[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1012 Introduced in House (IH)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 1012
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against
income tax for expenses incurred in teleworking.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 13, 2001
Mr. Wolf (for himself, Mr. Tom Davis of Virginia, Mrs. Morella, Mr.
Ehlers, Mrs. Tauscher, and Mr. Udall of Colorado) 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 against
income tax for expenses incurred in teleworking.
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 ``Telework Tax Incentive Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds as follows:
(1) Federal, State, and local governments spend billions of
dollars annually on the Nation's transportation needs.
(2) Congestion on the Nation's roads costs over
$74,000,000,000 annually in lost work time, fuel consumption,
and costs of infrastructure and equipment repair.
(3) On average on-road-vehicles contribute 30 percent of
nitrogen oxides emissions.
(4) It is estimated that staying at home to work requires 3
times less energy consumption than commuting to work.
(5) It was recently reported that if an identified 10 to 20
percent of commuters switched to teleworking, 1,800,000 tons of
regulated pollutants would be eliminated, 3,500,000,000 gallons
of gas would be saved, 3,100,000,000 hours of personal time
would be freed up, and maintenance and infrastructure costs
would decrease by $500,000,000 annually because of reduced
congestion and reduced vehicle miles traveled.
(6) The average American daily commute is 62 minutes for a
44-mile round-trip (a total of 6 days per year and 5,808 miles
per year).
(7) The increase in work from 1969 to 1996, the increase in
hours mothers spend in paid work, combined with a shift toward
single-parent families resulted in families on average
experiencing a decrease of 22 hours a week (14 percent) in
parental time available outside of paid work they could spend
with their children.
(8) Companies with teleworking programs have found that
teleworking can boost employee productivity 5 percent to 20
percent.
(9) Today 60 percent of the workforce is involved in
information work (an increase of 43 percent since 1990)
allowing and encouraging decentralization of paid work to
occur.
(10) In recent years, studies performed in the United
States have shown a marked expansion of teleworking, with an
estimate of 19,000,000 Americans teleworking by the year 2002,
5 times the amount in 1990.
SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR TELEWORKING.
(a) In General.--Subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to foreign tax credit,
etc.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
``SEC. 30B. TELEWORKING CREDIT.
``(a) Allowance of Credit.--In the case of an eligible taxpayer,
there shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this
chapter for the taxable year an amount equal to the qualified
teleworking expenses paid or incurred by the taxpayer during such year.
``(b) Maximum Credit.--
``(1) Per teleworker limitation.--The credit allowed by
subsection (a) for a taxable year with respect to qualified
teleworking expenses paid or incurred by or on behalf of an
individual teleworker shall not exceed $500.
``(2) Reduction for teleworking less than full year.--In
the case of an individual who is in a teleworking arrangement
for less than a full taxable year, the amount referred to
paragraph (1) shall be reduced by an amount which bears the
same ratio to $500 as the number of months in which such
individual is not in a teleworking arrangement bears to 12. For
purposes of the preceding sentence, an individual shall be
treated as being in a teleworking arrangement for a month if
the individual is subject to such arrangement for any day of
such month.
``(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
``(1) Eligible taxpayer.--The term `eligible taxpayer'
means--
``(A) in the case of an individual, an individual
who performs services for an employer under a
teleworking arrangement, and
``(B) in the case of an employer, an employer for
whom employees perform services under a teleworking
arrangement.
``(2) Teleworking arrangement.--The term `teleworking
arrangement' means an arrangement under which an employee
teleworks for an employer not less than 75 days per year.
``(3) Qualified teleworking expenses.--The term `qualified
teleworking expenses' means expenses paid or incurred under a
teleworking arrangement for furnishings and electronic
information equipment which are used to enable an individual to
telework.
``(4) Telework.--The term `telework' means to perform work
functions, using electronic information and communication
technologies, thereby reducing or eliminating the physical
commute to and from the traditional worksite.
``(d) Limitation Based on Amount of Tax.--
``(1) Liability for tax.--The credit allowable under
subsection (a) for any taxable year shall not exceed the excess
(if any) of--
``(A) the regular tax for the taxable year, reduced
by the sum of the credits allowable under subpart A and
the preceding sections of this subpart, over
``(B) the tentative minimum tax for the taxable
year.
``(2) Carryforward of unused credit.--If the amount of the
credit allowable under subsection (a) for any taxable year
exceeds the limitation under paragraph (1) for the taxable
year, the excess shall be carried to the succeeding taxable
year and added to the amount allowable as a credit under
subsection (a) for such succeeding taxable year.
``(e) Special Rules.--
``(1) Basis reduction.--The basis of any property for which
a credit is allowable under subsection (a) shall be reduced by
the amount of such credit (determined without regard to
subsection (d)).
``(2) Recapture.--The Secretary shall, by regulations,
provide for recapturing the benefit of any credit allowable
under subsection (a) with respect to any property which ceases
to be property eligible for such credit.
``(3) Property used outside united states, etc., not
qualified.--No credit shall be allowed under subsection (a)
with respect to any property referred to in section 50(b) or
with respect to the portion of the cost of any property taken
into account under section 179.
``(4) Election not to take credit.--No credit shall be
allowed under subsection (a) for any expense if the taxpayer
elects to have this section not apply with respect to such
expense.
``(5) Denial of double benefit.--No deduction or credit
(other than under this section) shall be allowed under this
chapter with respect to any expense which is taken into account
in determining the credit under this section.''.
(b) Technical Amendment.--Subsection (a) of section 1016 of such
Code is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (26), by
striking the period at the end of paragraph (27) and inserting ``;
and'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(28) to the extent provided in section 30B(e), in the
case of amounts with respect to which a credit has been allowed
under section 30B.''
(c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart B of
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by adding
at the end the following new item:
``Sec. 30B. Teleworking credit.''
(d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall
apply to amounts paid or incurred after the date of the enactment of
this Act, in taxable years ending after such date.
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