II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1428 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit treatment of student 

loan payments as elective deferrals for purposes of employer matching 

contributions, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 13, 2019 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, 

Mr. BROWN, and Ms. HASSAN) 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 permit 

treatment of student loan payments as elective deferrals 

for purposes of employer matching contributions, 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 ‘‘Retirement Parity for 

5 Student Loans Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. TREATMENT OF STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS AS 

2 ELECTIVE DEFERRALS FOR PURPOSES OF 

3 MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

5 401(m)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

6 amended by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (i), by 

7 striking the period at the end of clause (ii) and inserting 

8 ‘‘, and’’, and by adding at the end the following new 

9 clause: 

10 ‘‘(iii) subject to the requirements of 

11 paragraph (13), any employer contribution 

12 made to a defined contribution plan on be13 half of an employee on account of a quali14 fied student loan payment.’’. 

15 (b) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT.—Para16 graph (4) of section 401(m) of the Internal Revenue Code 

17 of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 

18 new subparagraph: 

19 ‘‘(D) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAY20 MENT.—The term ‘qualified student loan pay21 ment’ means a payment made by an employee 

22 in repayment of a qualified education loan (as 

23 defined in section 221(d)(1)) incurred to pay 

24 qualified higher education expenses of the em25 ployee, but only— 


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1 ‘‘(i) to the extent such payments in 

2 the aggregate for the year do not exceed 

3 an amount equal to— 

4 ‘‘(I) the limitation applicable 

5 under section 402(g) for the year (or, 

6 if lesser, the employee’s compensation 

7 (as defined in section 415(c)(3)) for 

8 the year), reduced by 

9 ‘‘(II) the elective deferrals made 

10 by the employee for such year, and 

11 ‘‘(ii) if the employee certifies to the 

12 employer making the matching contribu13 tion under this paragraph that such pay14 ment has been made on such loan. 

15 For purposes of this subparagraph, the term 

16 ‘qualified higher education expenses’ means the 

17 cost of attendance (as defined in section 472 of 

18 the Higher Education Act of 1965, as in effect 

19 on the day before the date of the enactment of 

20 the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997) at an eligible 

21 educational institution (as defined in section 

22 221(d)(2)).’’. 

23 (c) MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS FOR QUALIFIED

24 STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS.—Subsection (m) of section 

25 401 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 


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1 redesignating paragraph (13) as paragraph (14), and by 

2 inserting after paragraph (12) the following new para3 graph: 

4 ‘‘(13) MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS FOR QUALI5 FIED STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para7 graph (4)(A)(iii), an employer contribution 

8 made to a defined contribution plan on account 

9 of a qualified student loan payment shall be 

10 treated as a matching contribution for purposes 

11 of this title if— 

12 ‘‘(i) the plan provides matching con13 tributions on account of elective deferrals 

14 at the same rate as contributions on ac15 count of qualified student loan payments, 

16 ‘‘(ii) the plan provides matching con17 tributions on account of qualified student 

18 loan payments only on behalf of employees 

19 otherwise eligible to make elective defer20 rals, and 

21 ‘‘(iii) under the plan, all employees el22 igible to receive matching contributions on 

23 account of elective deferrals are eligible to 

24 receive matching contributions on account 

25 of qualified student loan payments. 


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1 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT FOR PURPOSES OF NON2 DISCRIMINATION RULES, ETC.— 

3 ‘‘(i) NONDISCRIMINATION RULES.— 

4 For purposes of subparagraph (A)(iii), 

5 subsection (a)(4), and section 410(b), 

6 matching contributions described in para7 graph (4)(A)(iii) shall not fail to be treated 

8 as available to an employee solely because 

9 such employee does not have debt incurred 

10 under a qualified education loan (as de11 fined in section 221(d)(1)). 

12 ‘‘(ii) STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS NOT

13 TREATED AS PLAN CONTRIBUTION.—Ex14 cept as provided in clause (iii), a qualified 

15 student loan payment shall not be treated 

16 as a contribution to a plan under this title. 

17 ‘‘(iii) MATCHING CONTRIBUTION

18 RULES.—Solely for purposes of meeting 

19 the requirements of paragraph (11)(B) or 

20 (12) of this subsection, or paragraph 

21 (11)(B)(i)(II), (12)(B), or (13)(D) of sub22 section (k), a plan may treat a qualified 

23 student loan payment as an elective defer24 ral or an elective contribution, whichever is 

25 applicable.’’. 


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1 (d) SIMPLE RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS.—Paragraph 

2 (2) of section 408(p) of the Internal Revenue Code of 

3 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 

4 subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(F) MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS FOR

6 QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the 

8 rules of clause (iii), an arrangement shall 

9 not fail to be treated as meeting the re10 quirements of subparagraph (A)(iii) solely 

11 because under the arrangement, solely for 

12 purposes of such subparagraph, qualified 

13 student loan payments are treated as 

14 amounts elected by the employee under 

15 subparagraph (A)(i)(I) to the extent such 

16 payments do not exceed— 

17 ‘‘(I) the applicable dollar amount 

18 under subparagraph (E) (after appli19 cation of section 414(v)) for the year 

20 (or, if lesser, the employee’s com21 pensation (as defined in section 

22 415(c)(3)) for the year), reduced by 

23 ‘‘(II) any other amounts elected 

24 by the employee under subparagraph 

25 (A)(i)(I) for the year. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAY2 MENT.—For purposes of this subpara3 graph— 

4 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The term 

5 ‘qualified student loan payment’ 

6 means a payment made by an em7 ployee in repayment of a qualified 

8 education loan (as defined in section 

9 221(d)(1)) incurred to pay qualified 

10 higher education expenses of the em11 ployee, but only if the employee cer12 tifies to the employer making the 

13 matching contribution that such pay14 ment has been made on such a loan. 

15 ‘‘(II) QUALIFIED HIGHER EDU16 CATION EXPENSES.—The term ‘quali17 fied higher education expenses’ has 

18 the same meaning as when used in 

19 section 401(m)(4)(D). 

20 ‘‘(iii) APPLICABLE RULES.—Clause (i) 

21 shall apply to an arrangement only if, 

22 under the arrangement— 

23 ‘‘(I) matching contributions on 

24 account of qualified student loan pay25 ments are provided only on behalf of 


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1 employees otherwise eligible to elect 

2 contributions under subparagraph 

3 (A)(i)(I), and 

4 ‘‘(II) all employees otherwise eli5 gible to participate in the arrange6 ment are eligible to receive matching 

7 contributions on account of qualified 

8 student loan payments.’’. 

9 (e) 403(b) PLANS.—Subparagraph (A) of section 

10 403(b)(12) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

11 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The fact 

12 that the employer offers matching contributions on ac13 count of qualified student loan payments as described in 

14 section 401(m)(13) shall not be taken into account in de15 termining whether the arrangement satisfies the require16 ments of clause (ii) (and any regulation thereunder).’’. 

17 (f) 457(b) PLANS.—Subsection (b) of section 457 of 

18 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

19 at the end the following: ‘‘A plan which is established and 

20 maintained by an employer which is described in sub21 section (e)(1)(A) shall not be treated as failing to meet 

22 the requirements of this subsection solely because the 

23 plan, or another plan maintained by the employer which 

24 meets the requirements of section 401(a), provides for 


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1 matching contributions on account of qualified student 

2 loan payments as described in section 401(m)(13).’’. 

3 (g) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall 

4 prescribe regulations for purposes of implementing the 

5 amendments made by this section, including regulations— 

6 (1) permitting a plan to make matching con7 tributions for qualified student loan payments, as 

8 defined in sections 401(m)(4)(D) and 408(p)(2)(F) 

9 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by 

10 this section, at a different frequency than matching 

11 contributions are otherwise made under the plan, 

12 provided that the frequency is not less than annu13 ally; 

14 (2) permitting employers to establish reasonable 

15 procedures to claim matching contributions for such 

16 qualified student loan payments under the plan, in17 cluding an annual deadline (not earlier than 3 

18 months after the close of each plan year) by which 

19 a claim must be made; and 

20 (3) promulgating model amendments which 

21 plans may adopt to implement matching contribu22 tions on such qualified student loan payments for 

23 purposes of sections 401(m), 408(p), 403(b), and 

24 457(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 


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1 (h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply to contributions made for years 

3 beginning after December 31, 2019. 

Æ 


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