I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1660 

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

against income tax for employees who participate in qualified apprenticeship programs. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 8, 2019 

Ms. WILSON of Florida 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 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 ‘‘Leveraging and Ener5 gizing America’s Apprenticeship Programs Act’’ or the 

6 ‘‘LEAP Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN QUALI2 FIED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

6 section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 45T. EMPLOYEES PARTICIPATING IN QUALIFIED AP8 PRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 

10 apprenticeship credit determined under this section for the 

11 taxable year is an amount equal to the sum of the applica12 ble credit amounts (as determined under subsection (b)) 

13 for each of the apprenticeship employees of the employer 

14 that exceeds the applicable apprenticeship level (as deter15 mined under subsection (e)) during such taxable year. 

16 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE CREDIT AMOUNT.—For purposes 

17 of subsection (a), the applicable credit amount for each 

18 apprenticeship employee for each taxable year is equal 

19 to— 

20 ‘‘(1) in the case of an apprenticeship employee 

21 who has not attained 25 years of age at the close 

22 of the taxable year, $1,500, or 

23 ‘‘(2) in the case of an apprenticeship employee 

24 who has attained 25 years of age at the close of the 

25 taxable year, $1,000. 


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1 ‘‘(c) LIMITATION ON NUMBER OF YEARS WHICH

2 CREDIT MAY BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—The appren3 ticeship credit shall not be allowed for more than 2 taxable 

4 years with respect to any apprenticeship employee. 

5 ‘‘(d) APPRENTICESHIP EMPLOYEE.—For purposes of 

6 this section— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘apprenticeship 

8 employee’ means any employee who is— 

9 ‘‘(A) a party to an apprenticeship agree10 ment registered with— 

11 ‘‘(i) the Office of Apprenticeship of 

12 the Employment and Training Administra13 tion of the Department of Labor, or 

14 ‘‘(ii) a recognized State apprenticeship 

15 agency, and 

16 ‘‘(B) employed by the employer in the oc17 cupation identified in the apprenticeship agree18 ment described in subparagraph (A), whether 

19 or not the employer is a party to such agree20 ment. 

21 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM COMPLETION RATE FOR ELIGI22 BLE APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS.—An employee 

23 shall not be treated as an apprenticeship employee 

24 unless such apprenticeship agreement is with an ap25 prenticeship program that, for the two-year period 


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1 ending on the date of the apprenticeship begins, has 

2 a completion rate of at least 50 percent. 

3 ‘‘(e) APPLICABLE APPRENTICESHIP LEVEL.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec5 tion, the applicable apprenticeship level shall be 

6 equal to— 

7 ‘‘(A) in the case of any apprenticeship em8 ployees described in subsection (b)(1), the 

9 amount equal to 80 percent of the average 

10 number of such apprenticeship employees of the 

11 employer for the 3 taxable years preceding the 

12 taxable year for which the credit is being deter13 mined, rounded to the next lower whole num14 ber, and 

15 ‘‘(B) in the case of any apprenticeship em16 ployees described in subsection (b)(2), the 

17 amount equal to 80 percent of the average 

18 number of such apprenticeship employees of the 

19 employer for the 3 taxable years preceding the 

20 taxable year for which the credit is being deter21 mined, rounded to the next lower whole num22 ber. 

23 ‘‘(2) FIRST YEAR OF NEW APPRENTICESHIP

24 PROGRAMS.—In the case of an employer which did 

25 not have any apprenticeship employees during any 


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1 taxable year in the 3 taxable years preceding the 

2 taxable year for which the credit is being deter3 mined, the applicable apprenticeship level shall be 

4 equal to zero. 

5 ‘‘(f) COORDINATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.—The 

6 amount of credit otherwise allowable under sections 45A, 

7 51(a), and 1396(a) with respect to any employee shall be 

8 reduced by the credit allowed by this section with respect 

9 to such employee. 

10 ‘‘(g) CERTAIN RULES TO APPLY.—Rules similar to 

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

12 apply for purposes of this section.’’. 

13 (b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS

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

15 amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (31), 

16 by striking the period at the end of paragraph (32) and 

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

18 new paragraph: 

19 ‘‘(33) the apprenticeship credit determined 

20 under section 45T(a).’’. 

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

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

23 ‘‘45T(a),’’ after ‘‘45S(a),’’. 

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

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


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1 of such Code is amended by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 45T. Employees participating in qualified apprenticeship programs.’’. 

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

4 this section shall apply to individuals commencing appren5 ticeship programs after the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act. 

Æ 


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