II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3536 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the work opportunity 

credit for hiring veterans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL (for himself, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, 

Mr. HELLER, Mr. WEBB, and Ms. CANTWELL) 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 extend 

the work opportunity credit for hiring veterans, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘VOW to Hire Heroes 

5 Extension Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT FOR 

7 VETERANS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Clause (i) of section 51(c)(4)(B) 

9 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by strikVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:35 Sep 13, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3536.IS S3536

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 3536 IS

1 ing ‘‘December 31, 2012’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 

2 2016’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 

5 the employer after December 31, 2012. 

6 SEC. 3. SIMPLIFIED CERTIFICATION OF VETERAN STATUS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (D) of section 

8 51(d)(13) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amend9 ed to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(D) PRE-SCREENING OF QUALIFIED VET11 ERANS.— 

12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) 

13 shall be applied without regard to sub14 clause (II) of clause (ii) thereof in the case 

15 of an individual seeking treatment as a 

16 qualified veteran with respect to whom the 

17 pre-screening notice contains— 

18 ‘‘(I) qualified veteran status doc19 umentation, 

20 ‘‘(II) qualified proof of unemploy21 ment compensation, and 

22 ‘‘(III) an affidavit furnished by 

23 the individual stating, under penalty 

24 of perjury, that the information proVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:35 Sep 13, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3536.IS S3536

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 3536 IS

1 vided under clauses (I) and (II) is 

2 true. 

3 ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED VETERAN STATUS

4 DOCUMENTATION.—For purposes of clause 

5 (i), the term ‘qualified veteran status docu6 mentation’ means any documentation pro7 vided to an individual by the Department 

8 of Defense or the National Guard upon re9 lease or discharge from the Armed Forces 

10 which includes information sufficient to es11 tablish that such individual is a veteran. 

12 ‘‘(iii) QUALIFIED PROOF OF UNEM13 PLOYMENT COMPENSATION.—For purposes 

14 of clause (i), the term ‘qualified proof of 

15 unemployment compensation’ means, with 

16 respect to an individual, checks or other 

17 proof of receipt of payment of unemploy18 ment compensation to such individual for 

19 periods aggregating not less than 4 weeks 

20 (in the case of an individual seeking treat21 ment under paragraph (3)(A)(iii)), or not 

22 less than 6 months (in the case of an indi23 vidual seeking treatment under clause 

24 (ii)(II) or (iv) of paragraph (3)(A)), during 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 3536 IS

1 the 1-year period ending on the hiring 

2 date.’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 this section shall apply to individuals who begin work for 

5 the employer after the date of the enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 4. CREDIT MADE AVAILABLE AGAINST PAYROLL 

7 TAXES IN CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 52(c) of 

9 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘QUALIFIED TAX-EXEMPT ORGA11 NIZATIONS’’ in the heading and inserting ‘‘CERTAIN

12 EMPLOYERS’’, and 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘by qualified tax-exempt organi14 zations’’ and inserting ‘‘by certain employers’’. 

15 (b) CREDIT ALLOWED TO CERTAIN FOR-PROFIT EM16 PLOYERS.—Subsection (e) of section 3111 of the Internal 

17 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

18 (1) by inserting ‘‘or a qualified for-profit em19 ployer’’ after ‘‘If a qualified tax-exempt organiza20 tion’’ in paragraph (1), 

21 (2) by striking ‘‘with respect to whom a credit 

22 would be allowable under section 38 by reason of 

23 section 51 if the organization were not a qualified 

24 tax-exempt organization’’ in paragraph (1), 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 3536 IS

1 (3) by inserting ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ after 

2 ‘‘employees of the organization’’ each place it ap3 pears in paragraphs (1) and (2), 

4 (4) by inserting ‘‘in the case of a qualified tax5 exempt organization,’’ before ‘‘by only taking into 

6 account’’ in subparagraph (C) of paragraph (3), 

7 (5) by inserting ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ after 

8 ‘‘the organization’’ in paragraph (4), 

9 (6) by redesignating subparagraph (B) of para10 graph (5) as subparagraph (C) of such paragraph, 

11 by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (A) of 

12 such paragraph, and by inserting after subpara13 graph (A) of such paragraph the following new sub14 paragraph: 

15 ‘‘(B) the term ‘qualified for-profit em16 ployer’ means, with respect to a taxable year, 

17 an employer not described in subparagraph (A), 

18 but only if— 

19 ‘‘(i) such employer does not have prof20 its for any of the 3 taxable years preceding 

21 such taxable year, and 

22 ‘‘(ii) such employer elects under sec23 tion 51(j) not to have section 51 apply to 

24 such taxable year, and’’, and 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 3536 IS

1 (7) by striking ‘‘has meaning given such term 

2 by section 51(d)(3)’’ in subparagraph (C) of para3 graph (5), as so redesignated, and inserting ‘‘means 

4 a qualified veteran (within the meaning of section 

5 51(d)(3)) with respect to whom a credit would be al6 lowable under section 38 by reason of section 51 if 

7 the employer of such veteran were not a qualified 

8 tax-exempt organization or a qualified for-profit em9 ployer’’. 

10 (c) TRANSFERS TO FEDERAL OLD-AGE AND SUR11 VIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There are hereby ap12 propriated to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Trust 

13 Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund 

14 established under section 201 of the Social Security Act 

15 (42 U.S.C. 401) amounts equal to the reduction in reve16 nues to the Treasury by reason of the amendments made 

17 by subsections (a) and (b). Amounts appropriated by the 

18 preceding sentence shall be transferred from the general 

19 fund at such times and in such manner as to replicate 

20 to the extent possible the transfers which would have oc21 curred to such Trust Fund had such amendments not 

22 been enacted. 

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

24 subsections (a) and (b) shall apply to individuals who 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 3536 IS

1 begin work for the employer after the date of the enact2 ment of this Act. 

3 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

4 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact5 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commis6 sioner of Internal Revenue, in consultation with the Sec7 retary of Labor, shall report to the Congress on the effec8 tiveness and cost-effectiveness of the amendments made 

9 by sections 2, 3, and 4 in increasing the employment of 

10 veterans. Such report shall include the results of a survey, 

11 conducted, if needed, in consultation with the Veterans’ 

12 Employment and Training Service of the Department of 

13 Labor, to determine how many veterans are hired by each 

14 employer that claims the credit under section 51, by rea15 son of subsection (d)(1)(B) thereof, or 3111(e) of the In16 ternal Revenue Code of 1986. 

17 SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF POSSESSIONS. 

18 (a) PAYMENTS TO POSSESSIONS.— 

19 (1) MIRROR CODE POSSESSIONS.—The Sec20 retary of the Treasury shall pay to each possession 

21 of the United States with a mirror code tax system 

22 amounts equal to the loss to that possession by rea23 son of the amendments made by this Act. Such 

24 amounts shall be determined by the Secretary of the 

25 Treasury based on information provided by the govVerDate Mar 15 2010 18:35 Sep 13, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3536.IS S3536

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 3536 IS

1 ernment of the respective possession of the United 

2 States. 

3 (2) OTHER POSSESSIONS.—The Secretary of 

4 the Treasury shall pay to each possession of the 

5 United States which does not have a mirror code tax 

6 system the amount estimated by the Secretary of the 

7 Treasury as being equal to the loss to that posses8 sion that would have occurred by reason of the 

9 amendments made by this Act if a mirror code tax 

10 system had been in effect in such possession. The 

11 preceding sentence shall not apply with respect to 

12 any possession of the United States unless such pos13 session establishes to the satisfaction of the Sec14 retary that the possession has implemented (or, at 

15 the discretion of the Secretary, will implement) an 

16 income tax benefit which is substantially equivalent 

17 to the income tax credit in effect after the amend18 ments made by this Act. 

19 (b) COORDINATION WITH CREDIT ALLOWED

20 AGAINST UNITED STATES INCOME TAXES.—The credit 

21 allowed against United States income taxes for any tax22 able year under the amendments made by this Act to sec23 tion 51 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to any per24 son with respect to any qualified veteran shall be reduced 

25 by the amount of any credit (or other tax benefit described 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 3536 IS

1 in paragraph (1)(B)) allowed to such person against in2 come taxes imposed by the possession of the United States 

3 by reason of this section with respect to such qualified 

4 veteran for such taxable year. 

5 (c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 

6 (1) POSSESSION OF THE UNITED STATES.—For 

7 purposes of this section, the term ‘‘possession of the 

8 United States’’ includes American Samoa, Guam, 

9 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is10 lands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the 

11 United States Virgin Islands. 

12 (2) MIRROR CODE TAX SYSTEM.—For purposes 

13 of this section, the term ‘‘mirror code tax system’’ 

14 means, with respect to any possession of the United 

15 States, the income tax system of such possession if 

16 the income tax liability of the residents of such pos17 session under such system is determined by ref18 erence to the income tax laws of the United States 

19 as if such possession were the United States. 

20 (3) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For purposes 

21 of section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United States 

22 Code, the payments under this section shall be treat23 ed in the same manner as a refund due from credit 

24 provisions described in such section. 

Æ 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with BILLS