[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1732 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1732

    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit certain 
allocations of S corporation stock held by an employee stock ownership 
                                 plan.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 14, 1999

 Mr. Breaux (for himself, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Kerrey, and 
  Mr. Hatch) 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 prohibit certain 
allocations of S corporation stock held by an employee stock ownership 
                                 plan.

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

SECTION 1. PROHIBITED ALLOCATIONS OF S CORPORATIONS STOCK HELD BY AN 
              ESOP.

    (a) In General.--Section 409 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
(relating to qualifications for tax credit employee stock ownership 
plans) is amended by redesignating subsection (p) as subsection (q) and 
by inserting after subsection (o) the following new subsection:
    ``(p) Prohibited Allocations of Securities in an S Corporation.--
            ``(1) In general.--An employee stock ownership plan holding 
        employer securities consisting of stock in an S corporation 
        shall provide that no portion of the assets of the plan 
        attributable to (or allocable in lieu of) such employer 
        securities may, during a nonallocation year, accrue (or be 
        allocated directly or indirectly under any plan of the employer 
        meeting the requirements of section 401(a)) for the benefit of 
        any disqualified person.
            ``(2) Failure to meet requirements.--
                    ``(A) In general.--If a plan fails to meet the 
                requirements of paragraph (1), the plan shall be 
                treated as having distributed to any disqualified 
                person the amount allocated to the account of such 
                person in violation of paragraph (1) at the time of 
                such allocation.
                    ``(B) Cross reference.--

                                ``For excise tax relating to violations 
of paragraph (1) and ownership of synthetic equity, see section 4979A.
            ``(3) Nonallocation year.--For purposes of this 
        subsection--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `nonallocation year' 
                means any plan year of an employee stock ownership plan 
                if, at any time during such plan year--
                            ``(i) such plan holds employer securities 
                        consisting of stock in an S corporation, and
                            ``(ii) disqualified persons own at least 50 
                        percent of the number of shares of stock in the 
                        S corporation.
                    ``(B) Attribution rules.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (A)--
                            ``(i) In general.--The rules of section 
                        318(a) shall apply for purposes of determining 
                        ownership, except that--
                                    ``(I) in applying paragraph (1) 
                                thereof, the members of an individual's 
                                family shall include members of the 
                                family described in paragraph (4)(D), 
                                and
                                    ``(II) paragraph (4) thereof shall 
                                not apply.
                            ``(ii) Deemed-owned shares.--
                        Notwithstanding the employee trust exception in 
                        section 318(a)(2)(B)(i), for purposes of 
                        determining whether an individual is a 
                        disqualified person, such individual shall be 
                        treated as owning deemed-owned shares.
            ``(4) Disqualified person.--For purposes of this 
        subsection--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `disqualified person' 
                means any person if--
                            ``(i) the aggregate number of deemed-owned 
                        shares of such person and the members of such 
                        person's family is at least 20 percent of the 
                        number of deemed-owned shares of stock in the S 
                        corporation, or
                            ``(ii) in the case of a person not 
                        described in clause (i), the number of deemed-
                        owned shares of such person is at least 10 
                        percent of the number of deemed-owned shares of 
                        stock in such corporation.
                    ``(B) Treatment of family members.--In the case of 
                a disqualified person described in subparagraph (A)(i), 
                any member of such person's family with deemed-owned 
                shares shall be treated as a disqualified person if not 
                otherwise treated as a disqualified person under 
                subparagraph (A).
                    ``(C) Deemed-owned shares.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `deemed-owned 
                        shares' means, with respect to any person--
                                    ``(I) the stock in the S 
                                corporation constituting employer 
                                securities of an employee stock 
                                ownership plan which is allocated to 
                                such person under the plan, and
                                    ``(II) such person's share of the 
                                stock in such corporation which is held 
                                by such plan but which is not allocated 
                                under the plan to participants.
                            ``(ii) Person's share of unallocated 
                        stock.--For purposes of clause (i)(II), a 
                        person's share of unallocated S corporation 
                        stock held by such plan is the amount of the 
                        unallocated stock which would be allocated to 
                        such person if the unallocated stock were 
                        allocated to all participants in the same 
                        proportions as the most recent stock allocation 
                        under the plan.
                    ``(D) Member of family.--For purposes of this 
                paragraph, the term `member of the family' means, with 
                respect to any individual--
                            ``(i) the spouse of the individual,
                            ``(ii) an ancestor or lineal descendant of 
                        the individual or the individual's spouse,
                            ``(iii) a brother or sister of the 
                        individual or the individual's spouse and any 
                        lineal descendant of the brother or sister, and
                            ``(iv) the spouse of any individual 
                        described in clause (ii) or (iii).
                A spouse of an individual who is legally separated from 
                such individual under a decree of divorce or separate 
                maintenance shall not be treated as such individual's 
                spouse for purposes of this subparagraph.
            ``(5) Treatment of synthetic equity.--For purposes of 
        paragraphs (3) and (4), in the case of a person who owns 
        synthetic equity in the S corporation, except to the extent 
        provided in regulations, the shares of stock in such 
        corporation on which such synthetic equity is based shall be 
        treated as outstanding stock in such corporation and deemed-
        owned shares of such person if such treatment of synthetic 
        equity of 1 or more such persons results in--
                    ``(A) the treatment of any person as a disqualified 
                person, or
                    ``(B) the treatment of any year as a nonallocation 
                year.
        For purposes of this paragraph, synthetic equity shall be 
        treated as owned by a person in the same manner as stock is 
        treated as owned by a person under the rules of paragraphs (2) 
        and (3) of section 318(a).
            ``(6) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection--
                    ``(A) Employee stock ownership plan.--The term 
                `employee stock ownership plan' has the meaning given 
                such term by section 4975(e)(7).
                    ``(B) Employer securities.--The term `employer 
                security' has the meaning given such term by section 
                409(l).
                    ``(C) Synthetic equity.--The term `synthetic 
                equity' means any stock option, warrant, restricted 
                stock, deferred issuance stock right, or similar 
                interest or right that gives the holder the right to 
                acquire or receive stock of the S corporation in the 
                future. Except to the extent provided in regulations, 
                synthetic equity also includes a stock appreciation 
                right, phantom stock unit, or similar right to a future 
                cash payment based on the value of such stock or 
                appreciation in such value.
            ``(7) Regulations.--The Secretary shall prescribe such 
        regulations as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of 
        this subsection.''
    (b) Coordination With Section 4975(e)(7).--The last sentence of 
section 4975(e)(7) of such Code (defining employee stock ownership 
plan) is amended by inserting ``, section 409(p),'' after ``409(n)''.
    (c) Excise Tax.--
            (1) Application of tax.--Subsection (a) of section 4979A of 
        such Code (relating to tax on certain prohibited allocations of 
        employer securities) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (1),
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (2) and inserting a comma, and
                    (C) by striking all that follows paragraph (2) and 
                inserting the following:
            ``(3) there is any allocation of employer securities which 
        violates the provisions of section 409(p), or
            ``(4) any synthetic equity is owned by a disqualified 
        person in any nonallocation year,
there is hereby imposed a tax on such allocation or ownership equal to 
50 percent of the amount involved.''
            (2) Liability.--Section 4979A(c) of such Code (defining 
        liability for tax) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(c) Liability for Tax.--The tax imposed by this section shall be 
paid--
            ``(1) in the case of an allocation referred to in paragraph 
        (1) or (2) of subsection (a), by--
                    ``(A) the employer sponsoring such plan, or
                    ``(B) the eligible worker-owned cooperative,
        which made the written statement described in section 
        664(g)(1)(E) or in section 1042(b)(3)(B) (as the case may be), 
        and
            ``(2) in the case of an allocation or ownership referred to 
        in paragraph (3) or (4) of subsection (a), by the S corporation 
        the stock in which was so allocated or owned.''
            (3) Definitions.--Section 4979A(e) of such Code (relating 
        to definitions) is amended to read as follows:
    ``(e) Definitions and Special Rules.--For purposes of this 
section--
            ``(1) Definitions.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), 
        terms used in this section have the same respective meanings as 
        when used in sections 409 and 4978.
            ``(2) Special rules relating to tax imposed by reason of 
        paragraph (3) or (4) of subsection (a).--
                    ``(A) Prohibited allocations.--The amount involved 
                with respect to any tax imposed by reason of subsection 
                (a)(3) is the amount allocated to the account of any 
                person in violation of section 408(p)(1).
                    ``(B) Synthetic equity.--The amount involved with 
                respect to any tax imposed by reason of subsection 
                (a)(4) is the value of the shares on which the 
                synthetic equity is based.
                    ``(C) Special rule for prohibited allocation during 
                first nonallocation year.--For purposes of subparagraph 
                (A), the amount involved for the first nonallocation 
                year of any employee stock ownership plan shall be 
                determined by taking into account the total value of 
                all the deemed-owned shares of all disqualified persons 
                with respect to such plan.
                    ``(D) Statute of limitations.--The statutory period 
                for the assessment of any tax imposed by this section 
                by reason of paragraph (3) or (4) of subsection (a) 
                shall not expire before the date which is 3 years from 
                the later of--
                            ``(i) the allocation or ownership referred 
                        to in such paragraph giving rise to such tax, 
                        or
                            ``(ii) the date on which the Secretary is 
                        notified of such allocation or ownership.''
    (d) Effective Dates.--
            (1) In general.--The amendments made by this section shall 
        apply to plan years beginning after December 31, 2000.
            (2) Exception for certain plans.--In the case of any--
                    (A) employee stock ownership plan established after 
                July 14, 1999, or
                    (B) employee stock ownership plan established on or 
                before such date if employer securities held by the 
                plan consist of stock in a corporation with respect to 
                which an election under section 1362(a) of the Internal 
                Revenue Code of 1986 is not in effect on such date,
        the amendments made by this section shall apply to plan years 
        ending after July 14, 1999.
                                 <all>