[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 456 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 456

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a credit 
against income tax for information technology training expenses paid or 
           incurred by the employer, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 24, 1999

Mr. Conrad (for himself, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Daschle, Mr. Johnson, Mr. 
 Reid, Mr. Sarbanes, Mrs. Boxer, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Robb, Mrs. Murray, and 
 Mr. Rockefeller) 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 allow employers a credit 
against income tax for information technology training expenses paid or 
           incurred by the employer, 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. CREDIT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM EXPENSES.

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

``SEC. 45D. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAM EXPENSES.

    ``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, in the case of an 
employer, the information technology training program credit determined 
under this section is an amount equal to 20 percent of information 
technology training program expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer 
during the taxable year.
    ``(b) Additional Credit Percentage for Certain Programs.--The 
percentage under subsection (a) shall be increased by 5 percentage 
points for information technology training program expenses paid or 
incurred--
            ``(1) by the taxpayer with respect to a program operated 
        in--
                    ``(A) an empowerment zone or enterprise community 
                designated under part I of subchapter U,
                    ``(B) a school district in which at least 50 
                percent of the students attending schools in such 
                district are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunches 
                under the school lunch program established under the 
                National School Lunch Act,
                    ``(C) an area designated as a disaster area by the 
                Secretary of Agriculture or by the President under the 
                Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act in the 
                taxable year or the 4 preceding taxable years,
                    ``(D) a rural enterprise community designated under 
                section 766 of the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food 
                and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 
                Appropriations Act, 1999, or
                    ``(E) an area designated by the Secretary of 
                Agriculture as a Rural Economic Area Partnership Zone, 
                or
            ``(2) by a small employer.
    ``(c) Limitation.--The amount of information technology training 
program expenses with respect to an individual which may be taken into 
account under subsection (a) for the taxable year shall not exceed 
$6,000.
    ``(d) Information Technology Training Program Expenses.--For 
purposes of this section--
            ``(1) In general.--The term `information technology 
        training program expenses' means expenses paid or incurred by 
        reason of the participation of the employer in any information 
        technology training program.
            ``(2) Information technology training program.--The term 
        `information technology training program' means a program--
                    ``(A) for the training of computer programmers, 
                systems analysts, and computer scientists or engineers 
                (as such occupations are defined by the Bureau of Labor 
                Statistics),
                    ``(B) involving a partnership of--
                            ``(i) employers, and
                            ``(ii) State training programs, school 
                        districts, university systems, or certified 
                        commercial information technology training 
                        providers, and
                    ``(C) at least 50 percent of the costs of which is 
                paid or incurred by the employers.
            ``(3) Certified commercial information technology training 
        provider.--The term `certified commercial information 
        technology training providers' means a private sector provider 
        of educational products and services utilized for training in 
        information technology which is certified with respect to--
                    ``(A) the curriculum that is used for the training, 
                or
                    ``(B) the technical knowledge of the instructors of 
                such provider,
        by 1 or more software publishers or hardware manufacturers the 
        products of which are a subject of the training.
    ``(e) Small Employer.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`small employer' means, with respect to any calendar year, any employer 
if such employer employed 200 or fewer employees on each business day 
in each of 20 or more calendar weeks in such year or the preceding 
calendar year.
    ``(f) Denial of Double Benefit.--No deduction or credit under any 
other provision of this chapter shall be allowed with respect to 
information technology training program expenses (determined without 
regard to the limitation under subsection (c)).
    ``(g) Certain rules made applicable.--For purposes of this section, 
rules similar to the rules of section 45A(e)(2) and subsections (c), 
(d), and (e) of section 52 shall apply.''
    (b) Credit To Be Part of General Business Credit.--Section 38(b) of 
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to current year business 
credit) is amended by striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (11), 
by striking the period at the end of paragraph (12) and inserting ``, 
plus'', and by adding at the end the following:
            ``(13) the information technology training program credit 
        determined under section 45D.''
    (c) No Carrybacks.--Subsection (d) of section 39 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to carryback and carryforward of unused 
credits) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(9) No carryback of section 45D credit before effective 
        date.--No portion of the unused business credit for any taxable 
        year which is attributable to the information technology 
        training program credit determined under section 45D may be 
        carried back to a taxable year ending before the date of the 
        enactment of section 45D.''
    (d) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for 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:

                              ``Sec. 45D. Information technology 
                                        training program expenses.''
    (e) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to amounts paid or incurred after the date of enactment of this 
Act in taxable years ending after such date.
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