I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4348 

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

income tax for expenses incurred in teleworking. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2009 

Mr. WITTMAN 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 against income tax for expenses incurred in teleworking. 

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 ‘‘Telework Tax Incen5 tive Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds as follows: 

8 (1) Federal, State and local governments spend 

9 billions of dollars annually on the Nation’s transpor10 tation needs. 


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1 (2) Congestion on the Nation’s roads resulted 

2 in costs of over $87,000,000 in 2007, in extra time 

3 and fuel used, to drivers in the Nation’s 439 urban 

4 areas, an increase of more than 50 percent over the 

5 previous decade. 

6 (3) On average, on-road-vehicles contributed 

7 31.9 percent of nitrogen oxide emissions in 2008. 

8 (4) It was recently reported that if the 40 per9 cent of United States workers who have jobs that 

10 are compatible with teleworking worked at home half 

11 of the time, that would save 450 million barrels of 

12 oil, reduce greenhouse gases by 84 million tons, and 

13 reduce highway maintenance costs by over $3 billion 

14 annually. 

15 (5) The average American daily commute is 51 

16 minutes for a round-trip (a total of 204 hours, or 

17 8.5 days, per year.) 

18 (6) The National Science Foundation found 

19 that teleworking increased employee productivity by 

20 87 percent and the Census Bureau reported that 73 

21 percent of teleworkers felt they accomplished more 

22 work on telework days than when they were in the 

23 office. 


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1 (7) In 2003, 77 million workers used a com2 puter at work, accounting for 55.5 percent of total 

3 employment. 

4 (8) In recent years, studies performed in the 

5 United States have shown a marked expansion of 

6 teleworking, with 76 percent of private sector em7 ployers now providing technical support for remote 

8 workers, an increase of 27 percent over 2007. 56 

9 percent of Federal IT professionals indicated that 

10 their agencies provide technical support for tele11 workers. 

12 SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR TELEWORKING. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub14 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

15 1986 (relating to foreign tax credit, etc.) is amended by 

16 adding at the end the following new section: 

17 ‘‘SEC. 30E. TELEWORKING CREDIT. 

18 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In the case of an eli19 gible taxpayer, there shall be allowed as a credit against 

20 the tax imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an 

21 amount equal to the qualified teleworking expenses paid 

22 or incurred by the taxpayer during such year. 

23 ‘‘(b) MAXIMUM CREDIT.— 

24 ‘‘(1) PER TELEWORKER LIMITATION.—The 

25 credit allowed by subsection (a) for a taxable year 


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1 with respect to qualified teleworking expenses paid 

2 or incurred by or on behalf of an individual tele3 worker shall not exceed $1,000. 

4 ‘‘(2) REDUCTION FOR TELEWORKING LESS

5 THAN FULL YEAR.—In the case of an individual who 

6 is in a teleworking arrangement for less than a full 

7 taxable year, the amount referred to in paragraph 

8 (1) shall be reduced by an amount which bears the 

9 same ratio to $1,000 as the number of months in 

10 which such individual is not in a teleworking ar11 rangement bears to 12. For purposes of the pre12 ceding sentence, an individual shall be treated as 

13 being in a teleworking arrangement for a month if 

14 the individual is subject to such arrangement for any 

15 day of such month. 

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

17 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE TAXPAYER.—The term ‘eligible 

18 taxpayer’ means— 

19 ‘‘(A) in the case of an individual, an indi20 vidual who performs services for an employer 

21 under a teleworking arrangement, and 

22 ‘‘(B) in the case of an employer, an em23 ployer for whom employees perform services 

24 under a teleworking arrangement. 


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1 ‘‘(2) TELEWORKING ARRANGEMENT.—The term 

2 ‘teleworking arrangement’ means an arrangement 

3 under which an employee teleworks for an employer 

4 not less than 75 days per year. 

5 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED TELEWORKING EXPENSES.— 

6 The term ‘qualified teleworking expenses’ means ex7 penses paid or incurred under a teleworking ar8 rangement for furnishings and electronic information 

9 equipment which are used to enable an individual to 

10 telework. 

11 ‘‘(4) TELEWORK.—The term ‘telework’ means 

12 to perform work functions, using electronic informa13 tion and communication technologies, thereby reduc14 ing or eliminating the physical commute to and from 

15 the traditional worksite. 

16 ‘‘(d) LIMITATION BASED ON AMOUNT OF TAX.— 

17 ‘‘(1) LIABILITY FOR TAX.—The credit allowable 

18 under subsection (a) for any taxable year shall not 

19 exceed the excess (if any) of— 

20 ‘‘(A) the regular tax for the taxable year, 

21 reduced by the sum of the credits allowable 

22 under subpart A and the preceding sections of 

23 this subpart, over 

24 ‘‘(B) the tentative minimum tax for the 

25 taxable year. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CARRYFORWARD OF UNUSED CREDIT.—If 

2 the amount of the credit allowable under subsection 

3 (a) for any taxable year exceeds the limitation under 

4 paragraph (1) for the taxable year, the excess shall 

5 be carried to the succeeding taxable year and added 

6 to the amount allowable as a credit under subsection 

7 (a) for such succeeding taxable year. 

8 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES.— 

9 ‘‘(1) BASIS REDUCTION.—The basis of any 

10 property for which a credit is allowable under sub11 section (a) shall be reduced by the amount of such 

12 credit (determined without regard to subsection (d)). 

13 ‘‘(2) RECAPTURE.—The Secretary shall, by reg14 ulations, provide for recapturing the benefit of any 

15 credit allowable under subsection (a) with respect to 

16 any property which ceases to be property eligible for 

17 such credit. 

18 ‘‘(3) PROPERTY USED OUTSIDE UNITED

19 STATES, ETC., NOT QUALIFIED.—No credit shall be 

20 allowed under subsection (a) with respect to any 

21 property referred to in section 50(b) or with respect 

22 to the portion of the cost of any property taken into 

23 account under section 179. 

24 ‘‘(4) ELECTION TO NOT TAKE CREDIT.—No 

25 credit shall be allowed under subsection (a) for any 


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1 expense if the taxpayer elects to not have this sec2 tion apply with respect to such expense. 

3 ‘‘(5) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No deduc4 tion or credit (other than under this section) shall 

5 be allowed under this chapter with respect to any ex6 pense which is taken into account in determining the 

7 credit under this section.’’. 

8 (b) TECHNICAL AMENDMENT.—Subsection (a) of 

9 section 1016 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

10 amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (36), 

11 by striking the period at the end of paragraph (37) and 

12 inserting ‘‘; and’’, and by adding at the end the following 

13 new paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(38) to the extent provided in section 30E(e), 

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

16 has been allowed under section 30E.’’. 

17 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

18 for subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 

19 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add20 ing at the end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 30E. Teleworking credit.’’. 

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

22 this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act, in taxable years 

24 ending after such date. 

Æ 


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