To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for small business concerns, and for other purposes.

To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for small business concerns, and for other purposes. 1. Grants to small business development centers and women’s business centers to address rising costs of tax compliance for small business concerns (a) Grant authority The Administrator of the Small Business Administration may award a grant under this section to a small business development center or a women’s business center for the purposes of assisting owners of small business concerns in complying with the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and communicating with the Internal Revenue Service. (b) Application Each applicant for a grant under this section shall submit to the Administrator an application in such form as the Administrator may require. The application shall include information regarding the applicant’s goals and objectives for helping address the concerns of owners of small business concerns related to compliance with the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. (c) Applicability of grant requirements An applicant for a grant under this section shall comply with all of the requirements applicable to a grantee under section 21 or section 29 of the Small Business Act, except that the matching funds requirements of such sections shall not apply. (d) Use of funds A recipient of a grant under this section shall use the grant only for the purposes described in subsection (a), including working with— (1) the Internal Revenue Service, including local offices of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate, to help reduce tax compliance costs for such owners; and (2) owners of small business concerns who are subject to an audit by the Internal Revenue Service. (e) Minimum grant amount A grant awarded under this section may not be in an amount less than $200,000. (f) Cooperative agreements and contracts The Administrator may enter into a cooperative agreement or contract with the recipient of a grant under this section to provide additional assistance for the purposes described in subsection (a). (g) Report to Administrator Not later than 18 months after the date of receipt of a grant under this section, the recipient of the grant shall submit to the Administrator a report describing how the grant funds were used. (h) Evaluation of program Not later than 3 years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to Congress a report that contains an evaluation of the grant program established under this section. (i) Definitions In this section: (1) Administrator The term Administrator (2) Small business concern The term small business concern 15 U.S.C. 632 (3) Small business development center The term small business development center 15 U.S.C. 632 (4) Women’s business center The term women’s business center 15 U.S.C. 656 (j) Limitation on use of funds The Administrator may carry out this section only with amounts appropriated specifically to carry out this section under subsection (k). (k) Authorization of appropriations There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

Summary: This bill authorizes the Small Business Administration to award grants to small business development centers and women's business centers for assisting small businesses with tax compliance issues.