I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3131
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a United States
independent film and television production wage credit.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 16, 2001
Mr. DREIER (for himself, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. FOLEY, Mr. MAT-
SUI, Mr. WELLER, Mr. BECERRA, Ms. DUNN of Washington, Mr.
CONDIT, Mrs. BONO, Mr. WEINER, Mr. MCINTYRE, Ms. MCCARTHY of
Missouri, and Mr. JEFFERSON) 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 allow a
United States independent film and television production
wage credit.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Inde-
pendent Film and Television Production Incentive Act of
2001’’.
SEC. 2. TAX INCENTIVES FOR QUALIFIED UNITED STATES
INDEPENDENT FILM AND TELEVISION PRO-
DUCTION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart D of part IV of sub-
chapter A of chapter 1 (relating to business related cred-
its) is amended by adding at the end the following new
section:
‘‘SEC. 45G. UNITED STATES INDEPENDENT FILM AND TELE-
VISION PRODUCTION WAGE CREDIT.
‘‘(a) AMOUNT OF CREDIT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38,
the United States independent film and television
production wage credit determined under this section
with respect to any taxpayer for any taxable year is
an amount equal to 25 percent of the qualified
wages paid or incurred per qualified United States
independent film and television production during
such taxable year.
‘‘(2) HIGHER PERCENTAGE FOR PRODUCTION
EMPLOYMENT IN CERTAIN AREAS.—In the case of
qualified employees in any qualified United States
independent film and television production located in
an area eligible for designation as a low-income com-
munity under section 45D or eligible for designation
by the Delta Regional Authority as a distressed
county or isolated area of distress, paragraph (1)
shall be applied by substituting ‘35 percent’ for ‘25
percent’.
‘‘(b) ONLY FIRST $25,000 OF WAGES PER PRODUC-
TION TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT.—With respect to each quali-
fied United States independent film and television produc-
tion, the amount of qualified wages paid or incurred to
each qualified employee or personal service corporation
which may be taken into account per such production shall
not exceed $25,000.
‘‘(c) QUALIFIED
WAGES.—For purposes of this
section—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified wages’
means—
‘‘(A) any wages paid or incurred by an em-
ployer for services performed in the United
States by an employee while such employee is a
qualified employee,
‘‘(B) the employee fringe benefit expenses
of the employer allocable to such services per-
formed by such employee,
‘‘(C) any payments made to personal serv-
ice 
corporations 
as 
defined 
in 
section
269A(b)(1) for services performed in the United
States, and
‘‘(D) renumeration, other than wages, for
services personally rendered in the United
States.
‘‘(2) QUALIFIED EMPLOYEE.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified
employee’ means, with respect to any period,
any individual who renders personal services if
substantially all of such services are performed
during such period in an activity related to any
qualified United States independent film and
television production.
‘‘(B) CERTAIN
INDIVIDUALS
NOT
ELIGI-
BLE.—Such term shall not include—
‘‘(i) any individual described in sub-
paragraph (A), (B), or (C) of section
51(i)(1), and
‘‘(ii) any 5-percent owner (as defined
in section 416(i)(1)(B).
‘‘(3) COORDINATION WITH OTHER WAGE CRED-
ITS.—No credit shall be allowed under any other
provision of this chapter for wages paid to any em-
ployee during any taxable year if the employer is al-
lowed a credit under this section for any of such
wages.
‘‘(4) WAGES.—The term ‘wages’ has the same
meaning as when used in section 51.
‘‘(5) EMPLOYEE FRINGE BENEFIT EXPENSES.—
The term ‘employee fringe benefit expenses’ means
the amount allowable as a deduction under this
chapter to the employer for any taxable year with re-
spect to—
‘‘(A) employer contributions under stock
bonus, pension, profit-sharing, or annuity plan,
‘‘(B) employer-provided coverage under
any accident or health plan for employees, and
‘‘(C) the cost of life or disability insurance
provided to employees.
Any amount treated as wages under paragraph
(1)(A) shall not be taken into account under this
subparagraph.
‘‘(d) QUALIFIED UNITED STATES INDEPENDENT
FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION.—For purposes of
this section—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘qualified United
States independent film and television production’
means any production of any motion picture (wheth-
er released theatrically or directly to video cassette
or any other format), television or cable program-
ming, mini series, episodic television, movie of the