[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 55 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 55

    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow employers a 
 refundable credit against income tax for 50 percent of the employer's 
        cost of providing tax-free transit passes to employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2009

  Mr. Kirk (for himself, Mr. Lipinski, Mrs. Biggert, and Mr. Roskam) 
 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 employers a 
 refundable credit against income tax for 50 percent of the employer's 
        cost of providing tax-free transit passes to employees.

    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 ``Creating Opportunities to Motivate 
Mass-transit Utilization To Encourage Ridership Act of 2009'' or the 
``Commuter Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. REFUNDABLE EMPLOYER CREDIT FOR PROVIDING TAX-FREE TRANSIT 
              PASSES TO EMPLOYEES.

    (a) In General.--Subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to refundable credits) 
is amended by inserting after section 35 the following new section:

``SEC. 35A. EMPLOYERS PROVIDING TAX-FREE TRANSIT PASSES TO EMPLOYEES.

    ``(a) In General.--In the case of an employer, there shall be 
allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle for the 
taxable year an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount paid or 
incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year--
            ``(1) for transit passes provided to employees of such 
        employer, and
            ``(2) as cash reimbursements made to such employees for 
        transit passes purchased by such employees.
    ``(b) Limitation to Tax-Free Transit Passes.--Subsection (a) shall 
apply to a transit pass (or reimbursement) provided to an employee only 
to the extent that the employer reasonably expects that the value of 
such pass (or the amount of such reimbursement) is excludable from such 
employee's income under section 132.
    ``(c) Exclusion of Nontaxpayers.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to 
any employer which is exempt from the tax imposed by this chapter with 
respect to the activity in which the employee is performing services 
for the employer.
    ``(d) Definitions.--Terms used in this section shall have the 
respective meanings given such terms by section 132.''.
    (b) Denial of Double Benefit.--Section 280C of such Code is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(g) Employer Credit for Providing Tax-Free Transit Passes to 
Employees.--No deduction shall be allowed for that portion of the 
expenses (otherwise allowable as a deduction) taken into account in 
determining the credit under section 35A for the taxable year which is 
equal to the amount of the credit allowable for such taxable year under 
section 35A(a).''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for such subpart C 
is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 35 the 
following new item:

``Sec. 35A. Employers providing tax-free transit passes to 
                            employees.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to transit passes provided after the date of the enactment of 
this Act in taxable years ending after such date.
                                 <all>