[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 774 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 774

    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow the use of 
  completed contract method of accounting in the case of certain long-
               term naval vessel construction contracts.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 3, 2003

   Ms. Snowe introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
                  referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow the use of 
  completed contract method of accounting in the case of certain long-
               term naval vessel construction contracts.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. MODIFICATION OF ACCOUNTING RULES FOR CERTAIN NAVAL LONG-TERM 
              CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 460(e)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 
1986 (relating to exception for certain construction contracts) is 
amended by striking ``or'' at the end of subparagraph (A), by striking 
the period at the end of subparagraph (B) and inserting ``, or'', and 
by inserting after subparagraph (B) the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(C) a qualified naval construction contract for 
                which an election is made under paragraph (7).''.
    (b) Qualified Naval Construction Contract.--Section 460(e) of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the 
following new paragraph:
            ``(7) Qualified naval construction contract.--
                    ``(A) In general.--A taxpayer who owns and operates 
                a shipyard may elect to use the completed contract 
                method of accounting with respect to any qualified 
                naval construction contract for the building, 
                construction, reconstruction, or rehabilitation of a 
                naval vessel at such shipyard.
                    ``(B) Definitions and special rules.--
                            ``(i) Qualified naval construction 
                        contract.--For purposes of this subsection, the 
                        term `qualified naval construction contract' 
                        means a contract--
                                    ``(I) entered into by the taxpayer 
                                with the Federal Government for the 
                                building, construction, reconstruction, 
                                or rehabilitation of a naval vessel, 
                                and
                                    ``(II) which the taxpayer estimates 
                                (at the time such contract is entered 
                                into) will be completed more than 24 
                                months after the contract commencement 
                                date of such contract.
                            ``(ii) Naval vessel.--For purposes of this 
                        paragraph, the term `naval vessel' means any 
                        vessel intended to be navigated in, on, or 
                        under the water.
                            ``(iii) Completed.--For purposes of this 
                        paragraph, a contract shall be treated as 
                        completed upon the issuance of a letter of 
                        acceptance or similar document by the Federal 
                        Government.
                            ``(iv) Entering contracts.--For purposes of 
                        clause (i), a taxpayer shall be treated as 
                        entering into a contract with the Federal 
                        Government if the taxpayer is specified in the 
                        bid for such contract as being a member of a 
                        team (for purposes of performing the work under 
                        such contract) that includes the person who 
                        entered into such contract.
                    ``(C) Effect of election.--An election under this 
                paragraph shall apply to all contracts of the taxpayer 
                which are entered into during the taxable year in which 
                the election is made or any subsequent taxable year.
                    ``(D) Separate contract.--For purposes of applying 
                this paragraph, in the case of a qualified naval 
                construction contract which covers more than 1 vessel, 
                each vessel covered by the contract shall be treated as 
                a separate contract for the purpose of applying the 
                completed contract method, and the gross contract price 
                and the total contract costs shall be allocated to each 
                separate vessel contract in accordance with regulations 
                prescribed by the Secretary.
                    ``(E) Earnings and profits.--Section 312(n)(6) 
                shall not apply to a taxpayer which has made an 
                election under this paragraph with respect to a 
                qualified naval construction contract.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to contracts entered into before, on, or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act and completed (within the meaning of 
section 460(e)(7)(B)(iii) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as 
added by this section) after such date.
                                 <all>