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Apprenticeships for Small Businesses Act of 2025
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to establish a credit for certain employers of qualifying career and technical education students.
Summary
This bill establishes a new tax credit for small business concerns that employ qualifying career and technical education students or apprentices. The credit equals 50 percent of the qualified wages paid to such employees plus their qualified workers' compensation expenses, with a maximum credit of $10,000 per year. Qualified employees are individuals under age 21, those participating in registered apprenticeship programs, or those enrolled in career and technical education, community college, or vocational programs related to the employer's business. The credit is effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Rep. Harder, Josh [D-CA-9] (D-CA)
2 cosponsors
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Josh Harder’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- GOOGLE $34,620
- BESSEMER VENTURE PARTNERS $28,100
- STANFORD UNIVERSITY $25,550
- BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP $19,800
- COOLEY LLP $16,200
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Josh Harder → · Outside spending →
Actions (2)
- Aug 12, 2025 Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means. · house
- Aug 12, 2025 Introduced in House
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
August 12, 2025
Mr. Harder of California (for himself and Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia) 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 establish a credit for certain employers of qualifying career and technical education students.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Apprenticeships for Small Businesses Act of 2025”.
SEC. 2. CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION CREDIT.
(a) In General.—Subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“SEC. 45U. CAREER AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION CREDIT.
“(a) In General.—For the purposes of section 38, in the case of a small business concern (as such term is defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act), the career and technical education credit determined under this section for any taxable year is an amount equal to the sum of—
“(1) the amount equal to 50 percent of the qualified wages paid by the taxpayer during the taxable year, plus
“(2) the amount equal to the qualified workmen’s compensation expenses of the taxpayer for the taxable year.
“(b) Limitation.—
“(1) In general.—The amount of credit determined under subsection (a) shall not exceed $10,000 for any taxpayer in any taxable year.
“(2) Related party.—For purposes of paragraph (1), taxpayers which are treated as a single employer under subsection (a) or (b) of section 52 or subsection (m) or (o) of section 414 shall be treated as a single taxpayer.
“(c) Qualified Employee.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified employee’ means, with respect to an employer, an employee who—
“(1) has not attained the age of 21 as of the last day of the taxable year, or
“(2) is—
“(A) participating in a registered apprenticeship program, as defined in section 3131(e)(3)(B), or
“(B) enrolled, during such taxable year, in—
“(i) any course of study relating to the trade or business of such employer at a community college which complies with any applicable State or local licensing requirements necessary to issue associate’s degrees, or
“(ii) any career training or vocational program (including career and technical education programs of a high school) relating to the trade or business of the employer.
“(d) Qualified Workmen’s Compensation Expenses.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘qualified workmen’s compensation expenses’ means amounts paid or incurred by the taxpayer during the taxable year for premiums relating to an insurance policy (or the appropriate portion of such policy) which insures the taxpayer against claims under a workmen’s compensation law of the United States, any State, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in relation to the employment of a qualified employee.”.
(b) Credit To Be Part of General Business Credit.—Section 38(b) of such Code is amended by striking “plus” at the end of paragraph (32), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (33) and inserting “, plus”, and by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(34) in the case of small business concern (as such term is defined under section 3 of the Small Business Act), the career and technical education credit determined under section 45U(a).”.
(c) Clerical 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 45T the following new item:
“Sec. 45U. Career and technical education credit.”.
(d) Effective Date.—The amendments made by this section shall apply amounts paid or incurred in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025. <all>
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