I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1190 

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

against income tax for wages paid to employees who participate in 

qualified apprenticeship programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2017 

Ms. SEWELL of Alabama (for herself, Mr. BYRNE, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. 

SHEA-PORTER, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. ESTY, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. KIND, 

Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. NOLAN, and Mr. KILMER) 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 employers a credit against income tax for wages paid to 

employees who participate in qualified apprenticeship 

programs. 

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 ‘‘Workforce Develop5 ment Tax Credit Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR WAGES PAID TO EMPLOYEES PARTICI2 PATING IN QUALIFIED APPRENTICESHIP 

3 PROGRAMS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub5 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

6 1986 (relating to business-related credits) is amended by 

7 adding at the end the following new section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 45S. WAGES PAID TO EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN 

9 QUALIFIED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 

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

11 apprenticeship credit determined under this section for the 

12 taxable year is the sum of— 

13 ‘‘(1) the apprenticeship period credit, and 

14 ‘‘(2) the post-apprenticeship credit. 

15 ‘‘(b) APPRENTICESHIP PERIOD CREDIT.—For pur16 poses of subsection (a)— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The apprenticeship period 

18 credit for the taxable year is 50 percent of the wages 

19 paid for services rendered during the taxable year to 

20 each apprenticeship employee but only if such wages 

21 are paid for services rendered during a qualified 

22 training year of such employee (whether or not such 

23 employee is an employee of the taxpayer as of the 

24 close of such taxable year). 

25 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON WAGES PER YEAR TAKEN

26 INTO ACCOUNT.—The amount of wages which may 


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1 be taken into account under paragraph (1) with re2 spect to any apprenticeship employee for each quali3 fied training year shall not exceed $2,000. 

4 ‘‘(c) POST-APPRENTICESHIP CREDIT.—For purposes 

5 of subsection (a)— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The post-apprenticeship 

7 credit for the taxable year is 40 percent of the wages 

8 paid for services rendered during the taxable year to 

9 each employee who has successfully completed a 

10 qualified training program of the employer, but only 

11 if— 

12 ‘‘(A) such wages are paid by such employer 

13 for services rendered— 

14 ‘‘(i) during the 2-year period which 

15 begins on the day after the employee’s 

16 completion of such program, and 

17 ‘‘(ii) during the qualified employment 

18 period of such employee, and 

19 ‘‘(B) the employee is performing such serv20 ices in a position which utilizes skills acquired 

21 in the qualified training program. 

22 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION ON WAGES TAKEN INTO AC23 COUNT.—The amount of wages which may be taken 

24 into account under paragraph (1) with respect to 


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1 any apprenticeship employee shall not exceed 

2 $6,000. 

3 ‘‘(3) RECAPTURE FOR FAILURE OF EMPLOYEE

4 TO SERVE AT LEAST 1 YEAR AFTER COMPLETION OF

5 APPRENTICESHIP.—The Secretary shall, by regula6 tions, provide for recapturing the amount of any 

7 post-apprenticeship credit allowed under subsection 

8 (a) with respect to any individual who is employed 

9 by the employer for less than 1 year after the indi10 vidual completed such program. 

11 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

12 ‘‘(1) WAGES.—The term ‘wages’ has the mean13 ing given to such term by section 51(c), determined 

14 without regard to paragraph (4) thereof. 

15 ‘‘(2) APPRENTICESHIP EMPLOYEE.—The term 

16 ‘apprenticeship employee’ means any employee who 

17 is employed by the employer pursuant to an appren18 tice agreement registered with— 

19 ‘‘(A) the Office of Apprenticeship of the 

20 Employment and Training Administration of 

21 the Department of Labor, or 

22 ‘‘(B) a recognized State apprenticeship 

23 agency, as determined by the Office of Appren24 ticeship of the Employment and Training Ad25 ministration of the Department of Labor. 


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1 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED TRAINING YEAR.— 

2 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified 

3 training year’ means each year during the 

4 training period in which— 

5 ‘‘(i) the employee is employed by the 

6 employer for at least 25 hours per week 

7 during 28 consecutive weeks of such year, 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the employee completes at least 8 

10 credit hours of classroom work under a 

11 qualified training program for each semes12 ter of such program ending during such 

13 year. 

14 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED TRAINING PROGRAM.— 

15 The term ‘qualified training program’ means 

16 any training program undertaken pursuant to 

17 the agreement referred to in paragraph (2). 

18 ‘‘(C) TRAINING PERIOD.—The term ‘train19 ing period’ means, with respect to an employee, 

20 the period— 

21 ‘‘(i) beginning on the date that the 

22 employee begins employment with the tax23 payer as an apprentice under a qualified 

24 training program, and 

25 ‘‘(ii) ending on the earlier of— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the date that such appren2 ticeship with the employer ends, or 

3 ‘‘(II) the date which is 2 years 

4 after the date referred to in clause (i). 

5 ‘‘(4) QUALIFIED EMPLOYMENT PERIOD.—The 

6 term ‘qualified employment period’ means the pe7 riod— 

8 ‘‘(A) beginning on the date that the em9 ployee begins employment with the taxpayer 

10 after the employee’s completion of a qualified 

11 training program of the taxpayer, and 

12 ‘‘(B) ending on the earlier of— 

13 ‘‘(i) the date that such employment 

14 ends, or 

15 ‘‘(ii) the date which is 1 year after the 

16 date referred to in subparagraph (A). 

17 ‘‘(e) COORDINATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.—The 

18 amount of credit otherwise allowable under sections 45A, 

19 51(a), and 1396(a) with respect to any employee shall be 

20 reduced by the credit allowed by this section with respect 

21 to such employee. 

22 ‘‘(f) CERTAIN RULES TO APPLY.—Rules similar to 

23 the rules of subsections (i)(1) and (k) of section 51 shall 

24 apply for purposes of this section.’’. 


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1 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

2 CREDIT.—Subsection (b) of section 38 of such Code is 

3 amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (35), 

4 by striking the period at the end of paragraph (36) and 

5 inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the following 

6 new paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(37) the apprenticeship credit determined 

8 under section 45S(a).’’. 

9 (c) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Subsection (a) 

10 of section 280C of such Code is amended by inserting 

11 ‘‘45S(a),’’ after ‘‘45P(a),’’. 

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

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

14 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol15 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45S. Wages paid to employees participating in qualified apprenticeship 

programs.’’. 

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

17 this section shall apply to individuals commencing appren18 ticeship programs after the date of the enactment of this 

19 Act. 

Æ 


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