26 USC § 181 - Treatment of certain qualified film and television productions | Title 26 - Internal Revenue Code | U.S. Code

USCPrelim is a preliminary release and may be subject to further revision before it is released again as a final version.

Current through Pub. L. 112-143, except 112-141. (See Public Laws for the current Congress.)

(a) Election to treat costs as expenses

(1) In general

A taxpayer may elect to treat the cost of any qualified film or television production as an expense which is not chargeable to capital account. Any cost so treated shall be allowed as a deduction.

(2) Dollar limitation

(A) In general

Paragraph (1) shall not apply to so much of the aggregate cost of any qualified film or television production as exceeds $15,000,000.

(B) 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–1 of title 7, United States Code,

subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting “$20,000,000” for “$15,000,000”.

(b) No other deduction or amortization deduction allowable

With respect to the basis of any qualified film or television production to which an election is made under subsection (a), no other depreciation or amortization deduction shall be allowable.

(c) Election

(1) In general

An election under this section with respect to any qualified film or television production shall be made in such manner as prescribed by the Secretary and by the due date (including extensions) for filing the taxpayer’s return of tax under this chapter for the taxable year in which costs of the production are first incurred.

(2) Revocation of election

Any election made under this section may not be revoked without the consent of the Secretary.

(d) Qualified film or television production

For purposes of this section—

(1) In general

The term “qualified film or television production” means any production described in paragraph (2) if 75 percent of the total compensation of the production is qualified compensation.

(2) Production

(A) In general

A production is described in this paragraph if such production is property described in section 168 (f)(3).

(B) Special rules for television series

In the case of a television series—

(i) each episode of such series shall be treated as a separate production, and

(ii) only the first 44 episodes of such series shall be taken into account.

(C) Exception

A production is not described in this paragraph if records are required under section 2257 of title 18, United States Code, to be maintained with respect to any performer in such production.

(3) Qualified compensation

For purposes of paragraph (1)—

(A) In general

The term “qualified compensation” means compensation for services performed in the United States by actors, production personnel, directors, and producers.

(B) Participations and residuals excluded

The term “compensation” does not include participations and residuals (as defined in section 167 (g)(7)(B)).

(e) Application of certain other rules

For purposes of this section, rules similar to the rules of subsections (b)(2) and (c)(4) ofsection 194 shall apply.

(f) Termination

This section shall not apply to qualified film and television productions commencing after December 31, 2013.

prev | next

(a) Election to treat costs as expenses

(1) In general

A taxpayer may elect to treat the cost of any qualified film or television production as an expense which is not chargeable to capital account. Any cost so treated shall be allowed as a deduction.

(2) Dollar limitation

(A) In general

Paragraph (1) shall not apply to so much of the aggregate cost of any qualified film or television production as exceeds $15,000,000.

(B) 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–1 of title 7, United States Code,

subparagraph (A) shall be applied by substituting “$20,000,000” for “$15,000,000”.

(b) No other deduction or amortization deduction allowable

With respect to the basis of any qualified film or television production to which an election is made under subsection (a), no other depreciation or amortization deduction shall be allowable.

(c) Election

(1) In general

An election under this section with respect to any qualified film or television production shall be made in such manner as prescribed by the Secretary and by the due date (including extensions) for filing the taxpayer’s return of tax under this chapter for the taxable year in which costs of the production are first incurred.

(2) Revocation of election

Any election made under this section may not be revoked without the consent of the Secretary.

(d) Qualified film or television production

For purposes of this section—

(1) In general

The term “qualified film or television production” means any production described in paragraph (2) if 75 percent of the total compensation of the production is qualified compensation.

(2) Production

(A) In general

A production is described in this paragraph if such production is property described in section 168 (f)(3).

(B) Special rules for television series

In the case of a television series—

(i) each episode of such series shall be treated as a separate production, and

(ii) only the first 44 episodes of such series shall be taken into account.

(C) Exception

A production is not described in this paragraph if records are required under section 2257 of title 18, United States Code, to be maintained with respect to any performer in such production.

(3) Qualified compensation

For purposes of paragraph (1)—

(A) In general

The term “qualified compensation” means compensation for services performed in the United States by actors, production personnel, directors, and producers.

(B) Participations and residuals excluded

The term “compensation” does not include participations and residuals (as defined in section 167 (g)(7)(B)).

(e) Application of certain other rules

For purposes of this section, rules similar to the rules of subsections (b)(2) and (c)(4) ofsection 194 shall apply.

(f) Termination

This section shall not apply to qualified film and television productions commencing after December 31, 2011.

Source

(Added Pub. L. 108–357, title II, § 244(a),Oct. 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 1445; amended Pub. L. 109–135, title IV, § 403(e)(1),Dec. 21, 2005, 119 Stat. 2623; Pub. L. 110–343, div. C, title V, § 502(a), (b), (d),Oct. 3, 2008, 122 Stat. 3876, 3877; Pub. L. 111–312, title VII, § 744(a),Dec. 17, 2010, 124 Stat. 3319.)

Prior Provisions

A prior section 181,Pub. L. 87–834, § 2(c),Oct. 16, 1962, 76 Stat. 970, related to a deduction for unused investment credit, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 88–272, title II, § 203(a)(3)(B), (4),Feb. 26, 1964, 78 Stat. 34, applicable in case of property placed in service after Dec. 31, 1963, with respect to taxable years ending after such date, and in case of property placed in service before Jan. 1, 1964, with respect to taxable years beginning after Dec. 31, 1963.

Amendments

2010—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 111–312substituted “December 31, 2011” for “December 31, 2009”.

2008—Subsec. (a)(2)(A). Pub. L. 110–343, § 502(b), reenacted heading without change and amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “Paragraph (1) shall not apply to any qualified film or television production the aggregate cost of which exceeds $15,000,000.”

Subsec. (d)(3)(A). Pub. L. 110–343, § 502(d), substituted “actors, production personnel, directors, and producers.” for “actors, directors, producers, and other relevant production personnel.”

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 110–343, § 502(a), substituted “December 31, 2009” for “December 31, 2008”.

2005—Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 109–135struck out “For purposes of a television series, only the first 44 episodes of such series may be taken into account.” at end of subpar. (A), added subpar. (B), and redesignated former subpar. (B) as (C).

Effective Date of 2010 Amendment

Pub. L. 111–312, title VII, § 744(b),Dec. 17, 2010, 124 Stat. 3319, provided that: “The amendment made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to productions commencing after December 31, 2009.”

Effective Date of 2008 Amendment

Pub. L. 110–343, div. C, title V, § 502(e),Oct. 3, 2008, 122 Stat. 3877, provided that:

“(1) In general.—Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the amendments made by this section [amending this section and section 199 of this title] shall apply to qualified film and television productions commencing after December 31, 2007.

“(2) Deduction.—The amendments made by subsection (c) [amending section 199 of this title] shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2007.”

Effective Date of 2005 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 109–135effective as if included in the provision of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, Pub. L. 108–357, to which such amendment relates, see section 403(nn) ofPub. L. 109–135, set out as a note under section 26 of this title.

Effective Date

Pub. L. 108–357, title II, § 244(c),Oct. 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 1447, provided that: “The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall apply to qualified film and television productions (as defined in section 181(d)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as added by this section) commencing after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 22, 2004].”

The table below lists the classification updates, since Jan. 3, 2012, for this section. Updates to a broader range of sections may be found at the update page for containing chapter, title, etc.

The most recent Classification Table update that we have noticed was Friday, May 3, 2013

An empty table indicates that we see no relevant changes listed in the classification tables. If you suspect that our system may be missing something, please double-check with the Office of the Law Revision Counsel.

How To Use

Multiple entries for a section are listed most recent first, within the section.

The Session Year indicates which session of Congress was responsible for the changes classified. The Congress number forms the first part of the Public Law number; each Congress has two sessions.

Abbreviations used in the Description of Change column:

An empty field implies a standard amendment.
"new" means a new section or new note, or all new text of an existing section or note.
"nt" means note.
"nt [tbl]" means note [table].
"prec" means preceding.
"fr" means a transfer from another section.
"to" means a transfer to another section.
"omitted" means the section is omitted.
"repealed" means the section is repealed.
"nt ed change" and "ed change" - See the Editorial Classification Change Table [pdf].

The Public Law field is linked to the development of the law in the Thomas system at the Library of Congress.

The Statutes at Large field is linked to the text of the law, in the context of its volume of the Statutes at Large, at the Government Printing Office. Please note that it takes a while for these pages to get posted, so for very recent legislation, you need to look at the "enrolled" version at the Thomas site.

The Statutes at Large references have been rendered in the format used as page numbers in the Public Law web pages to which we link, to facilitate copy-paste into browser "find on this (web) page" tools. We are still working on a more direct link facility.

For serious comparison work, we suggest copying all or a portion of the Public Law text into your favorite text editor, for convenient content traversal and window control.

Sections with change type "new" are a special case, still under development. All are now listed, at the title level only.

You will find that occassionally a specific update you notice in a Public Law listed in a classification table will already have made it into the Code. We assume this is an artifact of the LRC edit process. The LII does not edit the LRC content.

top

General Reference

Refer to the LRC (Law Revision Council) for explanations about the US Code from the folks who put it all together.

You can look for information about what it is and is not, which titles are positive law, the schedule of Supplements, etc. Under download you can find the source data we use here (GPO locator files), as well as, PDF files that look just like the paper books (these may be rather large).

Refer to the Thomas site for changes that have not yet made it into the classification tables.

26 USC	Description of Change	Session Year	Public Law	Statutes at Large
§ 181		2012	112-240 [Sec.] 317(a)	126 Stat. 2331
§ 181	nt new	2012	112-240 [Sec.] 317(b)	126 Stat. 2331

This is a list of parts within the Code of Federal Regulations for which this US Code section provides rulemaking authority.

This list is taken from the Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules provided by GPO [Government Printing Office].

It is not guaranteed to be accurate or up-to-date, though we do refresh the database weekly. More limitations on accuracy are described at the GPO site.

26 USC § 181 - Treatment of certain qualified film and television productions

U.S. Code Toolbox

Law about... Articles from Wex

Find a Lawyer

Get Involved