PRIA Logo™
119-hr-8714119th CongressWALLET

Skill Savings Account Act of 2026

Sponsored By: Representative Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15]

Introduced

Summary

Creates a tax-free "Skill Savings Account" for workers to pay job-related education. This bill would let employed individuals and their employers set up a U.S. trust that pays qualified education expenses tax-free, with specific contribution limits, trust rules, reporting, and penalties.

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.

Skill savings accounts for workers

If enacted, the bill would create a new Skill Savings Account (SSA) for eligible employees. Employee and employer cash contributions to an SSA would be excluded from the employee's gross income, subject to statutory limits. Withdrawals used only for the beneficiary's qualified education expenses would also be excluded from income. Eligible employees must be employed in the United States for the taxable year and not be claimed as a dependent. These rules would apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.

Contribution limits for skill accounts

If enacted, employer SSA contributions would be excludable from an employee's income only up to the excess of $5,250 over any amount excluded under section 127(a)(1) for that year. If enacted, employee cash contributions (aggregated across accounts) would be excludable only to the extent they do not exceed $10,000 per taxable year. These contribution limits would apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.

Penalties and excess rules for accounts

If enacted, SSAs would be subject to excess-contribution rules under section 4973. An excess contribution generally means amounts not excludable under the SSA rules plus certain prior-year balances after specified reductions. If you return excess contributions by the tax filing deadline (including extensions) and include the net earnings, the returned excess (up to the aggregate excess) would not be treated as taxable, but the earnings would be included in income. If you take a distribution that is not used exclusively for qualified education expenses, that amount would be included in your income, and you would pay an extra 20 percent tax on the includible amount unless you are age 65 or older for the taxable year. These rules would apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Thompson, Glenn [R-PA-15]

PA • R

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Bonamici, Suzanne [D-OR-1]

    OR • D

    Sponsored 5/7/2026

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
Back to Legislation