Congress passes fiscal cliff act

Business tax extenders
The act also extended many business tax credits and other provisions. Notably, it extended through 2013 and modified the Sec. 41 credit for increasing research and development activities, which expired at the end of 2011. The credit is modified to allow partial inclusion in qualified research expenses and gross receipts those of an acquired trade or business or major portion of one. The increased expensing amounts under Sec. 179 are extended through 2013. The availability of an additional 50% first-year bonus depreciation (Sec. 168(k)) was also extended for one year by the act. It now generally applies to property placed in service before Jan. 1, 2014 (Jan. 1, 2015, for certain property with longer production periods).
Other business provisions extended through 2013, and in some cases modified, are:
• Temporary minimum low-income tax credit rate for non-federally subsidized new buildings (Sec. 42);
• Housing allowance exclusion for determining area median gross income for qualified residential rental project exempt facility bonds (Section 3005 of the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008);
• Indian employment tax credit (Sec. 45A);
• New markets tax credit (Sec. 45D);
• Railroad track maintenance credit (Sec. 45G);
• Mine rescue team training credit (Sec. 45N);
• Employer wage credit for employees who are active duty members of the uniformed services (Sec. 45P);
• Work opportunity tax credit (Sec. 51);
• Qualified zone academy bonds (Sec. 54E);
• Fifteen-year straight-line cost recovery for qualified leasehold improvements, qualified restaurant buildings and improvements, and qualified retail improvements (Sec. 168(e));
• Accelerated depreciation for business property on an Indian reservation (Sec. 168(j));
• Enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of food inventory (Sec. 170(e));
• Election to expense mine safety equipment (Sec. 179E);
• Special expensing rules for certain film and television productions (Sec. 181);
• Deduction allowable with respect to income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 199(d));
• Modification of tax treatment of certain payments to controlling exempt organizations (Sec. 512(b));
• Treatment of certain dividends of regulated investment companies (Sec. 871(k));
• Regulated investment company qualified investment entity treatment under the Foreign Investment in Real Property Act (Sec. 897(h));
• Extension of subpart F exception for active financing income (Sec. 953(e));
• Lookthrough treatment of payments between related controlled foreign corporations under foreign personal holding company rules (Sec. 954);
• Temporary exclusion of 100% of gain on certain small business stock (Sec. 1202);
• Basis adjustment to stock of S corporations making charitable contributions of property (Sec. 1367);
• Reduction in S corporation recognition period for built-in gains tax (Sec. 1374(d));
• Empowerment Zone tax incentives (Sec. 1391);
• Tax-exempt financing for New York Liberty Zone (Sec. 1400L);
• Temporary increase in limit on cover-over of rum excise taxes to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (Sec. 7652(f)); and
• American Samoa economic development credit (Section 119 of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006, P.L. 109-432, as modified).