[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2245 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

  2d Session
                                S. 2245

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide a small business 
                           health tax credit.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 26, 2004

  Mr. Daschle 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 provide a small business 
                           health tax credit.

    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 ``Small Business Health Tax Credit 
Act''.

SEC. 2. SMALL BUSINESS TAX CREDIT FOR 50 PERCENT OF HEALTH PREMIUMS.

    (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. 45G. EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE EXPENSES.

    ``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, in the case of a 
qualified small employer, the employee health insurance expenses credit 
determined under this section is an amount equal to the applicable 
percentage of the amount paid by the taxpayer during the taxable year 
for qualified employee health insurance expenses.
    ``(b) Applicable Percentage.--For purposes of subsection (a), the 
applicable percentage is equal to--
            ``(1) 50 percent in the case of an employer with less than 
        26 qualified employees,
            ``(2) 40 percent in the case of an employer with more than 
        25 but less than 36 qualified employees, and
            ``(3) 30 percent in the case of an employer with more than 
        35 but less than 51 qualified employees.
    ``(c) Per Employee Dollar Limitation.--The amount of qualified 
employee health insurance expenses taken into account under subsection 
(a) with respect to any qualified employee for any taxable year shall 
not exceed the maximum employer contribution for self-only coverage or 
family coverage (as applicable) determined under section 8906(a) of 
title 5, United States Code, for the calendar year in which such 
taxable year begins.
    ``(d) Definitions and Special Rules.--For purposes of this 
section--
            ``(1) Qualified small employer.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `qualified small 
                employer' means any small employer which provides 
                eligibility for health insurance coverage (after any 
                waiting period (as defined in section 9801(b)(4))) to 
                all qualified employees of the employer.
                    ``(B) Small employer.--
                            ``(i) In general.--For purposes of this 
                        paragraph, the term `small employer' means, 
                        with respect to any calendar year, any employer 
                        if such employer employed an average of not 
                        less than 2 and not more than 50 qualified 
                        employees on business days during either of the 
                        2 preceding calendar years. For purposes of the 
                        preceding sentence, a preceding calendar year 
                        may be taken into account only if the employer 
                        was in existence throughout such year.
                            ``(ii) Employers not in existence in 
                        preceding year.--In the case of an employer 
                        which was not in existence throughout the 1st 
                        preceding calendar year, the determination 
                        under clause (i) shall be based on the average 
                        number of qualified employees that it is 
                        reasonably expected such employer will employ 
                        on business days in the current calendar year.
            ``(2) Qualified employee health insurance expenses.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The term `qualified employee 
                health insurance expenses' means any amount paid by an 
                employer for health insurance coverage to the extent 
                such amount is attributable to coverage provided to any 
                employee while such employee is a qualified employee.
                    ``(B) Exception for amounts paid under salary 
                reduction arrangements.--No amount paid or incurred for 
                health insurance coverage pursuant to a salary 
                reduction arrangement shall be taken into account under 
                subparagraph (A).
                    ``(C) Health insurance coverage.--The term `health 
                insurance coverage' has the meaning given such term by 
                paragraph (1) of section 9832(b) (determined by 
                disregarding the last sentence of paragraph (2) of such 
                section).
            ``(3) Qualified employee.--The term `qualified employee' 
        means an employee of an employer who, with respect to any 
period, is not provided health insurance coverage under--
                    ``(A) a health plan of the employee's spouse,
                    ``(B) title XVIII, XIX, or XXI of the Social 
                Security Act,
                    ``(C) chapter 17 of title 38, United States Code,
                    ``(D) chapter 55 of title 10, United States Code,
                    ``(E) chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, or
                    ``(F) any other provision of law.
            ``(4) Employee--The term `employee'--
                    ``(A) means any individual, with respect to any 
                calendar year, who is reasonably expected to receive at 
                least $5,000 of compensation from the employer during 
                such year,
                    ``(B) does not include an employee within the 
                meaning of section 401(c)(1), and
                    ``(C) includes a leased employee within the meaning 
                of section 414(n).
            ``(5) Compensation.--The term `compensation' means amounts 
        described in section 6051(a)(3).
    ``(e) Certain Rules Made Applicable.--For purposes of this section, 
rules similar to the rules of section 52 shall apply.
    ``(f) Denial of Double Benefit.--No deduction or credit under any 
other provision of this chapter shall be allowed with respect to 
qualified employee health insurance expenses taken into account under 
subsection (a).''.
    (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 (14), 
by striking the period at the end of paragraph (15) and inserting ``, 
plus'', and by adding at the end the following:
            ``(16) the employee health insurance expenses credit 
        determined under section 45G.''.
    (c) Credit Allowed Against Minimum Tax.--
            (1) In general.--Subsection (c) of section 38 of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to limitation based on 
        amount of tax) is amended by redesignating paragraph (4) as 
        paragraph (5) and by inserting after paragraph (3) the 
        following new paragraph:
            ``(4) Special rules for employee health insurance credit.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In the case of the employee 
                health insurance credit--
                            ``(i) this section and section 39 shall be 
                        applied separately with respect to the credit, 
                        and
                            ``(ii) in applying paragraph (1) to the 
                        credit--
                                    ``(I) the amounts in subparagraphs 
                                (A) and (B) thereof shall be treated as 
                                being zero, and
                                    ``(II) the limitation under 
                                paragraph (1) (as modified by subclause 
                                (I)) shall be reduced by the credit 
                                allowed under subsection (a) for the 
                                taxable year (other than the employee 
                                health insurance credit).
                    ``(B) Employee health insurance credit.--For 
                purposes of this subsection, the term `employee health 
                insurance credit' means the credit allowable under 
                subsection (a) by reason of section 45G(a).''.
            (2) Conforming amendments.--
                    (A) Subclause (II) of section 38(c)(2)(A)(ii) of 
                such Code is amended by inserting ``or the employee 
                health insurance credit'' after ``employee credit''.
                    (B) Subclause (II) of section 38(c)(3)(A)(ii) of 
                such Code is amended by inserting ``or the employee 
                health insurance credit'' after ``employee credit''.
    (d) 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:
            ``(11) No carryback of section 45g credit before effective 
        date.--No portion of the unused business credit for any taxable 
        year which is attributable to the employee health insurance 
        expenses credit determined under section 45G may be carried 
        back to a taxable year ending before the date of the enactment 
        of section 45G.''.
    (e) 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. 45G. Employee health insurance 
                                        expenses.''.
    (f) Employer Outreach.--The Internal Revenue Service shall, in 
conjunction with the Small Business Administration, develop materials 
and implement an educational program to ensure that business personnel 
are aware of--
            (1) the eligibility criteria for the tax credit provided 
        under section 45G of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as 
        added by this section),
            (2) the methods to be used in calculating such credit,
            (3) the documentation needed in order to claim such credit, 
        and
            (4) any available health plan purchasing alliances 
        established under title II,
so that the maximum number of eligible businesses may claim the tax 
credit.
    (g) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to amounts paid or incurred in taxable years beginning after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>