I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4349 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against 
income tax for contributions to a trust used to provide need-based college 
scholarships. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 16, 2012 
Mr. FATTAH 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 against income tax for contributions to a trust 
used to provide need-based college scholarships. 
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 ‘‘Communities Com-
mitted to College Tax Credit Act of 2012’’. 
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SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TO A TRUST USED TO 
PROVIDE NEED-BASED COLLEGE SCHOLAR-
SHIPS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (relating to other credits) is amended by adding at 
the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 30E. CONTRIBUTIONS TO TRUST USED TO PROVIDE 
NEED-BASED COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS. 
‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—In addition to any 
deduction allowable under this title, there shall be allowed 
as a credit against the tax imposed by this chapter for 
the taxable year an amount equal to 50 percent of des-
ignated qualified college scholarship funding contributions 
made by the taxpayer during the taxable year. 
‘‘(b) DESIGNATED QUALIFIED COLLEGE SCHOLAR-
SHIP FUNDING CONTRIBUTION.—For purposes of this 
section— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘designated quali-
fied college scholarship funding contribution’ means 
any charitable contribution (as defined in section 
170(c))— 
‘‘(A) which is paid in cash by the taxpayer 
to a qualified scholarship funding trust, and 
‘‘(B) which is designated by the trust for 
purposes of this section. 
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‘‘(2) 
QUALIFIED
SCHOLARSHIP
FUNDING 
TRUST.—The term ‘qualified scholarship funding 
trust’ means a trust— 
‘‘(A) which is established and maintained 
in the United States by an organization— 
‘‘(i) described in section 501(c)(3) and 
exempt from tax under section 501(a), and 
‘‘(ii) organized primarily for edu-
cational purposes, 
‘‘(B) which is part of a plan of one or 
more local education agencies (as defined in 
section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965) of the State in which 
such trust is established and maintained to pro-
vide scholarships to children of such agencies, 
and 
‘‘(C) the written governing instrument of 
which— 
‘‘(i) requires that the income of the 
trust be used exclusively to provide quali-
fied scholarships (as defined in section 
117(b)) to individuals who— 
‘‘(I) are candidates for a degree 
at an institution of higher education 
(within the meaning given such term 
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by section 101 of the Higher Edu-
cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)), 
and 
‘‘(II) have demonstrated financial 
need in accordance with section 471 
of such Act (20 U.S.C. 1087kk), and 
‘‘(ii) requires that the assets of the 
trust not be distributed for any purpose. 
‘‘(c) LIMITATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is a national quali-
fied college scholarship funding contribution limita-
tion of $1,000,000,000. 
‘‘(2) ALLOCATION OF LIMITATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Such national limita-
tion shall be allocated by the Secretary among 
the qualified scholarship funding trusts which 
have registered with the Secretary on or before 
the 180th day after the date of the enactment 
of this section. Each trust’s share of such na-
tional limitation shall be the amount which 
bears the same ratio to such limitation as the 
number of school age children of such trust’s 
sponsoring agencies bears to the aggregate 
number of school age children of the sponsoring 
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agencies of all trusts which have so registered 
with the Secretary. 
‘‘(B) SCHOOL
AGE
CHILDREN
OF
SPON-
SORING AGENCIES.—For purposes of subpara-
graph (A), the number of school age children of 
a trust’s sponsoring agencies is the number of 
children of the local education agencies referred 
to in subsection (b)(2)(B) who have attained 
age 5 but not age 18 for the most recent fiscal 
year ending before the date the allocations 
under this paragraph are made. 
‘‘(3) DESIGNATION
SUBJECT
TO
ALLOCATED 
LIMITATION AMOUNT.—The amount of contributions 
made to a qualified scholarship funding trust which 
may be designated by such trust for purposes of this 
section shall not exceed the limitation amount allo-
cated to such trust under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(4) MAXIMUM ALLOCATION PER TRUST.—The 
maximum qualified college scholarship funding con-
tribution limitation which may be allocated to each 
trust is $200,000,000. An amount which may not be 
allocated to a trust by reason of the preceding sen-
tence shall be allocated as provided in paragraph (2) 
among registered qualified scholarship funding 
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trusts whose allocated limitation (without regard to 
this sentence) does not exceed $200,000,000. 
‘‘(d) APPLICATION WITH OTHER CREDITS.— 
‘‘(1) BUSINESS CREDIT TREATED AS PART OF 
GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT.—So much of the credit 
which would be allowed under subsection (a) for any 
taxable year (determined without regard to this sub-
section) to a taxpayer engaged in a trade or business 
shall be treated as a credit listed in section 38(b) for 
such taxable year (and not allowed under subsection 
(a)). 
‘‘(2) PERSONAL CREDIT.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this 
title, the credit allowed under subsection (a) for 
any taxable year (determined after application 
of paragraph (1)) shall be treated as a credit 
allowable under subpart A for such taxable 
year. 
‘‘(B) LIMITATION BASED ON AMOUNT OF 
TAX.—In the case of a taxable year to which 
section 26(a)(2) does not apply, the credit al-
lowed under subsection (a) for any taxable year 
(determined after application of paragraph (1)) 
shall not exceed the excess of— 
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‘‘(i) the sum of the regular tax liabil-
ity (as defined in section 26(b)) plus the 
tax imposed by section 55, over 
‘‘(ii) the sum of the credits allowable 
under subpart A (other than this section 
and sections 23 and 25D) and section 27 
for the taxable year. 
‘‘(e) APPLICATION OF SECTION.—This section shall 
apply only to contributions made during the 3-year period 
beginning on the 180th day after the date of the enact-
ment of this section.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) Section 23(b)(4)(B) of such Code is amend-
ed by inserting ‘‘and 30E’’ after ‘‘section 25D’’. 
(2) 
Sections 
24(b)(3)(B), 
25A(i)(5)(B), 
25B(g)(2), 
26(a)(1), 
30(c)(2)(B)(ii), 
30B(g)(2)(B)(ii), 904(i), and 1400C(d)(2) of such 
Code are each amended by striking ‘‘and 30D’’ and 
inserting ‘‘30D, and 30E’’. 
(3) Section 25(e)(1)(C)(ii) of such Code is 
amended by inserting ‘‘30E,’’ after ‘‘30D,’’. 
(4) Section 30D(c)(2)(B)(ii) of such Code is 
amended by striking ‘‘and 25D’’ and inserting ‘‘, 
25D, and 30E’’. 
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(5) Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by 
striking ‘‘plus’’ at the end of paragraph (35), by 
striking the period at the end of paragraph (36) and 
inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new paragraph: 
‘‘(37) the portion of the credit to which section 
30E(d)(1) applies.’’. 
(6) The table of sections for subpart B of part 
IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘Sec. 30E. Contributions to trust used to provide need-based college scholar-
ships.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to contributions made on or after 
the 180th day after the date of the enactment of this Act 
in taxable years ending after such date. 
Æ 
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