[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3951 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3951

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modify and make permanent 
 the election to treat certain costs of qualified film and television 
                        productions as expenses.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 24, 2007

Mr. Becerra (for himself and Mr. Nunes) 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 modify and make permanent 
 the election to treat certain costs of qualified film and television 
                        productions as expenses.

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

SECTION 1. MODIFICATION OF EXPENSING OF CERTAIN QUALIFIED FILM AND 
              TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS.

    (a) Exclusion of Participations and Residuals From Dollar 
Limitation.--Paragraph (2) of section 181(a) of the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 (relating to dollar limitation) is amended to read as 
follows:
            ``(2) Dollar limitation.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The aggregate cost which may be 
                taken into account under paragraph (1) with respect to 
                each qualified film or television production shall not 
                exceed $15,000,000.
                    ``(B) Participations and residuals excluded.--The 
                term `aggregate cost' does not include participations 
                and residuals (as defined in section 167(g)(7)(B)). The 
                preceding sentence does not apply to--
                            ``(i) deferred payment arrangements, 
                        structured as a fixed obligation to pay on a 
                        date certain, regardless of the revenues 
                        generated by a production, and
                            ``(ii) noncontingent or guaranteed payments 
                        where the recipient incurs minimal risk of 
                        nonpayment and the amount is not related to the 
                        revenue generated from the production, 
                        including first dollar gross participations to 
                        the extent such participations have priority 
                        over loan repayments, distributor fees, and the 
                        cost of prints and advertising.
                    ``(C) Higher dollar limitation for productions in 
                certain areas.--In the case of any qualified film or 
                television production the aggregate cost of which is 
                significantly incurred in an area eligible for 
                designation as--
                            ``(i) a low-income community under section 
                        45D, or
                            ``(ii) a distressed county or isolated area 
                        of distress by the Delta Regional Authority 
                        established under section 2009aa-
                            ``(iii) 1 of title 7, United States Code, 
                        subparagraph (A) shall be applied by 
                        substituting `$20,000,000' for 
                        `$15,000,000'.''.
    (b) Amortization of Remaining Costs.--Subsection (b) of section 181 
of such Code is amended to read as follows:
    ``(b) Amortization of Remaining Costs.--If an election is made 
under subsection (a) with respect to any qualified film or television 
production, that portion of the basis of such production in excess of 
the amount taken into account under subsection (a) shall be allowed as 
a deduction under section 167(g), the income forecast method of 
depreciation.''.
    (c) Expensing of Qualified Film and Television Production Costs 
Made Permanent.--Section 181 of such Code is amended by striking 
subsection (f).
    (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to qualified film and television productions commencing after the 
date of the enactment of this Act.
                                 <all>