(1) For taxable years beginning or deemed to begin on or after January 1, 2017, there shall be allowed to an employer of any eligible employee a nonrefundable credit, for not more than two years, against the income tax imposed by the Nebraska Revenue Act of 1967 in the amount of twenty percent of the employer's annual expenditures for any of the following services that are provided to eligible employees and that are incidental to the employer's business:

(a) The payment of tuition at a Nebraska public institution of postsecondary education or the payment of the costs associated with a high school equivalency program for eligible employees; and

(b) The provision of transportation of eligible employees to and from work.

(2) The credit allowed under this section for any taxable year shall not exceed the employer's actual tax liability for such taxable year.

(3) The Department of Revenue shall submit a report electronically to the Clerk of the Legislature on or before July 1 of each year on (a) the number of employers claiming a credit under this section and (b) the number of eligible employees receiving the services for which credits are claimed.

(4) The Department of Revenue, in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services, shall develop a process to verify that any employer claiming credits under this section qualifies for such credits.

(5) The Department of Revenue may adopt and promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out this section.

(6) For purposes of this section, eligible employee means a parent or caretaker relative (a) who is a member of a unit that received benefits under the state or federally funded Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program established in 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq., for any nine months of the eighteen-month period immediately prior to the employee's hiring date and (b) whose hiring date is on or after the first day of the taxable year for which the credit is claimed.