# 116-hr-7615: To provide a payroll tax credit for certain expenses associated with protecting employees from COVID-19.

116-hr-7615, To provide a payroll tax credit for certain expenses associated with protecting employees from COVID-19., is a 116th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Rice, Tom [R-SC-7] (R-SC); status Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. (as of 2025-11-18).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-7615
- As of: 2025-11-18
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 116-hr-7615
- Congress: 116
- Title: To provide a payroll tax credit for certain expenses associated with protecting employees from COVID-19.
- Status: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means.
- Introduced: 2020-07-16
- Sponsor: Rep. Rice, Tom [R-SC-7] (R-SC)
- Cosponsors: 16
- Policy area: Taxation
- Touches household money: no
- Last recorded action: 2025-11-18

## Summary

This bill allows employers a payroll tax credit for 50% of the sum of qualified employee protection expenses, qualified workplace reconfiguration expenses, and qualified workplace technology expenses paid for each calendar quarter. The bill defines qualified employee protection expenses as the cost of testing employees for COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019), equipment to protect employees from COVID-19, and cleaning products or services for preventing the spread of COVID-19; qualified workplace reconfiguration expenses as amounts paid to design and reconfigure retail space, work areas, break areas, or other employee or customer areas for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19, and such design and reconfiguration is completed pursuant to a plan in place before March 13, 2020, and completed before January 1, 2021; and qualified workplace technology expenses as amounts paid for technology systems that employees or customers use for the primary purpose of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and limiting physical contact, and is acquired after March 12, 2020, and placed in service before January 1, 2021.

## Cosponsors (16)

- Rep. Smucker, Lloyd [R-PA-11] (R-PA), 2020-07-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15] (R-PA), 2020-07-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Flores, Bill [R-TX-17] (R-TX), 2020-07-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Latta, Robert E. [R-OH-5] (R-OH), 2020-07-22T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Reed, Tom [R-NY-23] (R-NY), 2020-07-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Stewart, Chris [R-UT-2] (R-UT), 2020-07-23T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Olson, Pete [R-TX-22] (R-TX), 2020-07-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. McKinley, David B. [R-WV-1] (R-WV), 2020-07-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Upton, Fred [R-MI-6] (R-MI), 2020-09-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Arrington, Jodey C. [R-TX-19] (R-TX), 2020-09-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Dunn, Neal P. [R-FL-2] (R-FL), 2020-09-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Schweikert, David [R-AZ-1] (R-AZ), 2020-09-11T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Wenstrup, Brad R. [R-OH-2] (R-OH), 2020-09-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Barr, Andy [R-KY-6] (R-KY), 2020-09-29T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Miller, Carol D. [R-WV-1] (R-WV), 2020-09-30T00:00:00.000Z
- Rep. Gallagher, Mike [R-WI-8] (R-WI), 2020-10-13T00:00:00.000Z

## Related bills

- 116-hr-7278: JUSTICE Act
- 116-hr-19: Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2019
- 116-hr-3495: Improve Well-Being for Veterans Act
- 116-hr-748: CARES Act
- 116-hr-4305: PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act
- 116-hr-1570: Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2020

## Sources
- [116-hr-7615 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/7615)

## Related
- [116-hr-7278: JUSTICE Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-7278)
- [116-hr-19: Lower Costs, More Cures Act of 2019](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-19)
- [116-hr-3495: Improve Well-Being for Veterans Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-3495)
- [116-hr-748: CARES Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-748)
- [116-hr-4305: PAWS for Veterans Therapy Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-4305)
- [116-hr-1570: Removing Barriers to Colorectal Cancer Screening Act of 2020](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-1570)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/116-hr-7615 (as of 2025-11-18).