Title: To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to establish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for small business concerns, and for other purposes.
Policy area: Commerce

Summary:
This bill authorizes the Small Business Administration to award grants to small business development centers and women's business centers for assisting small businesses with tax compliance issues.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 159 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 159

 To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to 
establish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for 
            small business concerns, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2019

  Mr. Evans introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Small 
Business, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To require the Administrator of the Small Business Administration to 
establish a grant program to address rising costs of tax compliance for 
            small business concerns, 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. GRANTS TO SMALL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTERS AND WOMEN'S 
              BUSINESS CENTERS TO ADDRESS RISING COSTS OF TAX 
              COMPLIANCE FOR SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS.

    (a) Grant Authority.--The Administrator of the Small Business 
Administration may award a grant under this section to a small business 
development center or a women's business center for the purposes of 
assisting owners of small business concerns in complying with the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and communicating with the Internal 
Revenue Service.
    (b) Application.--Each applicant for a grant under this section 
shall submit to the Administrator an application in such form as the 
Administrator may require. The application shall include information 
regarding the applicant's goals and objectives for helping address the 
concerns of owners of small business concerns related to compliance 
with the Internal Revenue Code of 1986.
    (c) Applicability of Grant Requirements.--An applicant for a grant 
under this section shall comply with all of the requirements applicable 
to a grantee under section 21 or section 29 of the Small Business Act, 
except that the matching funds requirements of such sections shall not 
apply.
    (d) Use of Funds.--A recipient of a grant under this section shall 
use the grant only for the purposes described in subsection (a), 
including working with--
            (1) the Internal Revenue Service, including local offices 
        of the Office of the Taxpayer Advocate, to help reduce tax 
        compliance costs for such owners; and
            (2) owners of small business concerns who are subject to an 
        audit by the Internal Revenue Service.
    (e) Minimum Grant Amount.--A grant awarded under this section may 
not be in an amount less than $200,000.
    (f) Cooperative Agreements and Contracts.--The Administrator may 
enter into a cooperative agreement or contract with the recipient of a 
grant under this section to provide additional assistance for the 
purposes described in subsection (a).
    (g) Report to Administrator.--Not later than 18 months after the 
date of receipt of a grant under this section, the recipient of the 
grant shall submit to the Administrator a report describing how the 
grant funds were used.
    (h) Evaluation of Program.--Not later than 3 years after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall submit to 
Congress a report that contains an evaluation of the grant program 
established under this section.
    (i) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Administrator.--The term ``Administrator'' means the 
        Administrator of the Small Business Administration.
            (2) Small business concern.--The term ``small business 
        concern'' has the meaning given such term under section 3 of 
        the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
            (3) Small business development center.--The term ``small 
        business development center'' has the meaning given such term 
        in section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
            (4) Women's business center.--The term ``women's business 
        center'' means a women's business center described under 
        section 29 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 656).
    (j) Limitation on Use of Funds.--The Administrator may carry out 
this section only with amounts appropriated specifically to carry out 
this section under subsection (k).
    (k) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2020 and 2021.
                                 <all>