Title: Epidemic Tax Credit Act of 2020
Policy area: Taxation

Summary:
Epidemic Tax Credit Act of 2020
This bill allows a new tax credit in 2020 to private or tax-exempt employers for 90% of wages paid to their employees who are either on leave or not performing substantial work because their workplace is located in an area that has been designated as an epidemic area by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The amount of wages for each employee in any calendar week that may be taken into account for purposes of the credidt is limited to $2,000 and the maximum leave period for an employer may not exceed eight weeks. .

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6337 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6337

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create an epidemic tax 
                    credit, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 23, 2020

   Mr. Budd 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 create an epidemic tax 
                    credit, 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 ``Epidemic Tax Credit Act of 2020''.

SEC. 2. EPIDEMIC TAX 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. 45U. EPIDEMIC CREDIT.

    ``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, the epidemic 
credit for any taxable year is an amount equal to 90 percent of the 
amount of qualifying wages paid by a qualified employer to qualifying 
employees.
    ``(b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) Qualifying wages.--The term `qualifying wages' means 
        wages paid to a qualifying employee who--
                    ``(A) is on leave,
                    ``(B) does not come to the workplace, and
                    ``(C) performs no substantial work for the 
                employer.
            ``(2) Qualified employer.--The term `qualified employer' 
        means any employer that is not a government employer.
            ``(3) Government employer.--The term `government employer' 
        means--
                    ``(A) the Federal Government,
                    ``(B) any State government,
                    ``(C) any government of a possession or territory 
                of the United States,
                    ``(D) the Government of the District of Columbia,
                    ``(E) the government of any county, city, town, 
                township, parish, village, or other general purpose 
                political subdivision of a State,
                    ``(F) any Indian Tribal Government (as defined in 
                section 7701(a)(40)),
                    ``(G) any foreign government, or
                    ``(H) any international organization (as defined in 
                section 7701(a)(18)).
            ``(4) Tax-exempt employer.--The term `tax-exempt employer' 
        means--
                    ``(A) any employer that is exempt from taxation 
                pursuant to subchapter F of chapter 1 of subtitle A, or
                    ``(B) any other employer designated by the 
                Secretary as a tax-exempt employer for purposes of this 
                section.
            ``(5) Qualifying employee.--The term `qualifying employee' 
        means a person who--
                    ``(A) has been an employee of the qualified 
                employer for at least one pay period preceding the 
                designation of the epidemic area where the person's 
                workplace is located,
                    ``(B) normally performs substantially all of the 
                person's work in a designated epidemic area,
                    ``(C) is not a part-time employee (as defined in 
                section 4980E(d)(4)(B)), and
                    ``(D) cannot, given the nature of the person's 
                employment, reasonably be expected to telecommute.
            ``(6) Epidemic area.--The term `epidemic area' means any 
        county designated as an epidemic area by the Director of the 
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
            ``(7) County.--For purposes of paragraph (6), the term 
        `county' means--
                    ``(A) any county or parish that is a subdivision of 
                a State,
                    ``(B) a city or other political subdivision that is 
                functionally equivalent to a county or parish,
                    ``(C) a possession or territory of the United 
                States, or
                    ``(D) the District of Columbia.
    ``(c) Limitation.--
            ``(1) Maximum weekly wage creditable.--The amount of 
        qualifying wages shall not exceed $2,000 with respect to any 
        calendar week for any qualifying employee.
            ``(2) Maximum leave period creditable.--The amount of leave 
        that may be taken into account with respect to any qualifying 
        employee under subsection (a) for any taxable year shall not 
        exceed 8 calendar weeks.
    ``(d) Epidemic Area Designation.--
            ``(1) Designation.--The Director of the Centers for Disease 
        Control and Prevention may designate as an epidemic area any 
        county within the United States provided that--
                    ``(A) a public health emergency has been declared 
                pursuant to section 247d of title 42, United States 
                Code,
                    ``(B) the Director finds that a substantial number 
                of cases of a communicable disease have occurred in the 
                United States and that such communicable disease is 
                reasonably expected to be life-threatening to at least 
                one-half of 1 percent of those that contract the 
                disease,
                    ``(C) the Director finds that risk of the 
                introduction, transmission, or spread of such 
                communicable disease will be substantially reduced by 
                encouraging people not to come to work within the 
                county, and
                    ``(D) the Director finds that a person or persons 
                have been quarantined or otherwise isolated either 
                within the county to be designated as an epidemic area, 
                or within a county geographically adjacent to the 
                county to be designated as an epidemic area, for the 
                purpose of preventing the introduction, transmission, 
                or spread of such communicable disease.
            ``(2) Epidemic area list.--So long as there are any 
        designated epidemic areas, the Director shall maintain a list 
        of designated epidemic areas which shall provide the name of 
        each designated epidemic area, the date on which the 
        designation was made for each county and, if removed from the 
        list, the date a county was removed from the list of designated 
        epidemic areas. The epidemic area list shall be published at 
        least weekly in the Federal Register. The epidemic area list 
        shall be maintained and updated daily on the website of the 
        Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
            ``(3) Limitation.--A county shall maintain its status as a 
        declared epidemic area until the earlier of--
                    ``(A) a finding by the Director that the county is 
                no longer an epidemic area; or
                    ``(B) 90 days after the declaration of the county 
                as an epidemic area.
    ``(e) Special Rule for Tax-Exempt Employers.--
            ``(1) Tax-exempt employers eligible.--Tax-exempt employers 
        are eligible to receive the credit provided by this section 
        notwithstanding their tax-exemption.
            ``(2) Application required.--Application for payment of the 
        epidemic credit to a tax-exempt employer shall be in such form 
        and contain such information as the Secretary shall prescribe. 
        Any claim for credit under this subsection by a tax-exempt 
        employer shall be filed within 6 months after the date that the 
        last qualifying wages were paid.
            ``(3) Payment.--On proof satisfactory to the Secretary that 
        the epidemic credit is due to a tax-exempt employer, the 
        Secretary shall make payment to the tax-exempt employer.
    ``(f) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall 
apply to wages paid on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
This section shall not apply to wages paid after December 31, 2020.''.
    (b) General Business Credit.--Subsection (b) of section 38 is 
amended by striking the period at the end thereof, by striking the word 
``plus'' in paragraph 32 and by adding at the end thereof: ``plus
            ``(34) the epidemic credit determined under section 45U.''.
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