I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1781 

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 

APRIL 14, 2015 

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

VAN HOLLEN, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. CROWLEY, and Mr. CARNEY) 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 2015’’. 


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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 

9 and the preceding taxable year to each employee who 

10 has successfully completed a qualified training pro11 gram of the employer, but only if— 

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

13 for services rendered during the 2-year period 

14 which begins on the day after the employee’s 

15 completion of such program, and 

16 ‘‘(B) the employee is performing such serv17 ices in a position which utilizes skills acquired 

18 in the qualified training program. 

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

20 INTO ACCOUNT.—The amount of wages which may 

21 be taken into account under paragraph (1) for a tax22 able year with respect to any apprenticeship em23 ployee shall not exceed $6,000. 

24 ‘‘(3) RECAPTURE FOR FAILURE OF EMPLOYEE

25 TO SERVE AT LEAST 1 YEAR AFTER COMPLETION OF


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1 APPRENTICESHIP.—The Secretary shall, by regula2 tions, provide for recapturing the amount of any 

3 post-apprenticeship credit allowed under subsection 

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

5 by the employer for less than 1 year after the indi6 vidual completed such program. 

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

8 ‘‘(1) WAGES.—The term ‘wages’ has the mean9 ing given to such term by section 51(c), determined 

10 without regard to paragraph (4) thereof. 

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

12 ‘apprenticeship employee’ means any employee who 

13 is employed by the employer pursuant to an appren14 tice agreement registered with the Office of Appren15 ticeship of the Employment and Training Adminis16 tration of the Department of Labor. 

17 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED TRAINING YEAR.— 

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

19 training year’ means each year during the 

20 training period in which— 

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

22 employer for at least 25 hours per week 

23 during 28 consecutive weeks of such year, 

24 and 


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

2 credit hours of classroom work under a 

3 qualified training program for each semes4 ter of such program ending during such 

5 year. 

6 ‘‘(B) QUALIFIED TRAINING PROGRAM.— 

7 The term ‘qualified training program’ means 

8 any training program undertaken pursuant to 

9 the agreement referred to in paragraph (2). 

10 ‘‘(C) TRAINING PERIOD.—The term ‘train11 ing period’ means, with respect to an employee, 

12 the period— 

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

14 employee begins employment with the tax15 payer as an apprentice under a qualified 

16 training program, and 

17 ‘‘(ii) ending on the earlier of— 

18 ‘‘(I) the date that such appren19 ticeship with the employer ends, or 

20 ‘‘(II) the date which is 2 years 

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

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

23 amount of credit otherwise allowable under sections 45A, 

24 51(a), and 1396(a) with respect to any employee shall be 


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1 reduced by the credit allowed by this section with respect 

2 to such employee. 

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

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

5 apply for purposes of this section.’’. 

6 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

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

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

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

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

11 new paragraph: 

12 ‘‘(37) the apprenticeship credit determined 

13 under section 45S(a).’’. 

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

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

16 ‘‘45S(a),’’ after ‘‘45P(a),’’. 

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

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

19 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol20 lowing new item: 

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

programs.’’. 

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

22 this section shall apply to individuals commencing apprenVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:41 Apr 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1781.IH H1781

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1 ticeship programs after the date of the enactment of this 

2 Act. 

Æ 


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