Title: Student Loan Repayment Acceleration Act
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Student Loan Repayment Acceleration Act
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the gross income of an employee up to $10,000 per year in student loan payments made by an employer. The loan payments are also exempt from certain payroll taxes.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3595 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3595

    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude employer 
  contributions to student loan repayment from income, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 11, 2018

  Mr. Gardner introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to exclude employer 
  contributions to student loan repayment from income, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Student Loan Repayment Acceleration 
Act''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FOR EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS TO STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT.

    (a) In General.--Part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after section 
139G the following new section:

``SEC. 139H. EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS TO STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT.

    ``(a) In General.--Gross income of an employee shall not include 
any qualifying student loan payment.
    ``(b) Qualifying Student Loan Payment.--For purposes of this 
section--
            ``(1) In general.--In the case of an individual, the term 
        `qualifying student loan payment' means any payment or 
        contribution made by the individual's employer in repayment of 
        a qualified education loan (as defined in section 221(d)(1)) 
        incurred to pay the higher education expenses of the 
        individual, without regard to whether such payment is made as a 
        match to payments made by the individual, independently of any 
        payments by the individual, or is determined in any other 
        manner.
            ``(2) Limitation.--Such term shall not include any such 
        payments or contributions to the extent they exceed $10,000 
        during the taxable year.
    ``(c) Nondiscrimination Rules.--
            ``(1) In general.--Rules similar to the rules of paragraphs 
        (2), (3), and (4) of section 127(b) shall apply to any program 
        or policy of an employer to provide qualifying student loan 
        payments to employees of the employer. Subsection (a) shall not 
        apply to any qualifying student loan payment made under a 
        program or policy which does not satisfy such rules.
            ``(2) Eligibility.--For purposes of the rules described in 
        paragraph (1), an employee of an employer shall not be treated 
        as ineligible to receive qualifying student loan payments under 
        a program or policy of the employer solely because such 
        employee does not have debt incurred under a qualified 
        education loan (as defined in section 221(d)(1)).
    ``(d) Self-Employed Individuals, etc.--For purposes of this 
section--
            ``(1) Employee.--The term `employee' includes, for any 
        year, an individual who is an employee within the meaning of 
        section 401(c)(1).
            ``(2) Employer.--An individual who owns the entire interest 
        in an unincorporated trade or business shall be treated as the 
        individual's own employer. A partnership shall be treated as 
        the employer of each partner who is an employee within the 
        meaning of paragraph (1).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Paragraph (7) of section 127(c) of the Internal Revenue 
        Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows:
            ``(7) Denial of double benefit.--No deduction, credit, or 
        exclusion shall be allowed to the employee under any other 
        section of this chapter for any amount excluded from income by 
        reason of this section, including the amount of any qualifying 
        student loan payment which is excluded from income under 
        section 139H.''.
            (2) Paragraph (1) of section 221(e) of such Code is amended 
        by inserting ``, or for any amount for which an exclusion is 
        allowable under section 139H'' before the period.
    (c) Exclusion of Qualifying Student Loan Payments From Payroll 
Taxes.--
            (1) In general.--Paragraph (20) of section 3121(a) of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ``or 132'' 
        and inserting ``132, or 139H''.
            (2) Federal unemployment tax.--Paragraph (16) of section 
        3306(b) of such Code is amended by striking ``or 132'' and 
        inserting ``132, or 139H''.
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for part III of 
subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 139G the 
following new item:

``Sec. 139H. Employer contributions to student loan repayment.''.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2018.
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