I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2917 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for retirement 

matching contributions by employers on account of student loan payments made by employees. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 30, 2021 

Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. PASCRELL, 

Mr. ESTES, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Ms. SEWELL, Mrs. TRAHAN, 

and Mr. ZELDIN) 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 provide 

for retirement matching contributions by employers on 

account of student loan payments made by employees. 

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 of 2021’’. 


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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.—Section 401(m)(4)(A) of the In5 ternal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

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

7 the end of clause (ii) and inserting ‘‘, and’’, and by adding 

8 at the end the following new clause: 

9 ‘‘(iii) subject to the requirements of 

10 paragraph (13), any employer contribution 

11 made to a defined contribution plan on be12 half of an employee on account of a quali13 fied student loan payment.’’. 

14 (b) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAYMENT.—Section 

15 401(m)(4) of such Code is amended by adding at the end 

16 the following new subparagraph: 

17 ‘‘(D) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAY18 MENT.—The term ‘qualified student loan pay19 ment’ means a payment made by an employee 

20 in repayment of a qualified education loan (as 

21 defined section 221(d)(1)) incurred by the em22 ployee to pay qualified higher education ex23 penses, but only— 

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

25 the aggregate for the year do not exceed 

26 an amount equal to— 


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1 ‘‘(I) the limitation applicable 

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

3 if lesser, the employee’s compensation 

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

5 the year), reduced by 

6 ‘‘(II) the elective deferrals made 

7 by the employee for such year, and 

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

9 employer making the matching contribu10 tion under this paragraph that such pay11 ment has been made on such loan. 

12 For purposes of this subparagraph, the term 

13 ‘qualified higher education expenses’ means the 

14 cost of attendance (as defined in section 472 of 

15 the Higher Education Act of 1965, as in effect 

16 on the day before the date of the enactment of 

17 the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997) at an eligible 

18 educational institution (as defined in section 

19 221(d)(2)).’’. 

20 (c) MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS FOR QUALIFIED

21 STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS.—Section 401(m) of such 

22 Code is amended by redesignating paragraph (13) as para23 graph (14), and by inserting after paragraph (12) the fol24 lowing new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(13) MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS FOR QUALI2 FIED STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of para4 graph (4)(A)(iii), an employer contribution 

5 made to a defined contribution plan on account 

6 of a qualified student loan payment shall be 

7 treated as a matching contribution for purposes 

8 of this title if— 

9 ‘‘(i) the plan provides matching con10 tributions on account of elective deferrals 

11 at the same rate as contributions on ac12 count of qualified student loan payments, 

13 ‘‘(ii) the plan provides matching con14 tributions on account of qualified student 

15 loan payments only on behalf of employees 

16 otherwise eligible to receive matching con17 tributions on account of elective deferrals, 

18 ‘‘(iii) under the plan, all employees el19 igible to receive matching contributions on 

20 account of elective deferrals are eligible to 

21 receive matching contributions on account 

22 of qualified student loan payments, and 

23 ‘‘(iv) the plan provides that matching 

24 contributions on account of qualified stu25 dent loan payments vest in the same manVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2917.IH H2917

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1 ner as matching contributions on account 

2 of elective deferrals. 

3 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT FOR PURPOSES OF NON4 DISCRIMINATION RULES, ETC.— 

5 ‘‘(i) NONDISCRIMINATION RULES.— 

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

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

8 matching contributions described in para9 graph (4)(A)(iii) shall not fail to be treated 

10 as available to an employee solely because 

11 such employee does not have debt incurred 

12 under a qualified education loan (as de13 fined in section 221(d)(1)). 

14 ‘‘(ii) STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS NOT

15 TREATED AS PLAN CONTRIBUTION.—Ex16 cept as provided in clause (iii), a qualified 

17 student loan payment shall not be treated 

18 as a contribution to a plan under this title. 

19 ‘‘(iii) MATCHING CONTRIBUTION

20 RULES.—Solely for purposes of meeting 

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

22 (12) of this subsection, or paragraph 

23 (11)(B)(i)(II), (12)(B), or (13)(D) of sub24 section (k), a plan may treat a qualified 

25 student loan payment as an elective deferVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2917.IH H2917

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1 ral or an elective contribution, whichever is 

2 applicable. 

3 ‘‘(iv) ACTUAL DEFERRAL PERCENT4 AGE TESTING.—In determining whether a 

5 plan meets the requirements of subsection 

6 (k)(3)(A)(ii) for a plan year, the plan may 

7 apply the requirements of such subsection 

8 separately with respect to all employees 

9 who receive matching contributions de10 scribed in paragraph (4)(A)(iii) for the 

11 plan year. 

12 ‘‘(C) EMPLOYER MAY RELY ON EMPLOYEE

13 CERTIFICATION.—The employer may rely on an 

14 employee certification of payment under para15 graph (4)(D)(ii).’’. 

16 (d) SIMPLE RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS.—Section 

17 408(p)(2) of such Code is amended by adding at the end 

18 the following new subparagraph: 

19 ‘‘(F) MATCHING CONTRIBUTIONS FOR

20 QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to the 

22 rules of clause (iii), an arrangement shall 

23 not fail to be treated as meeting the re24 quirements of subparagraph (A)(iii) solely 

25 because under the arrangement, solely for 


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1 purposes of such subparagraph, qualified 

2 student loan payments are treated as 

3 amounts elected by the employee under 

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

5 payments do not exceed— 

6 ‘‘(I) the applicable dollar amount 

7 under subparagraph (E) (after appli8 cation of section 414(v)) for the year 

9 (or, if lesser, the employee’s com10 pensation (as defined in section 

11 415(c)(3)) for the year), reduced by 

12 ‘‘(II) any other amounts elected 

13 by the employee under subparagraph 

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

15 ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN PAY16 MENT.—For purposes of this subpara17 graph— 

18 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—The term 

19 ‘qualified student loan payment’ 

20 means a payment made by an em21 ployee in repayment of a qualified 

22 education loan (as defined in section 

23 221(d)(1)) incurred by the employee 

24 to pay qualified higher education ex25 penses, but only if the employee cerVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:33 Jun 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2917.IH H2917

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1 tifies to the employer making the 

2 matching contribution that such pay3 ment has been made on such a loan. 

4 ‘‘(II) QUALIFIED HIGHER EDU5 CATION EXPENSES.—The term ‘quali6 fied higher education expenses’ has 

7 the same meaning as when used in 

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

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

10 shall apply to an arrangement only if, 

11 under the arrangement— 

12 ‘‘(I) matching contributions on 

13 account of qualified student loan pay14 ments are provided only on behalf of 

15 employees otherwise eligible to elect 

16 contributions under subparagraph 

17 (A)(i)(I), and 

18 ‘‘(II) all employees otherwise eli19 gible to participate in the arrange20 ment are eligible to receive matching 

21 contributions on account of qualified 

22 student loan payments.’’. 

23 (e) 403(b) PLANS.—Section 403(b)(12)(A) of such 

24 Code is amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘The 

25 fact that the employer offers matching contributions on 


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1 account of qualified student loan payments as described 

2 in section 401(m)(13) shall not be taken into account in 

3 determining whether the arrangement satisfies the re4 quirements of clause (ii) (and any regulation there5 under).’’. 

6 (f) 457(b) PLANS.—Section 457(b) of such Code is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘A plan 

8 which is established and maintained by an employer which 

9 is described in subsection (e)(1)(A) shall not be treated 

10 as failing to meet the requirements of this subsection sole11 ly because the plan, or another plan maintained by the 

12 employer which meets the requirements of section 401(a) 

13 or 403(b), provides for matching contributions on account 

14 of qualified student loan payments as described in section 

15 401(m)(13).’’. 

16 (g) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall 

17 prescribe regulations for purposes of implementing the 

18 amendments made by this section, including regulations— 

19 (1) permitting a plan to make matching con20 tributions for qualified student loan payments, as 

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

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

23 this section, at a different frequency than matching 

24 contributions are otherwise made under the plan, 


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1 provided that the frequency is not less than annu2 ally; 

3 (2) permitting employers to establish reasonable 

4 procedures to claim matching contributions for such 

5 qualified student loan payments under the plan, in6 cluding an annual deadline (not earlier than 3 

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

8 a claim must be made; and 

9 (3) promulgating model amendments which 

10 plans may adopt to implement matching contribu11 tions on such qualified student loan payments for 

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

13 457(b) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

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

15 this section shall apply to contributions made for years 

16 beginning after December 31, 2021. 

Æ 


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