Title: Student Loan Repayment Assistance Act of 2019
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Student Loan Repayment Assistance Act of 2019
This bill allows a business-related tax credit for an employer's payments for employees under a student loan repayment program. The credit is equal to 10% of the amounts that an employer pays on behalf of any employee under a program and is refundable for certain small businesses and tax-exempt organizations. The payments for an employee may not exceed $500 per month.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 655 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 assistance for employees.

    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 Assistance 
Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT.

    (a) In General.--Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end 
the following new section:

``SEC. 45T. STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM CREDIT.

    ``(a) In General.--For purposes of section 38, the employer-
provided student loan repayment credit determined under this section 
for the taxable year is an amount equal to 10 percent of all qualified 
student loan repayments 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 employer, so much of the amounts paid 
under a student loan repayment program by the employer on behalf of 
such employee 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 assistance which meets the requirements of paragraphs 
        (2) through (5).
            ``(2) Direct payment for employee education 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 defined in 
        section 221(d)) which was incurred by the employee and is 
        attributable to education furnished to such employee.
            ``(3) Participation and non-discrimination.--A plan meets 
        the requirements of this paragraph if the employer makes the 
        program (and assistance provided thereunder) widely available 
        to employees (determined under such regulations as the 
        Secretary shall prescribe to prevent plans from discriminating 
        in favor of employees who are highly compensated employees 
        (within the meaning of section 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 number 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 striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (31), 
by striking the period at the end of paragraph (32) and inserting ``, 
plus'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(33) the employer-provided student loan repayment credit 
        determined under section 45T(a).''.
    (c) Credit Refundable for Certain Small Employers.--
            (1) In general.--Section 38(c) of such Code is amended by 
        redesignating paragraph (6) as paragraph (7) and by inserting 
        after paragraph (5) the following new paragraph:
            ``(6) Special rules for employer-provided student loan 
        repayment credit.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of the employer-
                provided student loan repayment credit determined under 
                section 45T(a) with respect to a specified small 
                business or any organization exempt from tax under 
                section 501(a)--
                            ``(i) this section and section 39 shall be 
                        applied separately with respect to such 
                        credits,
                            ``(ii) in applying paragraph (1) to such 
                        credits--
                                    ``(I) the tentative minimum tax 
                                shall be treated as being zero, and
                                    ``(II) the limitation under 
                                paragraph (1) (as modified by subclause 
                                (I)) shall be reduced by the credit 
                                allowed under subsection (a) for the 
                                taxable year (other than the employer-
                                provided student loan repayment 
                                credit), and
                            ``(iii) the amount of such credits in 
                        excess of the limitation under paragraph (1) 
                        (as modified by subparagraph (B)(ii)) shall be 
                        treated as a credit under subpart C.
                    ``(B) Specified small business.--For purposes of 
                this paragraph, the term `specified small business' 
                means--
                            ``(i) an eligible small business 
                        (determined by substituting `$5,000,000' for 
                        `$50,000,000' in paragraph (5)(C)), or
                            ``(ii) a corporation, partnership, or sole 
                        proprietorship which during the preceding 
                        taxable year employed not more than 100 full-
                        time employees.
                For purposes of clause (ii), an employee shall be 
                considered full-time if such employee is employed at 
                least 30 hours per week for 20 or more calendar weeks 
                in the taxable year and all members of the same 
                controlled group of corporations (within the meaning of 
                section 52(a)) and all persons under common control 
                (within the meaning of section 52(b)) shall be treated 
                as 1 person.''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--
                    (A) Section 38(c)(2)(A)(ii)(II) of such Code is 
                amended by striking ``and the specified credits'' and 
                inserting ``the specified credits, and the employer-
                provided student loan repayment credit determined under 
                section 45T(a)''.
                    (B) Section 38(c)(4)(A)(ii)(II) of such Code is 
                amended by inserting ``and the employer-provided 
                student loan repayment credit determined under section 
                45T(a)'' after ``specified credits''.
                    (C) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United States 
                Code, is amended by inserting ``38(c)(6),'' after 
                ``36B,''.
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart D of 
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by adding 
at the end the following new item:

``Sec 45T. Student loan repayment program credit.''.
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after the date of the enactment of 
this Act.
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