Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Employer Participation in Refinancing Act”.
Employer Participation in Refinancing Act
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the exclusion for employer-provided educational assistance to employer payment of interest on certain refinanced student loans.
Sec. 2 Exclusion for employer payment of interest on certain refinanced student loans
In general— Paragraph (1) of section 127(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking “and” at the end of subparagraph (A), by redesignating subparagraph (B) as subparagraph (C), and by inserting after subparagraph (A) the following new subparagraph:
“(B) the payment by an employer, whether paid to the employee or to a lender, of any indebtedness of the employee under a qualified education refinance loan or any interest relating to such a loan, and”
Qualified education refinance loan— Subsection (c) of section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(8) Qualified education refinance loan—The term qualified education refinance loan means any indebtedness used solely to refinance a qualified education loan (within the meaning of section 221(d)(1)) with respect to which the lender offers the borrower protection in the event of unemployment or financial hardship (as reasonably determined by the lender, including periods of forbearance or career assistance).”
Conforming amendment; denial of double benefit— Paragraph (1) of section 221(e) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting before the period the following: “, or for which an exclusion is allowable under section 127 to the taxpayer's employer by reason of the payment by such employer of any indebtedness on a qualified education loan of the taxpayer”.
Effective date— The amendments made by this section shall apply to expenses paid after December 31, 2014.