I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6191 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to include student loan repayers 

as members of targeted groups for purposes of the work opportunity 

credit and to provide for a credit against tax for student loan program 

startup costs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 27, 2016 

Mr. ROSS 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 include 

student loan repayers as members of targeted groups 

for purposes of the work opportunity credit and to provide for a credit against tax for student loan program 

startup costs. 

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 Act of 2016’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INCLUSION OF STUDENT LOAN REPAYERS FOR PUR2 POSES OF WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 51(d)(1) of the Internal 

4 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 

5 end of subparagraph (I), by striking the period at the end 

6 of subparagraph (J) and inserting ‘‘, or’’, and by adding 

7 at the end the following new subparagraph: 

8 ‘‘(K) a qualified student loan repayer.’’. 

9 (b) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN REPAYER DE10 FINED.—Section 51(d) of such Code is amended by adding 

11 at the end the following new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(16) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN REPAYER.— 

13 The term ‘qualified student loan repayer’ means any 

14 individual who is certified by the designated local 

15 agency as— 

16 ‘‘(A) having at least an associate’s degree; 

17 and 

18 ‘‘(B) having outstanding qualified edu19 cation loans (as defined in section 221) of not 

20 less than $10,000.’’. 

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

22 this section shall apply with respect to individuals who 

23 begin work for the employer after the date of the enact24 ment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. STUDENT LOAN PROGRAM STARTUP COSTS CREDIT. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub3 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

4 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

5 section: 

6 ‘‘SECTION 45S. STUDENT LOAN PROGRAM STARTUP COSTS 

7 CREDIT. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, in 

9 the case of an eligible employer, the student loan program 

10 startup costs credit determined under this section for any 

11 taxable year is an amount equal to 50 percent of the quali12 fied startup costs paid or incurred by the taxpayer during 

13 the taxable year. 

14 ‘‘(b) DOLLAR LIMITATION.—The amount of the cred15 it determined under this section for any taxable year for 

16 a qualified employer shall not exceed— 

17 ‘‘(1) for the first credit year and each of the 2 

18 taxable years immediately following the first credit 

19 year, the product of— 

20 ‘‘(A) $500, multiplied by 

21 ‘‘(B) the number of employees partici22 pating during such taxable year in an eligible 

23 employer plan for which the employer is eligible 

24 for a credit under this section, and 

25 ‘‘(2) for any other taxable year, zero. 


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1 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER.—For purposes of this 

2 section, the term ‘eligible employer’ means an employer 

3 if such employer, or any member of any controlled group 

4 including the employer (or any predecessor of either), dur5 ing the 3-taxable-year period immediately preceding the 

6 1st taxable year for which the credit under this section 

7 is otherwise allowable for a qualified employer plan of the 

8 employer, has not established or maintained a qualified 

9 employer plan with respect to which contributions were 

10 made, or benefits were accrued, for substantially the same 

11 employees as are in the qualified employer plan. 

12 ‘‘(d) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this 

13 section— 

14 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED STARTUP COSTS.— 

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

16 startup costs’ means any ordinary and nec17 essary expenses of an eligible employer which 

18 are paid or incurred in connection with the es19 tablishment or administration of an eligible em20 ployer plan. Such term shall not include any 

21 payment made to, or on behalf of, any employee 

22 pursuant to such plan. 

23 ‘‘(B) PLAN MUST HAVE AT LEAST 1 PAR24 TICIPANT.—Such term shall not include any ex25 pense in connection with a plan that does not 


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1 have at least 1 employee eligible to participate 

2 who is not a highly compensated employee. 

3 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE EMPLOYER PLAN.—The term 

4 ‘eligible employer plan’ means a student loan repay5 ment plan administered by an employer through 

6 which the employer provides, for each employee for 

7 each year, qualified matching contributions. 

8 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED MATCHING CONTRIBUTION.— 

9 The term ‘qualified matching contribution’ means an 

10 employer contribution made to an eligible employer 

11 plan on behalf of an employee on account of an em12 ployee contribution made by such employee if such 

13 employer contribution is at least the lesser of— 

14 ‘‘(A) the amount of such employee con15 tribution, and 

16 ‘‘(B) $2,000. 

17 ‘‘(4) FIRST CREDIT YEAR.—The term ‘first 

18 credit year’ means— 

19 ‘‘(A) the taxable year which includes the 

20 date that the eligible employer plan to which 

21 such costs relate becomes effective, or 

22 ‘‘(B) at the election of the eligible em23 ployer, the taxable year preceding the taxable 

24 year referred to in subparagraph (A). 


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1 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULES.—For purposes of this sec2 tion— 

3 ‘‘(1) AGGREGATION RULES.—All persons treat4 ed as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b) 

5 of section 52, or subsection (m) or (o) of section 

6 414, shall be treated as one person. All eligible em7 ployer plans shall be treated as 1 eligible employer 

8 plan. 

9 ‘‘(2) DISALLOWANCE OF DEDUCTION.—No de10 duction shall be allowed for that portion of the quali11 fied startup costs paid or incurred for the taxable 

12 year which is equal to the credit determined under 

13 subsection (a). 

14 ‘‘(3) DEDUCTION FOR MATCHING CONTRIBU15 TION.—For deductions for qualified matching con16 tributions, see section 162. 

17 ‘‘(4) ELECTION NOT TO CLAIM CREDIT.—This 

18 section shall not apply to a taxpayer for any taxable 

19 year if such taxpayer elects to have this section not 

20 apply for such taxable year.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of section 38 

23 is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of para24 graph (35), by striking the period at the end of 


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1 paragraph (36) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by add2 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(37) the student loan program startup costs 

4 credit determined under section 45S(a).’’. 

5 (2) DEDUCTION FOR UNUSED CREDIT.—Sub6 section (c) of section 196 is amended by striking 

7 ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph (13), by striking the 

8 period at the end of paragraph (14) and inserting ‘‘, 

9 and’’, and by adding at the end the following new 

10 paragraph: 

11 ‘‘(15) the student loan program startup 

12 costs credit determined under section 45S(a).’’. 

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

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

15 is amended by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45S. Student loan program startup costs credit.’’. 

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

17 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

18 December 31, 2016. 

Æ 


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