I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4878 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend the special expensing 

rules for certain film and television productions and to provide for special 

expensing for live theatrical productions. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 17, 2014 

Mr. COLLINS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. BOUSTANY, Ms. 

LINDA T. SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. NEAL, 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 extend 

the special expensing rules for certain film and television 

productions and to provide for special expensing for live 

theatrical productions. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Facilitating Invest5 ments in Local Markets Act’’ or the ‘‘FILM Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF SPECIAL EXPENSING RULES FOR 

2 CERTAIN FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUC3 TIONS; SPECIAL EXPENSING FOR LIVE THE4 ATRICAL PRODUCTIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (f) of section 181 of 

6 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 

7 ‘‘December 31, 2013’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 

8 2015’’. 

9 (b) APPLICATION TO LIVE PRODUCTIONS.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 

11 181(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

12 amended by inserting ‘‘, and any qualified live theat13 rical production,’’ after ‘‘any qualified film or tele14 vision production’’. 

15 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 181 

16 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 

17 (A) by inserting ‘‘or any qualified live the18 atrical production’’ after ‘‘qualified film or tele19 vision production’’ each place it appears in sub20 sections (a)(2), (b), and (c)(1), 

21 (B) by inserting ‘‘or qualified live theat22 rical productions’’ after ‘‘qualified film or tele23 vision productions’’ in subsection (f), and 

24 (C) by inserting ‘‘AND LIVE THEAT25 RICAL’’ after ‘‘FILM AND TELEVISION’’ in 

26 the heading. 


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1 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The item relating 

2 to section 181 in the table of sections for part VI 

3 of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev4 enue Code of 1986 is amended to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 181. Treatment of certain qualified film and television and live theatrical 

productions.’’. 

5 (c) QUALIFIED LIVE THEATRICAL PRODUCTION.— 

6 Section 181 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

7 amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating subsections (e) and (f), as 

9 amended by subsections (a) and (b), as subsections 

10 (f) and (g), respectively, and 

11 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol12 lowing new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(e) QUALIFIED LIVE THEATRICAL PRODUCTION.— 

14 For purposes of this section— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified live 

16 theatrical production’ means any production de17 scribed in paragraph (2) if 75 percent of the total 

18 compensation of the production is qualified com19 pensation (as defined in subsection (d)(3)). 

20 ‘‘(2) PRODUCTION.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A production is de22 scribed in this paragraph if such production is 

23 a live staged production of a play (with or with24 out music) which is derived from a written book 


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1 or script and is produced or presented by a tax2 able entity in any venue which has an audience 

3 capacity of not more than 3,000 or a series of 

4 venues the majority of which have an audience 

5 capacity of not more than 3,000. 

6 ‘‘(B) TOURING COMPANIES, ETC.—In the 

7 case of multiple live staged productions— 

8 ‘‘(i) for which the election under this 

9 section would be allowable to the same tax10 payer, and 

11 ‘‘(ii) which are— 

12 ‘‘(I) separate phases of a produc13 tion, or 

14 ‘‘(II) separate simultaneous stag15 ings of the same production in dif16 ferent geographical locations (not in17 cluding multiple performance locations 

18 of any one touring production), 

19 each such live staged production shall be treat20 ed as a separate production. 

21 ‘‘(C) PHASE.—For purposes of subpara22 graph (B), the term ‘phase’ with respect to any 

23 qualified live theatrical production refers to 

24 each of the following, but only if each of the folVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:23 Jun 18, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4878.IH H4878

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1 lowing is treated by the taxpayer as a separate 

2 activity for all purposes of this title: 

3 ‘‘(i) The initial staging of a live theat4 rical production. 

5 ‘‘(ii) Subsequent additional stagings 

6 or touring of such production which are 

7 produced by the same producer as the ini8 tial staging. 

9 ‘‘(D) EXCEPTION.—A production is not de10 scribed in this paragraph if such production in11 cludes or consists of any performance of con12 duct described in section 2257(h)(1) of title 18, 

13 United States Code.’’. 

14 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 

16 this section shall apply to productions commencing 

17 after December 31, 2013. 

18 (2) COMMENCEMENT.—For purposes of para19 graph (1), the date on which a qualified live theat20 rical production commences is the date of the first 

21 public performance of such production for a paying 

22 audience. 

Æ 


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