 and the employer-provided student loan repay12 ment credit determined under section 45S(a)’’. 

13 (B) Section 38(c)(3)(A)(ii)(II) of such 

14 Code is amended by striking ‘‘and the specified 

15 credits’’ and inserting ‘‘, the specified credits, 

16 and the employer-provided student loan repay17 ment credit determined under section 45S(a)’’. 

18 (C) Section 38(c)(4)(A)(ii)(II) of such 

19 Code is amended by inserting ‘‘and the em20 ployer-provided student loan repayment credit 

21 determined under section 45S(a)’’ after ‘‘speci22 fied credits’’. 

23 (D) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 

24 States Code, is amended by inserting 

25 ‘‘38(c)(6),’’ after ‘‘36B,’’. 


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

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

3 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec 45S. Student loan repayment program credit.’’. 

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

6 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

7 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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