[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 521 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 521

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a credit against 
            income tax for expenses incurred in teleworking.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 13, 2001

 Mr. Santorum 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 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 to not take credit.--No credit shall be 
        allowed under subsection (a) for any expense if the taxpayer 
        elects to not have this section 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 the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 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 the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 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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