Bill Text: NY S00341 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Relates to establishing student loan repayment accounts; authorizes employers to establish student loan repayment accounts and provide matching funds up to $5000 a year; establishes tax deductions for participating employers.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO HIGHER EDUCATION [S00341 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S00341-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 341--A 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 9, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. AKSHAR -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Higher Education -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the education law and the tax law, in relation to estab- lishing student loan repayment accounts The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 682 to 2 read as follows: 3 § 682. Student loan repayment accounts. 1. An employer is hereby 4 authorized to establish student loan repayment accounts which shall 5 permit his or her employees to deposit a portion of their pre-tax 6 income, up to five thousand dollars annually, into such accounts solely 7 for undergraduate or graduate student loan repayments. Employers elect- 8 ing to establish such accounts may contribute matching funds to an 9 employee's student loan repayment account and shall receive a tax 10 deduction for such contributions. Such contribution may be up to a maxi- 11 mum of one hundred percent of the employee's deposit, up to five thou- 12 sand dollars annually, per employee account. 13 2. For the purposes of this section, "student loan" shall mean the 14 cumulative total of the annual student loans covering the cost of 15 attendance at an undergraduate or graduate college or university, and 16 any interest thereon. 17 3. Employee student loan repayment accounts shall be established for 18 the deposit of funds to be used by the employee solely for repayment of 19 student loans. Such accounts shall be managed by the comptroller and the 20 higher education services corporation. All participating employers and 21 employees shall provide the comptroller and the corporation with all EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD05575-02-9S. 341--A 2 1 necessary information in order to implement the provisions of this 2 section. 3 4. Moneys in a student loan repayment account shall be available only 4 for repayments of student loans as defined in this section. Any with- 5 drawal or distribution from a student loan repayment account which 6 violated the provisions of this subdivision shall be subject to a penal- 7 ty of ten percent on any such withdrawal or distribution. 8 5. The commissioner and the commissioner of taxation and finance shall 9 jointly promulgate rules and regulations necessary to implement the 10 provisions of this section. 11 § 2. Subdivision 9 of section 208 of the tax law is amended by adding 12 a new paragraph (u) to read as follows: 13 (u) A taxpayer establishing student loan repayment accounts pursuant 14 to section six hundred eighty-two of the education law shall be allowed 15 a deduction from entire net income in an amount equal to the total 16 amount of matching contributions made to employees' student loan repay- 17 ment accounts by a taxpayer during the taxable year. 18 § 3. Subsection (c) of section 612 of the tax law is amended by adding 19 a new paragraph 17 to read as follows: 20 (17) The amount equal to the total amount of matching contributions 21 made by a taxpayer during the taxable year to employees' student loan 22 repayment accounts established pursuant to section six hundred eighty- 23 two of the education law. 24 § 4. Notwithstanding any provision of the tax law to the contrary, the 25 aggregate of tax expenditure and taxes forgone pursuant to sections two 26 and three of this act shall not exceed $70,000,000. The commissioner of 27 taxation and finance shall immediately suspend both deductions estab- 28 lished pursuant to such sections upon reaching the $70,000,000 thresh- 29 old. 30 § 5. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 31 have become a law and shall apply to taxable years commencing on or 32 after such effective date. Effective immediately the addition, amendment 33 and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation 34 of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and 35 completed on or before such date.
