I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 55 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a refundable 
credit against income tax for 50 percent of the employer’s cost of pro-
viding tax-free transit passes to employees. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 6, 2009 
Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mrs. BIGGERT, and Mr. ROSKAM) intro-
duced 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 em-
ployers a refundable credit against income tax for 50 
percent of the employer’s cost of providing tax-free tran-
sit passes to employees. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Creating Opportunities 
to Motivate Mass-transit Utilization To Encourage Rider-
ship Act of 2009’’ or the ‘‘Commuter Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. REFUNDABLE EMPLOYER CREDIT FOR PROVIDING 
TAX-FREE TRANSIT PASSES TO EMPLOYEES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (relating to refundable credits) is amended by insert-
ing after section 35 the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 35A. EMPLOYERS PROVIDING TAX-FREE TRANSIT 
PASSES TO EMPLOYEES. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an employer, there 
shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by 
this subtitle for the taxable year an amount equal to 50 
percent of the amount paid or incurred by the taxpayer 
during the taxable year— 
‘‘(1) for transit passes provided to employees of 
such employer, and 
‘‘(2) as cash reimbursements made to such em-
ployees for transit passes purchased by such employ-
ees. 
‘‘(b) LIMITATION TO TAX-FREE TRANSIT PASSES.— 
Subsection (a) shall apply to a transit pass (or reimburse-
ment) provided to an employee only to the extent that the 
employer reasonably expects that the value of such pass 
(or the amount of such reimbursement) is excludable from 
such employee’s income under section 132. 
‘‘(c) EXCLUSION
OF NONTAXPAYERS.—Subsection 
(a) shall not apply to any employer which is exempt from 
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the tax imposed by this chapter with respect to the activity 
in which the employee is performing services for the em-
ployer. 
‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—Terms used in this section shall 
have the respective meanings given such terms by section 
132.’’. 
(b) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—Section 280C of 
such Code is amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection: 
‘‘(g) EMPLOYER CREDIT FOR PROVIDING TAX-FREE 
TRANSIT PASSES TO EMPLOYEES.—No deduction shall be 
allowed for that portion of the expenses (otherwise allow-
able as a deduction) taken into account in determining the 
credit under section 35A for the taxable year which is 
equal to the amount of the credit allowable for such tax-
able year under section 35A(a).’’. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for such subpart C is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 35 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 35A. Employers providing tax-free transit passes to employees.’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to transit passes provided after the 
date of the enactment of this Act in taxable years ending 
after such date. 
Æ 
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