I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2265 

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

credit for hiring veterans, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 12, 2015 

Ms. BROWNLEY of California 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 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 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF WORK OPPORTUNITY CREDIT FOR 

7 VETERANS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (4) of section 51(c) of 

9 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

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1 ‘‘2014’’ and inserting ‘‘2014 (December 31, 2018, in the 

2 case of a qualified veteran).’’. 

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, 2014. 

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 promstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 vided under subclauses (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 

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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’’ in the text and inserting ‘‘by certain em15 ployers’’. 

16 (b) CREDIT ALLOWED TO CERTAIN FOR-PROFIT EM17 PLOYERS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 

19 3111(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

20 amended by inserting ‘‘or a qualified for-profit em21 ployer’’ after ‘‘If a qualified tax-exempt organiza22 tion’’. 

23 (2) QUALIFIED FOR-PROFIT EMPLOYER DE24 FINED.—Paragraph (5) of section 3111(e) of the In25 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

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1 ‘‘and’’ at the end of subparagraph (A), by redesig2 nating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C), and 

3 by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following 

4 new subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(B) the term ‘qualified for-profit em6 ployer’ means, with respect to a taxable year, 

7 an employer not described in subparagraph (A), 

8 but only if— 

9 ‘‘(i) such employer does not have prof10 its for any of the 3 taxable years preceding 

11 such taxable year, and 

12 ‘‘(ii) such employer elects under sec13 tion 51(j) not to have section 51 apply to 

14 such taxable year, and’’. 

15 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

16 (A) Section 3111(e)(1) of the Internal 

17 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

18 ‘‘with respect to whom a credit would be allow19 able under section 38 by reason of section 51 

20 if the organization were not a qualified tax-ex21 empt organization’’ in paragraph (1). 

22 (B) Paragraphs (1) and (2) of are both 

23 amended by inserting ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ 

24 after ‘‘employees of the organization’’ each 

25 place it appears. 

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1 (C) Section 3111(e)(3)(C) of the Internal 

2 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting 

3 ‘‘in the case of a qualified tax-exempt organiza4 tion,’’ before ‘‘by only taking into account’’. 

5 (D) Section 3111(e)(4) of the Internal 

6 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting 

7 ‘‘or for-profit employer’’ after ‘‘the organiza8 tion’’. 

9 (E) Section 3111(e)(5)(C) of the Internal 

10 Revenue Code of 1986, as redesignated by 

11 paragraph (2), is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(C) the term ‘qualified veteran’ means a 

13 qualified veteran (within the meaning of section 

14 51(d)(3)) with respect to whom a credit would 

15 be allowable under section 38 by reason of sec16 tion 51 if the employer of such veteran were not 

17 a qualified tax-exempt organization or a quali18 fied for-profit employer.’’. 

19 (c) TRANSFERS TO FEDERAL OLD-AGE AND SUR20 VIVORS INSURANCE TRUST FUND.—There are hereby ap21 propriated to the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Trust 

22 Fund and the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund 

23 established under section 201 of the Social Security Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 401) amounts equal to the reduction in reve25 nues to the Treasury by reason of the amendments made 

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

2 preceding sentence shall be transferred from the general 

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

4 to the extent possible the transfers which would have oc5 curred to such Trust Fund had such amendments not 

6 been enacted. 

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

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

9 begin work for the employer after the date of the enact10 ment of this Act. 

11 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

12 Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact13 ment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Commis14 sioner of Internal Revenue, in consultation with the Sec15 retary of Labor, shall report to the Congress on the effec16 tiveness and cost-effectiveness of the amendments made 

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

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

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

20 Employment and Training Service of the Department of 

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

22 employer that claims the credit under section 51, by rea23 son of subsection (d)(1)(B) thereof, or 3111(e) of the In24 ternal Revenue Code of 1986. 

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1 SEC. 6. TREATMENT OF POSSESSIONS. 

2 (a) PAYMENTS TO POSSESSIONS.— 

3 (1) MIRROR CODE POSSESSIONS.—The Sec4 retary of the Treasury shall pay to each possession 

5 of the United States with a mirror code tax system 

6 amounts equal to the loss to that possession by rea7 son of the amendments made by this Act. Such 

8 amounts shall be determined by the Secretary of the 

9 Treasury based on information provided by the gov10 ernment of the respective possession of the United 

11 States. 

12 (2) OTHER POSSESSIONS.—The Secretary of 

13 the Treasury shall pay to each possession of the 

14 United States which does not have a mirror code tax 

15 system the amount estimated by the Secretary of the 

16 Treasury as being equal to the loss to that posses17 sion that would have occurred by reason of the 

18 amendments made by this Act if a mirror code tax 

19 system had been in effect in such possession. The 

20 preceding sentence shall not apply with respect to 

21 any possession of the United States unless such pos22 session establishes to the satisfaction of the Sec23 retary that the possession has implemented (or, at 

24 the discretion of the Secretary, will implement) an 

25 income tax benefit which is substantially equivalent 

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1 to the income tax credit in effect after the amend2 ments made by this Act. 

3 (b) COORDINATION WITH CREDIT ALLOWED

4 AGAINST UNITED STATES INCOME TAXES.—The credit 

5 allowed against United States income taxes for any tax6 able year under the amendments made by this Act to sec7 tion 51 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to any per8 son with respect to any qualified veteran shall be reduced 

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

10 in subsection (a)(2)) allowed to such person against in11 come taxes imposed by the possession of the United States 

12 by reason of this section with respect to such qualified 

13 veteran for such taxable year. 

14 (c) DEFINITIONS AND SPECIAL RULES.— 

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

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

17 United States’’ includes American Samoa, Guam, 

18 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is19 lands, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the 

20 United States Virgin Islands. 

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

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

23 means, with respect to any possession of the United 

24 States, the income tax system of such possession if 

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1 session under such system is determined by ref2 erence to the income tax laws of the United States 

3 as if such possession were the United States. 

4 (3) TREATMENT OF PAYMENTS.—For purposes 

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

6 Code, the payments under this section shall be treat7 ed in the same manner as a refund due from credit 

8 provisions described in such section. 

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