I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 655 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit for employers 
providing student loan payment assistance for employees. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 17, 2019 
Ms. BROWNLEY of California 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 a 
credit for employers providing student loan payment as-
sistance for 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 ‘‘Student Loan Repay-
ment Assistance Act of 2019’’. 
SEC. 2. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
section: 
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‘‘SEC. 45T. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, the 
employer-provided student loan repayment credit deter-
mined under this section for the taxable year is an amount 
equal to 10 percent of all qualified student loan repay-
ments of the taxpayer for such taxable year. 
‘‘(b) QUALIFIED STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT.—For 
purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified student loan 
repayment’ means, with respect to any employee of an em-
ployer, so much of the amounts paid under a student loan 
repayment program by the employer on behalf of such em-
ployee as does not exceed $500 per month. 
‘‘(c) STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM.—For 
purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A student loan repayment 
program is a separate written plan of an employer 
for the exclusive benefit of his employees to provide 
such employees with student loan payment assist-
ance which meets the requirements of paragraphs 
(2) through (5). 
‘‘(2) DIRECT PAYMENT FOR EMPLOYEE EDU-
CATION LOANS.—A plan meets the requirements of 
this paragraph if payments under the plan are made 
on behalf of the employee directly to the lender or 
loan servicer of a qualified education loan (as de-
fined in section 221(d)) which was incurred by the 
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employee and is attributable to education furnished 
to such employee. 
‘‘(3) PARTICIPATION
AND
NON-DISCRIMINA-
TION.—A plan meets the requirements of this para-
graph if the employer makes the program (and as-
sistance provided thereunder) widely available to em-
ployees (determined under such regulations as the 
Secretary shall prescribe to prevent plans from dis-
criminating in favor of employees who are highly 
compensated employees (within the meaning of sec-
tion 414(q))). 
‘‘(4) REPORTS.—A plan meets the requirements 
of this paragraph if, for any taxable year for which 
a credit is allowed under this section, the employer 
reports to the Secretary (at such time and in such 
form and manner as the Secretary may prescribe) 
the number of employees utilizing the plan, the num-
ber of employees eligible to participate in the plan, 
and the terms of such plan. 
‘‘(5) NOTICE.—A plan meets the requirements 
of this paragraph if reasonable notification of the 
availability and terms of the program are provided 
to all eligible employees.’’. 
(b) CREDIT MADE PART OF GENERAL BUSINESS 
CREDIT.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by strik-
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