I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1647 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit 
against income tax for hiring veterans. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 19, 2009 
Mr. MCCOTTER 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 
employers a credit against income tax for hiring veterans. 
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 ‘‘Veterans’ Employment 
Transition Support Act of 2009’’ or the ‘‘VETS Act of 
2009’’. 
SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR EMPLOYERS HIRING VETERANS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 
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1986 (relating to business-related credits) is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 45R. CREDIT FOR EMPLOYERS HIRING VETERANS. 
‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—For purposes of section 38, 
the military service personnel employment credit for the 
taxable year shall be equal to— 
‘‘(1) in the case of a qualified veteran, 40 per-
cent of the qualified first-year wages with respect to 
such veteran for such year, and 
‘‘(2) in the case of a qualified disabled veteran, 
the applicable percentage of the qualified first-year 
wages with respect to such veteran for such year. 
‘‘(b) VETERAN
TAKEN
INTO
ACCOUNT
ONLY 
ONCE.—No credit shall be determined under subsection 
(a) with respect to any veteran unless such veteran has 
elected (in such form and manner as the Secretary may 
require) to have his qualified first-year wages taken into 
account with respect to the employer paying such wages. 
A veteran may make only one election under this sub-
section. The Secretary shall require such reporting as the 
Secretary determines is necessary to carry out the pur-
poses of this subsection. 
‘‘(c) QUALIFIED WAGES.—For purposes of this sec-
tion— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified wages’ 
means, with respect to any individual, the wages 
paid or incurred by the employer during the taxable 
year to such individual. 
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED
FIRST-YEAR
WAGES.—The 
term ‘qualified first-year wages’ means, with respect 
to any individual, qualified wages attributable to 
service rendered during the 1-year period beginning 
with the day the individual begins work for the em-
ployer. 
‘‘(3) WAGES.—The term ‘wages’ has the mean-
ing given such term by section 51(c), without regard 
to paragraph (4) thereof. 
‘‘(d) QUALIFIED VETERAN; HIRING DATE.—For pur-
poses of this section— 
‘‘(1) QUALIFIED VETERAN.—The term ‘quali-
fied veteran’ means any individual who is certified 
by the designated local agency (as defined in section 
51(d)(11)) as being a veteran (as defined in section 
51(d)(3)(B)). 
‘‘(2) HIRING DATE.—The term ‘hiring date’ has 
the meaning given such term by section 51(d). 
‘‘(e) QUALIFIED DISABLED VETERAN; APPLICABLE 
PERCENTAGE.— 
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