[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 446 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 446

 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide to employers a 
   tax credit for compensation paid during the period employees are 
  performing service as members of the Ready Reserve or the National 
                                 Guard.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 1, 2005

Mr. Bilirakis 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 provide to employers a 
   tax credit for compensation paid during the period employees are 
  performing service as members of the Ready Reserve or the National 
                                 Guard.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. READY RESERVE-NATIONAL GUARD EMPLOYEE CREDIT ADDED TO 
              GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT.

    (a) Ready Reserve-National Guard Credit.--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 new section:

``SEC. 45J. READY RESERVE-NATIONAL GUARD EMPLOYEE CREDIT.

    ``(a) General Rule.--For purposes of section 38, the Ready Reserve-
National Guard employee credit determined under this section for the 
taxable year is an amount equal to 50 percent of the actual 
compensation amount for the taxable year.
    ``(b) Definition of Actual Compensation Amount.--For purposes of 
this section, the term `actual compensation amount' means the amount of 
compensation paid or incurred by an employer with respect to a Ready 
Reserve-National Guard employee on any day during a taxable year when 
the employee was absent from employment for the purpose of performing 
qualified active duty.
    ``(c) Limitations.--
            ``(1) Maximum credit.--The maximum credit allowable under 
        subsection (a) shall not exceed $2,000 in any taxable year with 
        respect to any one Ready Reserve-National Guard employee.
            ``(2) Days other than work days.--No credit shall be 
        allowed with respect to a Ready Reserve-National Guard employee 
        who performs qualified active duty on any day on which the 
        employee was not scheduled to work (for a reason other than to 
        participate in qualified active duty) and ordinarily would not 
        have worked.
    ``(d) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) Qualified active duty.--The term `qualified active 
        duty' means--
                    ``(A) active duty in connection with which an 
                employee is entitled to reemployment rights and other 
                benefits or to a leave of absence from employment under 
                chapter 43 of title 38, United States Code, and
                    ``(B) hospitalization incident to such duty.
        Such term shall not include training duty specified in section 
        10147 of title 10, United States Code (relating to training 
        requirements for the Ready Reserve), or section 502(a) of title 
        32, United States Code (relating to required drills and field 
        exercises for the National Guard).
            ``(2) Compensation.--The term `compensation' means any 
        remuneration for employment, whether in cash or in kind, which 
        is paid or incurred by a taxpayer and which is deductible from 
        the taxpayer's gross income under section 162(a)(1).
            ``(3) Ready reserve-national guard employee.--The term 
        `Ready Reserve-National Guard employee' means an employee who 
        is a member of the Ready Reserve or of the National Guard.
            ``(4) National guard.--The term `National Guard' has the 
        meaning given such term by section 101(c)(1) of title 10, 
        United States Code.
            ``(5) Ready reserve.--The term `Ready Reserve' has the 
        meaning given such term by section 10142 of title 10, United 
        States Code.''.
    (b) Credit to Be Part of General Business Credit.--Subsection (b) 
of section 38 of such Code (relating to general business credit) is 
amended by striking ``plus'' at the end of paragraph (18), by striking 
the period at the end of paragraph (19) and inserting ``, plus'', and 
by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(20) the Ready Reserve-National Guard employee credit 
        determined under section 45J(a).''.
    (c) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart D of 
part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is amended by 
inserting after the item relating to section 45I the following new 
item:

``Sec. 45J. Ready Reserve-National Guard employee credit.''.
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2004.
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