II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 364 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to extend tax incentives 

to certain live theatrical performances, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 4, 2015 

Mr. BLUNT (for himself and Mr. SCHUMER) 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 extend 

tax incentives to certain live theatrical performances, and 

for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Support Theaters in 

5 America Growth and Expansion Act’’ or the ‘‘STAGE 

6 Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. EXPENSING OF QUALIFIED PRODUCTIONS. 

8 (a) EXTENSION.—Subsection (f) of section 181 of the 

9 Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 


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1 ‘‘December 31, 2014’’ and inserting ‘‘December 31, 

2 2016’’. 

3 (b) APPLICATION TO LIVE PRODUCTIONS.— 

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

5 181(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

6 amended by inserting ‘‘, and any qualified live theat7 rical production,’’ after ‘‘any qualified film or tele8 vision production’’. 

9 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 181 

10 of such Code is amended— 

11 (A) by inserting ‘‘or any qualified live the12 atrical production’’ after ‘‘qualified film or tele13 vision production’’ each place it appears in sub14 sections (a)(2), (b), and (c), 

15 (B) by inserting ‘‘or qualified live theat16 rical productions’’ after ‘‘qualified film or tele17 vision productions’’ in subsection (f), and 

18 (C) by inserting ‘‘AND LIVE THEAT19 RICAL’’ after ‘‘FILM AND TELEVISION’’ in 

20 the heading. 

21 (c) QUALIFIED LIVE THEATRICAL PRODUCTION.— 

22 Section 181 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is 

23 amended— 


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

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

3 (f) and (g), respectively, and 

4 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol5 lowing new subsection: 

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

7 For purposes of this section— 

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

9 theatrical production’ means any production de10 scribed in paragraph (2) if 75 percent of the total 

11 compensation of the production is qualified com12 pensation (as defined in subsection (d)(3)). 

13 ‘‘(2) PRODUCTION.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A production is de15 scribed in this paragraph if such production is 

16 a live staged production of a play (with or with17 out music) which is derived from a written book 

18 or script and is produced or presented by a 

19 commercial entity in any venue which has an 

20 audience capacity of not more than 3,000 or a 

21 series of venues the majority of which have an 

22 audience capacity of not more than 3,000. 

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

24 case of multiple live staged productions— 


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

2 section would be allowable to the same tax3 payer, and 

4 ‘‘(ii) which are— 

5 ‘‘(I) separate phases (within the 

6 meaning of section 469(g)(4)(B)) of a 

7 production, or 

8 ‘‘(II) separate simultaneous stag9 ings of the same production in dif10 ferent geographical locations (not in11 cluding multiple performance locations 

12 of any one touring production), 

13 each such live staged production shall be treat14 ed as a separate production. 

15 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION.—A production is not de16 scribed in this paragraph if such production in17 cludes or consists of any performance of con18 duct described in section 2257(h)(1) of title 18, 

19 United States Code.’’. 

20 (d) EFFECTIVE DATES.— 

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

22 this section shall apply to productions commencing 

23 after December 31, 2014. 

24 (2) COMMENCEMENT.—For purposes of para25 graph (1), the date on which a qualified live theatVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:16 Feb 12, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S364.IS S364

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1 rical production commences is the date of the first 

2 public performance of such production for a paying 

3 audience. 

4 SEC. 3. DISPOSITIONS OF INTEREST IN THEATRICAL PRO5 DUCTIONS AS PASSIVE ACTIVITY. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (g) of section 469 of 

7 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

8 at the end the following new paragraph: 

9 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE FOR INTEREST IN QUALI10 FIED LIVE THEATRICAL PRODUCTIONS.— 

11 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of an in12 terest in a qualified live theatrical production 

13 (as defined in section 181(e)(1)) as a passive 

14 activity— 

15 ‘‘(i) each phase of such production 

16 shall be treated separately for purposes of 

17 this subsection, and 

18 ‘‘(ii) the termination of any phase of 

19 such production in which the taxpayer 

20 holds an interest as a passive activity shall 

21 be treated as a disposition of such tax22 payer’s entire interest in such passive ac23 tivity. 

24 ‘‘(B) PHASE.—For purposes of subpara25 graph (A), the term ‘phase’ with respect to any 


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1 qualified live theatrical production refers to 

2 each of the following, but only if each of the fol3 lowing is treated as a separate activity by the 

4 taxpayer for all purposes of this title: 

5 ‘‘(i) The initial staging of a live theat6 rical production. 

7 ‘‘(ii) Subsequent additional stagings 

8 or touring of such production which are 

9 produced by the same producer as the ini10 tial staging. 

11 ‘‘(iii) Disposition of copyrights, licens12 ing rights, or subsidiary rights in connec13 tion with such production.’’. 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

15 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

16 December 31, 2014. 

Æ 


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