I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 488 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against 
income tax for amounts paid by a spouse of a member of the Armed 
Forces for a new State license or certification required by reason of 
a permanent change in the duty station of such member to another 
State. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 12, 2017 
Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Mr. AMODEI, Ms. BORDALLO, Ms. BROWNLEY 
of California, Mrs. BUSTOS, Mrs. COMSTOCK, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. COS-
TELLO of Pennsylvania, Mr. COURTNEY, Mr. CUMMINGS, Ms. DELBENE, 
Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. ENGEL, Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. FOS-
TER, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mr. HECK, Mr. HIMES, Mr. HURD, 
Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. JONES, Mr. KATKO, Mr. KEATING, Mr. KIL-
MER, Mr. LANCE, Mr. LANGEVIN, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. LIPINSKI, Mr. 
LOBIONDO, Mr. LOEBSACK, Ms. MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM of New 
Mexico, Mr. LYNCH, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. MCKINLEY, Mr. MCNERNEY, 
Ms. NORTON, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. QUIGLEY, Mrs. 
RADEWAGEN, Mr. ROTHFUS, Mr. RUSH, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SLAUGH-
TER, Mr. SOTO, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. THOMP-
SON of Pennsylvania, Mr. TIPTON, Mr. TURNER, Mr. WALZ, Mr. YOUNG 
of Iowa, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. KNIGHT, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, and Mr. 
RUSSELL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a 
credit against income tax for amounts paid by a spouse 
of a member of the Armed Forces for a new State 
license or certification required by reason of a permanent 
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change in the duty station of such member to another 
State. 
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 ‘‘Military Spouse Job 
Continuity Act of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR STATE LICENSURE AND CERTIFI-
CATION COSTS OF MILITARY SPOUSES ARIS-
ING BY REASON OF A PERMANENT CHANGE 
IN THE DUTY STATION OF THE MEMBER OF 
THE ARMED FORCES TO ANOTHER STATE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 is amended by inserting after section 30D the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 30E. STATE LICENSURE AND CERTIFICATION COSTS 
OF MILITARY SPOUSE ARISING FROM TRANS-
FER OF MEMBER OF ARMED FORCES TO AN-
OTHER STATE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an eligible indi-
vidual, there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax 
imposed by this chapter for the taxable year an amount 
equal to the qualified relicensing costs of such individual 
which are paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the tax-
able year. 
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‘‘(b) MAXIMUM CREDIT.—The credit allowed by this 
section with respect to each change of duty station shall 
not exceed $500. 
‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 
‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘eligible 
individual’ means any individual— 
‘‘(A) who is married to a member of the 
Armed Forces of the United States at the time 
that the member moves to another State under 
a permanent change of station order, and 
‘‘(B) who moves to such other State with 
such member. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED
RELICENSING
COSTS.—The 
term ‘qualified relicensing costs’ means costs— 
‘‘(A) which are for a license or certification 
required by the State referred to in paragraph 
(1) to engage in the profession that such indi-
vidual engaged in while within the State from 
which the individual moved, and 
‘‘(B) which are paid or incurred during the 
period beginning on the date that the orders re-
ferred to in paragraph (1)(A) are issued and 
ending on the date which is 1 year after the re-
porting date specified in such orders.’’. 
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